583
1 INTRODUCTION
The promotion of gender equality and women´s
empowermenthasbeenagoal of the United Nation
OrganizationandtheUNspecializedagencies,within
each one’s particular scope of competencies. During
the so‐called United Nations Decade for Women
(1976‐1985), many specialized agencies of the UN
sought to implement progra
mmes to assure the
advancement of women and to promote gender
equality(Tansey,2000).
This mandate was reinforced at the Beijing
Conference, where the Platform for Action (PfA)
called all Specialized Agencies and other
organizations of the UN System to set out specific
actionstomeetthe global priorities identified in the
PfA and lat
er by the inclusion of the Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) 3 and the Sustainable
DevelopmentGoal(SDG)5toachievegenderequality
andtoempowerallwomen(andgirls).
The International Maritime Organization (IMO),
the UN specialized agency in charge of promoting
safe, secure, environmentally sound, efficient and
sustainable shipping through cooperation, launched
theIMOWomeninDevelopment Program(WID)in
1989,aim
edatexpandingwomen’scapabilitiesinthe
maritime sector. The programme focused on equal
access to maritime training through both
mainstreaming programmes and gender specific
projects(Tansey,2000).
Theprogramiscalled“SDG5: Strengthening the
ma
ritime sector” nowadays, signaling the
compromise of IMO with the post‐2015 agenda and
the SDGs. The main objective of the program is to
facilitate access to high‐level technical training for
womenmaritimeofficials(IMO,2016a).
One of the drivers of the IMO´s gender
programme has been the development and
strengthening of formal regional associations of
women in ma
ritime around the globe and the way
A Case Study on Gender Equality and Women´s
Empowerment Policies Developed by the World
Maritime University for the Maritime Transport Sector
M.C. Romero Lares
WorldMaritimeUniversity,Malmo,Sweden
ABSTRACT: The promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment has been a goal of the United
Nations Organization and its specialized agencies, within each one’s particular scope of competencies. The
WorldMaritimeUniversity(WMU),apostgraduatemaritimeuniversityfoundedbytheInternationalMaritime
Organization(IMO),hasputinpla
ceitsownpoliciestopromotetheparticipationofwomeninthemaritime
transportsector.ThemainideabehindthiscasestudyanalysisistolookathowWMU´spoliciesongender
equality and womenʹs empowerment have evolved over time; their impact on student and employee body,
curriculum,conferencesandseminars;andproposeareasforimprovement.Thisresearchisaim
edatgaininga
deeper understanding of an ongoing process by exploring enrolment and hiring statistics, documents and
relatedarticlesoveraperiodof34years(from1983to2017).
http://www.transnav.eu
the International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 11
Number 4
December 2017
DOI:10.12716/1001.11.04.02
584
forward is the future development of gender
maritime education and training programme
(GENMET),throughtheproductionofeducationand
training materialbased on the principles ofSDG 5ʹs
targets(IMO,2016b;IMO,2017).
The World Maritime University (WMU), a
postgraduate maritime university founded by the
IMOwiththemandate
tofurtherenhancetheroleof
theOrganization,hasdevelopedandimplementedits
ownpoliciestoachievegenderequalityandwomen´s
empowermentinthemaritimetransportsector.
Themainideabehindthiscasestudyanalysisisto
lookathowWMU´spoliciesongenderequalityand
womenʹsempowermenthave
evolvedovertime;their
impact on student and employee body, curriculum,
conferences and seminars; and propose areas for
improvement. This research is aimed at gaining a
deeper understanding of an ongoing process by
exploringenrolmentandhiring statistics,documents
and related articles over a period of 34 years (from
1983to
2017).
2 DEFINITIONSONGENDEREQUALITYAND
WOMEN´SEMPOWERMENT
The issues of gender equality and women´s
empowermentisatthetopofagendasworldwide,as
gender disparities in economic and political areas
persist. According to the United Nations Entity for
Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
(UNWomen),gender
equality“referstoequalrights,
responsibilitiesandopportunitiesofwomenandmen
and girls and boys. Equality does not mean that
women and men will become the same but that
women’s and men’s rights, responsibilities and
opportunities will not depend on whether they are
bornmaleorfemale”(UNWomen,2017).
Empowermentofwomenmeans that women can
take control over their lives: set their own agendas,
gain skills (or have their own skills and knowledge
recognized),increaseself‐confidence, solveproblems,
and develop self‐reliance. Its aim is to ensure that
women participate fully in economic life across all
sectors
andthroughoutalllevelsofeconomicactivity
(UN Women & United Nations Global Compact,
2011).
Both terms have been included in the SDG 5:
Achieve gender equality and empower all women
and girls, which is the rationale behind the
researcherʹsdecision touseboth concepts intandem
throughoutthedocument.
There are a number of policies to help achieve
gender equality, but due to size restrictions of this
paperwewillfocusonthefollowingactions:ensuring
equal access to men and women to education and
trainingprogrammes;implementinggendersensitive
recruitmentofwomen;andincorporatingthegender
perspectivethroughout
academicactivities.Thiswill
be helpful for determining whether or not policies
undertaken by WMU have contributed to gender
equalityandwomen´sempowermentinthemaritime
transportsector.
3 WMU’SPOLICIESONGENDEREQUALITY
ANDWOMEN´SEMPOWERMENT
WMU has developed and implemented its own
policies for achieving gender equality and women´s
empowermentovertheyears,ashasbeenreportedby
several authors and reflected in the University
StrategicPlans(Roger,2008;Horck,2010;Romero &
Kitada, 2013). The latest WMU Strategic Plan 2016‐
2019 anticipates that WMU will take particular
account of the relevant goals of the UN Agenda for
Sustainable
Development, including Goal 5:
“Through education, WMU will contribute to the
elimination and discrimination against women and
furthertheequalityandempowermentofwomenand
ensuretheirfullandeffectiveparticipationwithequal
opportunitiesforleadershipat all levels ofdecision‐
making in political, economic and public life. A
specialemphasis
willbeplacedonstrategiestoattract
and retain women seafarers to the maritime
industry”.
Wewilllookatvariationsinthenumberoffemale
graduatesandoffemalefaculty,andtheintroduction
ofgender perspective inthecurriculum,conferences
and seminars in order to try and determine if a
relationship can be identified between the numeric
variations and theintroductionofgender policies at
WMU. The main research questions are:How has
gender parity evolved in the student body and in
WMU’s faculty? How has the gender perspective in
the curriculum, conferences and seminars evolved?
Andwhatareasofimprovements
couldbeidentified?
3.1 WMU’Sstudentbodycomposition
Significant progress narrowing the gender gap
between men and women in higher education has
beenreportedworldwideinrecentdecades (Nozaki,
Aranha,Dominguez&Nakajima,2009),whichsome
authorshaveattributedtolegalandpolicyeffortsat
international and national level aimed
at promoting
equalityandsocialjustice(Loots&Walker,2015).
Tansey(2000)affirmedthatoneofthefirststepsof
theWIDprogrammewasthedevelopmentofanIMO
gender‐specific fellowship programme focused on
disciplines which offered the most immediate and
practical interest to women in the maritime field,
including
maritime law, marine biology, maritime
administrationandmarinesciencesatWMU.
AccordingtoRoger(2008),theUniversityadopted
aproactiveroleinincreasingthenumberofwomenin
its programmes by funding more fellowships for
qualified female students with internally generated
University revenues, encouraging donors to allocate
fundstosupport
femalestudents,andbyencouraging
governmentsandprivateemployerstonominateand
supportqualifiedwomentopursuestudiesatWMU.
In order to determine if after the gender gap
reductionpoliciesputinplacebytheUniversityany
changesinthe student body could be identified,the
researcher made use of
WMU´s registry data on
number of graduates by year of graduation, gender
andregion.
According to those records, there were only 2
females out of 70 total graduates, 2,85% at WMU´s
585
first graduation 1984‐85. A significant increase was
observedin the late 1990s, when 17 femalestudents
graduatedoutofaclassof89,representing16.03%of
thetotal.Thispercentageroseupto 21.15% in 2000.
ThepeakoffemalegraduatesatWMUwas67women
representing31.30%out
of214totalstudentsin2011.
The class of 2016 had a similar number of female
graduates, 64 out of a total of 242, representing
26.44%.
SincetheUniversitywascreateduntil2016,4,359
studentshavegraduated;withafemaleparticipation
of 859 (19.7 %), while the number of males
is 3,500
(80.3%).
Table1.GraduatesbyGenderandRegion(1983‐2016)
______________________________________________
RegionsFemaleMales
____________ ______________
Total Total% Total Total%
______________________________________________
Africa167 16.8%825 83.2%
Asia&Pacific 481 22.0%1,071 78.0%
Europe103 30.5%235 69.5%
LatinAmerica& 79 18.6%346 81.4%
Caribbean
MiddleEast&21 5.3% 372 94.7%
NorthAfrica
NorthAmerica 8 72.4%21 72.4%
______________________________________________
Total859 19.7%3,500 80.3%
_____________________________________________
According to the IMO´s criteria of division by
regionsoftheworldfollowedbyWMU´sregistry,we
find that the distribution of that average 19.7 %
participation of women in our programmes differs
greatly between different regions of the world, as
reflected in the table above. The participation of
females from
Africa, Latin America and the
Caribbean,theMiddleEastandNorthAfricaremains
belowthe19.7%media.
3.2 WMUʹsfacultycomposition
The presence of female students during the early
yearsofoperationoftheUniversitydidnotequalthat
offemaleprofessors.WhileHorck(2010)reportedan
increase
of female teachers employed at MET
institutionsinEuropeaninstitutionswithanaverage
of 17% female presence that year, he noted that
duringtheuniversity´s26yearsofexistenceonlyone
woman had been appointed professor, but she left
after two years. He quoted that two women were
listed among the
academic staff: a US Coast Guard
lecturer and one assistant professor from Sweden
working in the English Language and Study Skills
Programme; and that from “non‐structured
conversations” with WMU female students on
whether they would like to see a WMU female
professor,60%saidno,while40%said
yes.
WMU’sStrategicVisionPlans2010‐2015and2014‐
2018 included policies aimed at improving gender
balance. A WMU´s Recruitment and Appointment
RenewalPolicyfrom2015stated that “…due regard
toequitableandappropriate representation in terms
of geography, social systems, education, cultural
traditions and gender should be taken into
consideration…”
whilerecruiting.
Followingthesenewpolicies,theUniversityhired
afemaleassistantprofessorforitsMastersandPhD
courses in 2010. A year later came another one. In
2013thefirstfemaleassistantprofessorwaspromoted
to associate professor. In 2015 a femalelecturer was
promotedtoassistantprofessorand
sincethen,there
havenot been any additionalpromotions for female
facultyatWMU.
In order to evaluate the composition of WMU’s
faculty, the researcher made use of hiring statistics
providedbyHumanResources.
Table2.WMU´sFacultybyGender(2010‐2017)
______________________________________________
Faculty Prof. Assoc.Assist. Lecturer Research
PositionAssist.
______ ____ _____ _____ _______ _______
Year f‐m f‐m f‐m f‐m f‐m
______________________________________________
2010 0‐80‐12‐70‐10‐0
2011 0‐80‐32‐40‐12‐3
2012 0‐70‐62‐21‐02‐4
2013 0‐90‐72‐02‐11‐1
2014 0‐91‐71‐1
1‐23‐2
2015 0‐11 1‐62‐11‐23‐2
2016 0‐11 1‐72‐13‐11‐2
2017 0‐12 2‐62‐12‐23‐2
_____________________________________________
Thenumberofpositionshasincreasedfrom19to
32 in the last 7 years (68 %). The number of female
faculty has increased from 2 in 2010 to 7 in 2017,
representing 10.52% and 21.87% of faculty
compositionrespectively.
3.3 GenderperspectiveinWMU’scurriculum
Horck reported that neither was
the gender
perspective discussion introduced as a common
subject for all students at WMU, nor the issue was
mentioned in any curriculum in 2010. He also
reported that in situations where European MET
institutions were proactive introducing cultural
awarenesseducation,itmightbewomenfacultywho
wouldconductthecourses.
WMUʹs Strategic Vision Plan 2014‐2018 reflects
WMU’schallengestoexpandteaching,research,and
thedeliveryofconferencesandseminarsinemerging
subject areas, citing among the examples corporate
socialresponsibility.
Inordertofindoutifthegenderperspectivehad
beenincludedinthecurriculum,theresearcherhada
lookatWMU’sAcademicHandbooksandsyllabusof
thecoursesimpartedattheMalmöcampusfrom2010
to2017.
AnewcoursecalledEducationalPsychology and
Sociology was introduced as part of the Maritime
EducationandTraining(MET)Specializationin2014,
wherediversity,culturalawarenessandgenderissues
inmaritime
educationaretaught.Inaddition,current
policyissuesongenderequalitywasintegratedinthe
course Principles of Maritime Administration and
InternationalInstitutionsrunbytheMaritime Law&
Policy(MLP)Specializationin2016.Outofatotalof
65 master level courses, the above mentioned 2
representlessthan3.07%.
At one point in time all WMU´s students were
required to write a dissertation as an academic
requirement for graduation. This has changed and
today it is an optional course called Dissertation
586
Research.Theresearcherwantedtofindoutwhether
the students have chosen gender perspective as a
topicofresearchinthemaritimesector.
However, it is not easy to determine whether or
nota dissertation includesgenderperspectiveissues
by looking at the index. For that reason we tried to
single out, according to the title, those dissertations
thatclearlyfocusedonthatsubject.
Outof504dissertationswrittenbetween1985and
2016intheMalmöCampus,only3focusedongender
perspectiveissues.Theyaretitled:Womenmerchant
mariners: Empowering West African women (Azirh,
2014); Why not women seafarers?:
Towards a
developingstrategyfortherecruitmentandretention
of women seafarers in cargo ships with particular
reference to the Republic of Korea (Jo, 2010); and
Womeninthemaritimeindustry:Areviewoffemale
participation and their role in Maritime Education
and Training in the 21st century (Aggrey, 2000). A
number of 3 represent less than 1 % of all the
dissertationswrittenatWMU.
3.4 GenderperspectiveinWMUʹSconferencesand
seminars
Inreferencetoconferencesandseminarsfocusing on
thegenderperspective,twomajorconferencesofthat
naturehavebeenheldattheuniversity.Thefirstone,
the International Conference for Empowering
Professional Women in the Maritime World 2008,
aimedatprovidinganinsightintotheproblemsand
challengesofincreasingtheeffectiveparticipationof
professional women in the maritime sector. A large
numberofWMUfemalegraduatesattendedandtook
thestandatspeakers(Roger,2008;Horck,
2010).The
conferenceendedadoptingaresolutionpresentedto
IMO Member States inviting all stakeholders in the
maritimesectortoactivelysupportandencouragethe
participationofprofessionalwomen(IMO,2008).
The second conference, called Maritime Women:
Global Leadership 2014, was a call for strong
leadership, to connect several associations
of
professionalwomeninthemaritimetransportsector
andtopromotediscussionsineducation,trainingand
mentoring. A number of key note speakers were
women leaders from the global maritime and port
sectors,someofwhichwereWMUfemalegraduates.
The selection of the rest of the speakers was made
based
onthe53abstractsubmittedfromalloverthe
world(Romero&Kitada,2014).
Qualitycontrolofthematerialwasmanagedbya
gender ba lance scientific committee, the first of its
kindatWMU.Asaresultoftheconference,abookof
proceedings coordinated by the WMU’s female
faculty
wasissued(IMO,2014b).
As second outcome of this event was the
establishment of WMU Women’s Association
(WMUWA), with the purpose of “connect, educate,
and inspire women in the maritime industry and to
promote the interest of female maritime
professionals.”MembershipisopentocurrentWMU
students (female and male) as
well asalumnae. The
association counted with a 5 members Secretariat
composedofWMUWAmembers,alumni,influential
female maritime professionals, a female WMU’s
employeeandanIMOrepresentative(IMO,2014a).
The association has hosted seminars on gender
equalityandhasorganizedanInternationalWomen’s
DayWorkshopeveryyear(IMO,2016b).
4 RESULTSANDDISCUSSION
SinceitsearlyyearsofoperationstheUniversityhas
made a significant contribution to the maritime
transportsector, byincreasingthenumberoffemale
graduatesfrom2.85%to19.7%,ensuringequalaccess
to men and women to education and training
programmesandprovidinghighlyqualifiedmaritime
education
andtrainingtowomenfromallregionsof
theworldtoserveintheshippingindustry.
Not all regions are equally represented in the
number of female graduates from WMU. There are
deeper inequalities among the regions, which
suggests that perhaps regional strategies could be
developedinordertoimprove
thechancesofwomen
fromlow‐representedregionshavingaccesstohigher
andprofessionaleducation.
A significant improvement in the gender balance
composition of the faculty has been identified in
recent years, by implementing gender sensitive
recruitment and retention practices, following the
trend previously recognized at MET Institutions
aroundEurope.
Progress
hasbeenmadetowardstheintroduction
ofgenderperspectiveintheformofcultural,diversity
and gender policy awareness training in the
curriculum. However, the number of courses which
includeitislow.Curiously,asHorckpredicted,both
courses are led by female faculty. Looking at IMO’s
purpose behind the
development of the GENMET
courses, it would make sense to join efforts and
developthesetrainingmaterialstogetherwithIMOto
belaterincludedasacommonsubjectforallstudents
atWMU,perhapsatthefoundationalstudieslevel.
The number of dissertations written on gender
perspectiveatWMUislow
anditisdifficulttoassess
their impact in the maritime transport sector.
However,itisworthmentioningthatoneofthetopics
developed (Jo, 2010) served as a background for a
Conference in Busan, Korea, where IMOʹs Member
Statesrecognizedthatastrategywasneededinorder
to
integratewomenseafarersintothemaritimesector.
ThatstrategyisbeingcurrentlydevelopedbyWMU’s
facultyincooperationwithIMO(IMO,2014a).
A milestone for the University has been the
development of the two women conferences, which
wereanopportunityforcurrentstudentsandfaculty
to get in contactwith former
students who are now
holding leadership positions in the sector, showing
the added valued that the education received at
WMUbroughttotheircareers.WMUWAontheother
hand,couldbeseenasabridgebycurrentstudents,
graduates and leaders for remaining in contact with
each other for mentoring
other women in their
countries.
WMU Women´s Association has received strong
support from IMO´s gender programme. As an
587
example,oneIMO‐fellowshipperyearisspecifically
designated for an appropriately‐qualified female
candidate, who is tasked with the responsibility of
activelysupporttheAssociationduringtheperiodof
herstudies.Twocandidateshavetakenadvantageof
this programme, one from Vietnam in 2015 and the
nextfromHonduras
in2016(IMO,2016a).
There are no current statistics available that
indicate the number WMUʹs female graduates who
have reached managerial and decision‐making
positions in the maritime transport sector, which
couldbethesubjectoffutureresearch.
Finally,theroleplayedbyWMU’sfemalefaculty
should not be
underestimated, as they have become
role models not only for students but for other
women in the sector. They have proactively led
initiativesinteaching,researchandoutreachactivities
throughtheorganizationanddeliveryofconferences
and seminars on gender equality and through the
involvement in consultancies and in peer‐reviewed
publicationsonthetopic.
5 CONCLUSIONS
From the above discussed findings, the following
conclusionscouldbedrawn:
Policies adopted for increasing the number of
femalegraduateshavebeenrelativelysuccessful,and
anaugmentedpresenceinthestudentbodyhasbeen
recorded, which has benefited the maritime
communitybyprovidingfemale
leadersglobally.
Policiesadoptedforreachinggenderparitywithin
the faculty have opened the doors for female
academics to join the University, which in turn
benefits the maritime sector by incorporating the
femaleperspectiveineducation.
The gender perspective has been integrated in
sectionsofthecurriculum,conferences andseminars,
and
efforts in this direction must be continued and
improved.
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