In 2021, the International Maritime Organisation, together with the Women's International Shipping & Trading Association, launched a survey to collect some hard data on female representation in the global maritime industry.

The second edition of the survey was published last week to coincide with International Day for Women in Maritime 2025 (which was celebrated on May 18th).

But the results were hardly cause for celebration.

Because while some progress has been made in terms of gender diversity in the maritime industry, the data in the 2024 edition suggests shipping is going backwards.

The results of the 2024 edition showed 176,820 women working in maritime across both private and public sectors, an increase of 14% from the 151,979 recorded in 2021.

But the global maritime workforce has grown considerably since the last survey, which means women now account for just under 19% of the workforce sampled, versus 26% in 2021.

Female employees make up just over 16% of the workforce in the private sector, compared to the 29% recorded in 2021, and a drop was also seen in female representation in mid-management positions, declining to just 20% in 2024 from 39% in 2021.

Lloyd’s List reporter Joshua Minchin spoke to three female leaders in the shipping industry, including Wista president Elpi Petraki, to get their reaction to the survey results and ask whether in a time where DEI programmes are coming increasingly under threat, shipping needs to rethink its own diversity strategy.

Joining Joshua on the podcast this week are:

Elpi Petraki, president of Wista International

Louise Proctor, deputy director, sub-division for planning and programming, Technical Cooperation and Implementation Division, IMO

Heidi Heseltine, chief executive, Diversity Study Group