Female figures in maritime education and training institutions between 2009 and 2018: analysing possible impacts of gender policies

Abstract

This paper intends to provide a figure analysis of female students in maritime education and training (MET) institutions over a decade (2009–2018) with the aim to analyse the possible impact of the gender equality policies applied. In recent years, while there has been an increase of female students in many technical degrees, in maritime education, the gender imbalance seems to persist. This study of female student enrolment and graduation figures of some MET institutions provides a picture of current trends in the maritime education sector. The results are not very encouraging as they reveal an unchanging tendency concerning gender equality in this field of studies. In addition, the analysis of gender policies unveils that there is still a lot of work to be done. Such policies are scarce or inexistent and do not have a significant effect towards reducing this gender gap. In order to identify possible parallelisms in the professional sector, we also analysed the percentages of women in deck and engine positions issued by the Spanish Maritime Administration during the period studied. The case of Spain shows that this gender inequality is even more profound in the maritime professional sector. The study concludes that in spite of an increasing awareness, the gender gap continues both in the educational and professional sector. Hence, the joint involvement of national maritime administrations and international maritime organizations and agencies is needed to develop more effective gender equality policies and programmes for a more egalitarian and inclusive maritime training and professional sector.