Women in Yachting - looking to the future

As we celebrate Women’s month and recently celebrated Women’s Day here in South Africa, we would like to take a moment to look at women in our industry. As we all know equality is a buzz word in all industries at the moment and making sure that everyone gets equal opportunity to work in their dream job. Yachting has been no different and we are seeing more and more female deck crew coming up through the ranks and many sitting their OOW. The commercial industry already boasts female captains, chief engineers and numerous other roles onboard. So, it’s nice to see we are catching up. 

But what does it actually mean, well, more equality and more opportunities for everyone really, better working conditions and hopefully a more open and happy environment for everyone. And with organizations such as SHE of THE SEA it has never been a better time to be in the industry. If you haven’t already heard of them, please go and have a look at their website to see the amazing work they do in bring equality and promoting diversity in the maritime industry. Not only for women but for different ethnicities and LGBT+, we are very proud to be Ambassadors and have committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusivity within the industry.  

We are also very happy to be a part of a taskforce that is involved in setting up a Code of Practise for Large Yacht Hospitality, what is this you ask? This is the first step in formalizing interior training for yacht crew, 

“The Code will align with maritime obligations, compliance & enforcement, as well as provide recommended practices, training & support to the Interior Department; benefitting seafarers, employers, onboard operations & owners/guest expectations.”

This means so much for interior crew who are mostly women, as finally the role of interior crew will be a more formalized career route. So, watch this space!

To finish off I will leave you with the following words for all our lady readers out there, 

Happy Women’s month, let’s not just celebrate ourselves and each other for one month of the year but for all months of the year, or for that matter let’s not just celebrate women, but everyone. 

“Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules and build a life you are proud to live” - Anne Sweeny