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    Change in attitude of sailors and society must to put more women on ships: Maersk’s Niels Bruus

    Synopsis

    The biggest challenge is the perspective of men on board, who are not accustomed to working with women in a ship. To change that Maersk says by 2027, it aims to have equal distribution between women and men in cadet intake from India.

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    "Maersk recognises the effort required to reach diversity and the constant commitment necessary to bridge the gap between diversity and equity further," said Niels Bruus.
    The maritime sector, largely male-dominated, is slowly trying to get more women on board. Currently, with only 0.5% of Indian seafarers being women, the need of the hour clearly is to create the right ecosystem for them in this industry. To take a step in this endeavour, logistics major Maersk in May announced India’s first seafarers’ cadet programme dedicated to women. Niels Bruus, Head of Marine HR, A.P. Moller – Maersk, spoke to ET Digital on the various initiatives they are taking to create a shift in mindset and behaviour towards women cadets. Edited excerpts:

    The Economic Times (ET): Why is there such limited participation of women in the maritime industry?
    Niels Bruus (NB):
    For centuries, seafaring has been equated with men. This has naturally influenced the overall conditioning, beliefs and actions of the stakeholders associated with the marine industry. And there are a variety of reasons why we stand where we stand today — ranging from perceptions about careers at sea, insufficient awareness around opportunities, cultural bias, etc.

    ET: Women make up a mere 0.5% of Indian seafarers today. How can such a gender imbalance be addressed and improved?
    NB:
    The first step towards solving the problem is acknowledging it. And it is about time we turn the tide with women on board and ensure everyone is equal at sea. The gender imbalance is so steep that it is not something that will be rectified overnight. It will need a lot of time, mainly because we have to start with changing the mindset – the industry's mindset, the mindset of the aspiring candidates, the mindset of their parents and society. We must establish the right ecosystem for young women to enable them to make the right career choices. We must create the right opportunities for them in the short term and in the long term that would span over their long careers.

    Together, we need to unearth taboos, bust the myths and recognise competence over opinion, inclusion over differentiation, and equality over biases. As an industry, I believe it is our collective responsibility to drive women's participation dedicatedly and sustainably.

    ET: What are some of the unique challenges faced by women seafarers in different vessel types?
    NB:
    From a competence, knowledge and capability perspective, there should be no challenges. The biggest challenge is, in fact, the perspective of the men on board, who mostly are not accustomed to working with women, and sometimes inadvertently make it more difficult for women to succeed. There are also physical aspects of the older vessel design and layout which need to be considered, for example, common changing rooms, which are not suitable for multiple genders onboard.

    ET: Seafaring is often seen as hard and demanding. What kind of facilities can be extended to women seafarers on board to encourage them to be a part of this industry?
    NB:
    A seafaring career can be hard and demanding at times, but it is certainly not something women are not capable of. To attract more women to be a part of this industry, we need to ensure that they are provided with a safe working environment, both physically and psychologically, free of harassment and discrimination. Planning assignments with more than one woman on board at any given time is undoubtedly one of the solutions to overcome some of the problems that women face, and we are making sure that we do this now.

    ET: What kind of government regulations and intervention can help to get more women on board and make this sector more gender diverse?
    NB:
    The administration in India is already taking many positive steps to promote women in the maritime sector with initiatives such as education grants and leadership programmes. Further, as we march towards getting more women in seafaring careers, it is more important to make gender sensitisation training mandatory, create a common standard for maritime training institutes to ensure that women are treated equitably, feel welcome and thereby have equal opportunities.

    ET: How is Maersk helping in turning the tide for more women to board ships?
    NB:
    At Maersk, we have formed a dedicated cultural transformation team whose job is to look at this holistically. We are looking at everything from processes and procedures to PPE and giving management onboard tools to have meaningful conversations about making everyone feel included and part of the team, to name a few examples.

    We are using psychological safety as the leadership approach, as we believe that we must prioritise physical and psychological safety equally. We believe that by focusing on inclusion, we will improve the lives of all our seafarers and make it attractive to sail with Maersk for everyone, not just for women.

    Maersk recognises the effort required to reach diversity and the constant commitment necessary to bridge the gap between diversity and equity further. But we are also a company driven by the ‘star of hope’. We know that significant change is possible if we put our minds and efforts into it. However, to realise such a change, we must verbalise, set ambitious targets and measure progress. Therefore, we have set an ambitious goal: by 2027, we aim to have equal distribution between women and men in our cadet intake from India.

    To ensure sustainability, we have adopted a three-pronged approach: promote, nurture and advance.

    Maersk is investing in an outreach programme to promote a career in seafaring in schools across India. To nurture, Maersk has collaborated with AMET University in Chennai to design and implement a dedicated Women Cadet Programme, where women are treated equally. This programme shall provide women with a safe environment — both physically & psychologically — and without discrimination. Finally, to further advance women in their maritime careers, Maersk is actively investing in increasing the number of women in our fleet and creating an equitable workplace to retain talent.

    Alongside our efforts in India, at a global level, it is our constant endeavour to ensure alignment in our purpose, processes & policies and equip our people to successfully manage the required cultural shifts.

    We are targeting a shift in mindset and behaviour with our efforts to ensure that we are on board, both in spirit and in reality. We are targeting our efforts to create awareness of the need for change through anti-sexual harassment campaigns, crew connects, leadership programmes and community groups, to name a few. We equip our colleagues with the necessary knowledge through learning and development programmes and are bringing about the desired change. We are implementing reinforcement mechanisms to monitor the change over time and promote desirable behaviours and outcomes.
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