Empowering Women in Maritime

Shipping and maritime sector have long been male dominated. IMO established the special program called the Integration of Women in the Maritime Sector more than thirty years ago with a view to encouraging a great number of women in the maritime sector.

Women empowerment is brought forward at the UN meetings as one of the hot topics as well. The United Nations General Assembly formally adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the fifth of which is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

Today gender equality has been recognized as one of the key platforms on which people can build a sustainable future. The maritime community itself is missing out on a huge talent pool if it fails to properly offer women adequate and fair access to workplace.

Recently there has been a lot of studies on gender equality which have shown that organizations with a higher percentage of women in senior management positions significantly outperform those that do not. Having more women in the workplace is beneficial for organizations as a whole, for men and for women.

Today the DPR Korea ensures that women prove themselves efficient and productive in every part of the society with full awareness of the huge significance of their roles in the revolution. President Kim Il Sung proclaimed the Law on Sex Equality on July 30 1946 for the first time in the world history, which is spoken highly of as an epoch-making political event in the DPR Korean history as well as in the international women movement history since it radically exalted the position and role of the DPR Korean women. Thanks to this law, a number of women have launched out in the maritime sector to give full paly to their efficiency and energy for seventy years or so. The best example is the Josonrodongdangui Ttal Nyosongyongungchongnyon, the famous fishing vessel crewed by girls who greatly contribute to the development of the fishery in the DPR Korea.

The female maritime officials of the DPR Korea who attended the meetings of the Women in Maritime Asia held in Philippines, Malaysia and Timor-Leste boasted that many efficient female maritime officials in the DPR Korea work hard to make as tangible contributions to the national maritime policy implementation as male officials do.

All the female maritime officials of the DPR Korea are sure that they will do their best to make joint efforts together with the women the world over for the common goals of safe navigation and clean oceans.