Women in shipping

THE IMO Council is currently getting ready to vote for its next secretary-general. We are told that there has never been such a large list of contenders, nor a list with such diversity. Yet the list is not sufficiently large or diverse to include a woman candidate.

When IMO was looking for a successor to Bill O’Neil, the candidates included a woman who was known within IMO as “the lady who climbs the stairs”. It would be wrong to suppose that, when she reached the top, all she found was a glass ceiling. But it is disappointing to discover that the six candidates for IMO’s top job are all men.

In shipping, as elsewhere, people should be judged on their merits, irrespective of gender. WISTA is a tribute to the determination of women to get a fair deal in shipping, but it is a condemnation of shipping that there is a need for it to exist. The idea of a MISTA, for example, is unthinkable.

chris@merlinco.com