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Today, ISWAN is launching two new guides for the shipping, cruise, and superyacht industries that set out how building a culture of allyship can make life and work at sea safer and more inclusive for all. The resources, which were co-sponsored by The Seafarers’ Charity and The UK P&I Club, form part of ISWAN’s global campaign: ‘Safe at Sea…it takes all of us!.’ The campaign aims to improve women’s personal safety at sea by highlighting the role that men seafarers can take as allies in support of women colleagues.    

Allyship means proactively supporting others who are part of a group that is treated unfairly, even if you yourself are not part of this group. The concept of allyship has received little attention to date in the maritime sector. However, effective allyship can be particularly powerful at sea, as, due to the international, multicultural nature of seafaring, many seafarers will, at some point in their career, have the experience of feeling that they are “the only one”, whether this is the only seafarer of their gender, nationality, religion or linguistic group.  

The first guide is designed to support seafarers to be good allies to one another, whilst the companion guide for maritime stakeholders explores what employers, manning agents, management companies and other key stakeholders can do to foster a culture of allyship at sea. 

As ISWAN’s new guides make clear, the benefits of allyship are multifaceted. At an individual level, allyship can enhance seafarers’ wellbeing and support their professional and personal growth and satisfaction. For teams, a culture of allyship can help to build healthier, safer and more productive work environments. In so doing, allyship is beneficial at a sector-wide level, as it leads to a reduction in harmful interpersonal behaviours and thereby helps to improve levels of recruitment and retention. 

One group for whom allyship can be particularly valuable is women seafarers who, especially on merchant vessels, regularly experience being the only woman on their vessel or team. The challenges facing women who embark on maritime careers have been widely documented: from higher incidences of abuse, bullying, harassment, discrimination and violence (ABHDV) to a lack of appropriate protective equipment or sanitary facilities, women face additional barriers to a safe and rewarding career in maritime.  

ISWAN’s guides provide practical actions that all seafarers, senior officers, maritime employers and other key stakeholders can take to help to build a strong culture of allyship at sea, in particular between men seafarers and their women colleagues. Acknowledging that speaking up as an ally can be challenging, particularly in the beginning, the guides offer practical examples of how seafarers and maritime stakeholders can build effective allyship. These include concrete suggestions for “what to say and how to say it” when challenging inappropriate behaviour and how to restore a sense of safety in tense or high-pressure situations.

Georgia Allen, ISWAN’s Projects and Relationship Manager, said:

‘Despite numerous initiatives to encourage more women to pursue careers at sea, there has been limited progress towards achieving culture change. Making a real commitment both to being a good ally to seafarers and to proactively fostering a culture of allyship is a concrete step that maritime stakeholders can take towards achieving the structural change that is needed for women seafarers to experience safe and rewarding careers. However, there is no doubting that seafaring is an extremely demanding vocation whatever your gender identity – so being good allies to one another is a very powerful way for all seafarers to benefit from a greater sense of safety, inclusion and belonging at sea.’ 

ISWAN’s free resources, How to be an ally: A guide for seafarers and How to be an ally: A guide for maritime stakeholders can be downloaded here.

Many thanks to The Seafarers’ Charity and The UK P&I Club, the co-funders of the “Safe at Sea….. It takes all of us!” campaign. Further information about ISWAN’s ‘Safe at Sea…it takes all of us!’ campaign is available on ISWAN’s website.

As part of the campaign, ISWAN is holding an event on 3 October to explore the role of maritime stakeholders in fostering allyship. Details about how to join the livestream are available here.  

For more information, please contact ISWAN at [email protected].