OSM make room for a wider variety of voices this October to help paint a more accurate picture of the maritime industry as of 2018.
“It’s a man’s world” is a saying that many have mentioned as typical for the maritime industry. Shipping has historically been male dominated, but women play an increasingly important role.
IMO recently announced “Empowering Women in the Maritime Community” as the theme for World Maritime Day for 2019. At OSM Maritime this became food for greater thought – especially since gender equality is one of the Sustainable Development Goals that OSM is committed to focus on through its membership with the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative – the United Nations Global Compact.
While scrolling through various social media channels within shipping and maritime, we found that maritime is still predominantly male. This is also the case for OSM Maritime – by counting the number of posts featuring male versus female spokespersons we found a significant difference. Year to date in 2018, 51,6 % of our posts are featuring men. 12,3 % of our posts have a female spokesperson. For reference, 36,1 % of our posts hit the “gender neutral” category. With this in mind, OSM Maritime will focus on ensuring a more balanced representation in our channels going forward.
OSM is one of the companies that recognizes diversity as a major lifeline linked to positive results. With 30 offices in different locations worldwide and a multicultural office staff with more than 22 nationalities – OSM thrives on difference – because we know that is where we can learn the most. When it comes to women in maritime, 62% of our office staff are females – and although percentages are much lower when it comes to our seafaring community offshore, female staff has steadily been on the rise since the 90’s.
The benefits of having a diverse workforce throughout an organization have long been recognized as essential factors for prosperity and growth. Our industry’s future will depend on brave and talented people with skills and competencies to steadily manage the coming challenges related to innovation, technology adaptation and challenges related to globalization, climate and environment.
During the month of October, we’ve chosen to shine some extra light on the women of OSM – persons that have an important and qualified voice and yet for one or several reasons are featured in our feeds far less often than their male colleagues.
This month, we dedicate the majority of our social media posts to the women of OSM, to help paint a more accurate picture of OSM and the maritime industry as of 2018.
#together4tomorrow #womenofOSM