Watch: Kitada Explains Gender Mainstreaming

The IMO and World Maritime University (WMU) have released a new Handbook on Gender Mainstreaming in the Maritime Sector, calling for action to address persistent gender inequality across the global maritime industry.

The handbook, authored by WMU Professor Momoko Kitada, was launched on the International Day for Women in Maritime on May 18. Kitada is also the recipient of the 2026 IMO Gender Equality Award.  

The publication is the first of its kind, aimed at closing the gender gap in the maritime sector, where women account for just 1% of the world’s seafaring workforce and hold only 19% of ministerial roles responsible for maritime affairs.

The handbook provides practical guidance for maritime administrations, shipping companies, ports, shipyards and maritime education institutions on how to integrate gender considerations into policies, recruitment, training, workplace safety and leadership development.  

It includes tools tailored to maritime organizations for gender analysis, the development of gender equality action plans, and monitoring and evaluation.  

The handbood states: In the wake of gender equality initiatives in the maritime sector, there may be a misunderstanding that gender equality benefits women only. At its core, gender mainstreaming allows us to move beyond seeing women and men as a homogeneous group, and instead acknowledging the diversity among them and ensuring that all policies and actions benefit everyone equitably. This approach aims to transform the systemic structures and practices that sustain gender inequality rather than simply adding a “women’s component” to existing activities.
In the context of the maritime sector, gender mainstreaming helps ensure that policies and practices related to maritime education, employment conditions, safety standards, infrastructure development, and environmental protection, are scrutinized for their differential impact on people of all genders working in or affected by the industry.

Gender mainstreaming transforms organizational culture by establishing systemic change through a lens of gender equality as a core value. Systemic change enables maritime organizations to move beyond simply increasing the number of women and fundamentally changing the systems, policies, and informal norms that perpetuate inequality. This leads to a safer, more respectful environment for everyone, including men, who may also be constrained by rigid gender roles.

Presenting the handbook, Professor Kitada emphasized that gender mainstreaming is an effective strategy, process and methodology which works for everyone’s benefit: “Gender mainstreaming requires leadership to implement. No matter our role or level in an organization, we can exercise gender mainstreaming in both large and small capacities.”

In the foreword, IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said the industry must move “beyond rhetoric and toward measurable action,” adding that a more diverse maritime workforce is more competent, safer and more sustainable.  

He stated: “Gender mainstreaming is the strategic tool we must employ to bridge this gap. It is not a secondary objective or a 'women’s issue’; it is a globally recognized methodology used to ensure that every policy, every regulation, and every operational practice is scrutinized through a gender lens."

WMU President Maximo Q. Mejia, Jr. said in the preface that the handbook was designed to serve as “a roadmap to definitive change,” helping organizations implement practical measures to create more equitable workplaces.  

He noted that WMU itself had reached gender parity in its Malmö MSc intake for 2025 after decades of targeted efforts to increase opportunities for women in maritime education.