The International Chamber of Shipping has highlighted the critical role of the updated Maritime Labour Convention in improving conditions for women at sea, as part of its new Fifth Edition guidelines promoting safer and more inclusive maritime workplaces. Despite modest progress in shore-based maritime employment, women remain significantly underrepresented at sea, with industry leaders calling for stronger welfare standards, anti-harassment measures, and structural reforms to support long-term retention and diversity in shipping.
London | May 18, 2026 – As the maritime industry confronts mounting structural pressures, from global seafarer shortages and tightening safety expectations to the accelerating push for long-term sustainability, diversity is no longer positioned as a social objective alone, but as a core operational necessity.
Nowhere is this shift more evident than in efforts to improve conditions for women at sea, where persistent workforce imbalance and onboard challenges continue to define one of shipping’s most entrenched structural gaps.
The release of the Guidelines on the Application of the ILO Maritime Labour Convention (Fifth Edition) by the International Chamber of Shipping marks a renewed industry focus on practical measures to support female seafarers and strengthen inclusivity across global fleets.
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A Persistent Gender Gap in the Maritime Workforce
Despite incremental progress in shore-based maritime employment, gender representation at sea remains disproportionately low. Findings from the IMO–WISTA Women in Maritime Survey 2024 show that women now account for approximately 19% of maritime employment ashore across surveyed IMO Member States. However, this improvement contrasts sharply with the realities onboard vessels.
According to the BIMCO/ICS Seafarer Workforce Report 2021, women represent just over 1% of the global seafaring workforce, while maritime education data referenced by the IMO and WISTA indicates that only around 5% of maritime students are female.
This disparity underscores a critical structural imbalance in the maritime talent pipeline, one that industry stakeholders increasingly view as unsustainable amid ongoing officer shortages.
“Diversity Is No Longer Optional”
For Sarah Lovell, Technical Content Development Manager at ICS and former seafarer, the data reinforces a clear message: diversity is essential for the industry’s long-term competitiveness.
“A diverse workforce is essential if the maritime industry is to keep improving and remain competitive,” Lovell said. “Diversity enables us to adapt, innovate, and progress in step with other sectors.”
Lovell’s perspective is shaped by her early seafaring experience, when female presence onboard vessels was extremely limited and senior female officers were rare. A formative moment came during her time sailing under one of the UK’s first female captains, an experience she describes as both guiding and transformative.
Today, she notes a gradual but meaningful shift: increasing numbers of female cadets, more women progressing into officer roles, and greater visibility of female seafarers through digital platforms and industry networks.
Support networks, largely absent during her early career, have also emerged as an important development, offering women a platform to share experiences and build resilience in a traditionally male-dominated environment.
Everyday Operational Challenges at Sea
Despite progress, Lovell highlights that many of the challenges faced by women at sea are rooted in basic operational realities onboard vessels. One key issue addressed in the updated ICS guidance is menstrual hygiene provision at sea, a topic that has historically been under-discussed within maritime operations.
She describes situations familiar to many female seafarers: being on watch without access to sanitary products, relying on shared facilities without adequate disposal systems, or feeling unable to request short breaks during night duty to access essential hygiene items.
While some ship operators have introduced proactive measures, such as placing sanitary products in bridge and engine control room first-aid stations or installing sanitary disposal bins in shared washrooms, these practices remain inconsistent across the industry.
Lovell argues that standardisation is essential.
“Companies providing sanitary bins in female seafarers’ cabins and shared bathrooms is not a luxury,” she said. “It is something that is much needed if we want to retain and recruit female seafarers.”
Maritime Labour Convention Updates and Practical Welfare Measures
The latest edition of the Maritime Labour Convention guidelines reinforces the sector’s obligation to safeguard dignity, wellbeing, and safe working conditions onboard vessels. Within this framework, revised provisions now explicitly address shipboard sanitary supply requirements, reflecting growing recognition of gender-specific operational needs.
Lovell recalls cadets frequently raising practical concerns during training, ranging from how many sanitary products to carry onboard, to storage limitations and managing unexpected situations while on watch.
By addressing these issues through formal provisioning standards, operators can reduce stress, improve onboard welfare, and remove barriers that disproportionately affect new entrants to the profession. Ensuring sanitary products are available in ship stores is a relatively small operational adjustment, but one with measurable impact on retention and onboard wellbeing.
Safety, Culture, and the Challenge of Retention
Beyond physical provisions, Lovell highlights deeper cultural and safety-related challenges that continue to influence women’s career decisions at sea.
Many female seafarers report feeling pressure to exceed performance expectations in order to demonstrate competence in male-dominated environments. More significantly, concerns around harassment, bullying, and personal safety remain persistent issues across segments of the industry.
The strengthened provisions within the updated Maritime Labour Convention, and reflected in the Guidelines on the Application of the ILO Maritime Labour Convention (Fifth Edition), set clearer expectations for shipowners to implement anti-harassment and anti-bullying frameworks, alongside structured victim protection procedures.
These developments build on longstanding advocacy by the International Chamber of Shipping and the International Transport Workers’ Federation, which jointly developed guidance on eliminating shipboard harassment and bullying.
For Lovell, the formal inclusion of these principles into regulatory frameworks represents a significant milestone for the industry.
PPE Standards and Structural Change
Earlier Maritime Labour Convention amendments in 2022 introduced requirements for properly fitting personal protective equipment, including women-specific sizing for onboard safety gear.
Lovell recalls the practical implications of this change, noting that ill-fitting PPE previously created both discomfort and safety risks, often forcing female seafarers to improvise equipment solutions.
Recognising these needs marked an important cultural shift within maritime operations, one that continues to evolve under updated guidance. Together, these changes signal a broader transformation: diversity is increasingly being treated not as an optional policy area, but as an integrated element of safe and professional shipboard operations.
Beyond Regulation: The Role of Retention and Career Flexibility
While regulatory updates are critical, Lovell stresses that long-term workforce retention will depend equally on structural employment flexibility.
She highlights the importance of supportive maternity and parental leave policies, phased return-to-work arrangements, and career pathways that allow women to balance family life with progression into senior maritime roles.
Some operators have already introduced phased return-to-sea programmes following maternity leave, alongside more inclusive recruitment frameworks supported by the Diversity and Inclusion Toolkit for Shipping. At the same time, improved onboard digital connectivity is helping to reduce isolation, historically a major factor in seafarer attrition, making long-duration contracts more sustainable.
The Business Case for Diversity
Industry perception is also shifting. Diversity is increasingly recognised not only as a social imperative, but as a strategic workforce solution.
A broader talent pool strengthens recruitment pipelines, enhances onboard decision-making, and contributes to safer, more resilient operations. In the context of global officer shortages, diversity is becoming a practical necessity rather than a policy aspiration.
Shipowners are gradually acknowledging that inclusive crews deliver both operational and commercial advantages across global trade networks.
Looking Ahead: A More Inclusive Maritime Future
Lovell’s vision for the future of seafaring is clear: a working environment where women are fully integrated into shipboard operations without being treated as exceptions.
When asked what remains essential for progress, her message is direct.
“These aren’t optional extras,” she said. “This is how we attract and retain the diverse workforce our industry needs for the future.”
The updated Maritime Labour Convention guidelines represent a meaningful step forward, but industry stakeholders increasingly agree that implementation, enforcement, and cultural change will determine whether progress is sustained.
About the International Chamber of Shipping
The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) is the principal international trade association for merchant shipowners and operators, representing over 80% of the world’s merchant fleet across all sectors and trades. Through its publications arm, ICS develops and promotes best practices, safety standards, and industry guidance used globally across the shipping sector.
Source: International Chamber of Shipping