Many perceive maritime as being traditionally male dominated, especially at the top. Have you found this to be true and has this changed over the years that you have been in the industry?

At Rio Tinto, we are committed to increasing diversity, including in maritime, and creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels safe, respected and empowered. I’m proud to share we have over 50% of females in our Rio Tinto Marine shore team – across various levels and professions from chartering to operations. Over the past year, we have also increased the number of women seafarers from 4% to over 8% on Rio Tinto-owned vessels. It’s a modest step, but an important one. And while progress has been made, there’s still work to do.

Maritime has traditionally been a male-dominated industry, where women currently make up only 1.2% of the global seafarer workforce and about 5% of women hold leadership positions.

Before we can increase female leadership in maritime, we need to get more women into the industry in the first place. The reality is that if women do not enter the industry at meaningful levels, they will not rise to leadership. That is why change must start on the ground, by ensuring a safe and inclusive environment where women want to join and stay. We’ve taken concrete steps to improve both physical and psychological safety for female seafarers in our owned vessels, such as:

• Pairing female seafarers in groups of two.
• Providing separate male and female locker rooms.
• Providing feminine hygiene products free of charge as a store item.
• Installing smart CCTV in high-traffic areas.

We’re also proud of the maternity and paternity leave policy that we’ve co-created with our ship management partner, Anglo Eastern, across over 700 vessels that they manage, including 13 of ours. This includes rejoining bonuses and shore-based career opportunities after childbirth, providing real support to seafarers balancing family and work. These steps, probably the first in the industry, play a part to make maritime a more sustainable career path for women in the long run.

Personally, I believe that these structural changes can make an impact. Besides these immediate actions, we also need to look long term, beginning with education even before they enter the workforce. This means encouraging STEM education for young women, creating scholarships and training programs in maritime sectors, and building stronger partnerships within the industry. A good example is the collaboration with SMF, where we supported the MaritimeONE Case Summit and MaritimeONE Internship Programme to provide tertiary students meaningful exposure to the maritime industry. The earlier we introduce young women to opportunities in this field, the more likely they are to see it as a viable and rewarding career path.

Ultimately, we cannot just expect women to “fit into” the existing system. We must actively shape it to be more inclusive, and that starts with advocating for change, breaking barriers on shore and at sea, and ensuring that opportunities are truly equal. By attracting more women to the industry, it benefits the industry in the long run. We can develop a new generation of capable and inspirational global leaders to tackle the future trends of the industry such as decarbonisation and digitalisation and build a more resilient maritime industry for the generations to come.