It should to be more realistic for women to choose a career in the maritime industry.

As such, ship management major Columbia Group is now launching a mentoring program to help recruit and retain more women in the maritime sectors, the group writes in a press release. 

“We need to change the culture in the industry surrounding women and make it more viable for them to have a career in maritime, so that we can attract and widen the pool of talent that we draw from,” says program manager Claudia Paschkewitz, Columbia Group’s director of sustainability, diversity, and inclusion.

The company cites the launch of the female cadet mentorship program as a ”recognition” that the maritime industry is missing out on ”a lot of female talent” that could bring different perspectives and ideas to the table. 

Specifically, the mentoring program will run for 12 months. Hopefully, this will create a more diverse workforce and retain more women in the industry. 

”The group hopes that the mentoring program will not only attract more females onboard vessels, but help to retain them in the industry past cadetship,” the company says, noting in particular ”the flexibility needed for juggling work and home life.”

Can also impact health and safety

The program’s mentors will be senior female colleagues in various onshore departments. 

They will each be trained to deal with situations such as sexual harassment and bullying, and they will be assigned to a female midshipman in the Navy for the entire 12 months they will be at sea.

The new scheme is partly based on a report conducted by Solent University in 2019 that highlights that mentoring can also reduce costs related to health and safety as well as staff turnover. 

To ensure the success of the cadet program, Columbia Group appeals to the support of mentors and captains. 

The company states that all captains of ships in the fleet that have female cadets assigned to them will receive contact information for the cadets’ mentors before they join the ship. This will help ensure good communication between the mentors and their mentees.

(Translated by DeepL with additional editing by Christian Radich Hoffman)