Delegates represented the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. the executive committee of PacWIMA, partners from AMSA, Maritime New Zealand, the Torres Strait Regional Authority, WISTA Australia and the World Maritime University also attended.
State representatives reinforced the strategic objectives and priorities relevant to their communities and regions, aligning with government strategies in the commitment to achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal 5, to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls and other SDGs related to maritime.
he PacWIMA conference also covered other important topics such as:
• the prevention of sexual assault and sexual harassment of seafarers; .
• the use of key performance indicators and annual performance reviews to measure progress;
• IMO short course fellowships and initiatives to improve visibility, recognition and training of women in the maritime sector;
• AMSA’s progress with addressing gender equity within their organisation;
• successes and challenges faced by Indigenous women in maritime and the governance experience of the Torres Strait Regional Authority;
• World Maritime University fellowship opportunities at IMO training institutions and the Adopt a Ship program for school students;
• Australia’s approach to changing the narrative and promoting engagement, empowerment and education as tools for advancing the role of women in maritime; and
• thanks to the previous PacWIMA executive committee and a big welcome and congratulations to the new committee.
The conference demonstrated that when we work together to listen, learn and join the dots, we can provide the necessary resources, tools and measures to be able to support each other. In this way, we can use small steps to create big advances in the work of gender equality with equitable initiatives that consider individual, regional and local needs as well as global goals for the advancement of gender equality.