The IMO Council, meeting from 8-12 November, has decided to establish an International Day for Women in Maritime, to be observed on 18 May every year, according to IMO's release.
Once adopted by the IMO Assembly in December 2021, the observance will celebrate women in the industry, promote the recruitment, retention and sustained employment of women in the maritime sector, raise the profile of women in maritime, strengthen IMO's commitment to Sustainable Development Goal 5 (gender equality) and support work to address the current gender imbalance in maritime.
The proposal to establish an International Day for Women in Maritime was first addressed by IMO's Technical Cooperation Committee (TCC) in September 2021 following the momentum of the World Maritime Theme in 2019 "Empowering women in the maritime community." The proposal received wide support from the TCC Technical Cooperation Committee in forwarding the proposal to the Council.