Women in marinas – the push for gender equality in the workforce

Melanie Symes, owner of Innovamarina, asks how the marina industry can tackle gender disparity in the sector.

A glance around the room at a meeting of national marine industry associations will reveal a disturbing disparity in terms of gender representation. Despite national legislation and the International Bill of Human Rights advancing gender equality, the marine industry falls worryingly short in this regard.

Women are notably underrepresented in decision-making positions, potentially affecting matters such as employment and promotion opportunities and industry culture. Roles including harbourmaster are still widely male-dominated, and the need for better female representation and female leaders of industry within nautical tourism is high.

Campaigns promoting the inclusion of women in marinas and boatyards, where training can be offered from scratch, are few and far between. There are also projects currently underway trying to promote women in the blue economy, whose teams struggle to source original images depicting professional females in the industry.

Women in marine

Wendy Stowe was selected from a pool of some 50 men as the only female candidate when she was recruited as harbourmaster for Buckler’s Hard Yacht Harbour on the Beaulieu River, UK (pictured above). She has now shifted the dynamic with a workforce that is far closer to an equal mix and encourages women to step into traditionally ‘male’ roles.

One of just a small handful of female harbourmasters on the UK’s south coast, with less than 15 in the whole of the UK, Stowe is clear on the need to change the inherent boating culture where the position is often filled by retired navy officers. “It’s also important to understand that the job has changed. This is no longer a matter of chugging along collecting harbour fees; a harbourmaster is now a business manager, involving an understanding of finance, strategy, and environmental issues, as well as operational competence. One way that we could make a difference is by educating the educators. Rather than just opening doors for women, we need to ensure that everyone is aware that women can carry out these roles perfectly well. By engaging in community outreach and connecting with schools and universities, we can begin to convey a more modern and accurate perspective of the nature of our industry.”

Most companies would fervently deny actively practicing gender discrimination and yet only a handful have adopted specific workplace diversity practices.

Melanie Symes, owner of Innovamarina

Nor have many taken a good hard look at their culture to check for the existence of discriminatory practices or unconscious bias.

Gender segregation in the marina industry is rife – where women are being employed almost exclusively in particular positions, such as marketing, cleaning, brokerage and office-based roles – and change is needed for the marine and marina industries to provide a modern proposition for all future employees.

Diversity in the marine industry

TransEurope Marinas is proud to say that member manager meetings reflect gender parity on most occasions, with a strong female voice in the decision-making process. Many female managers are certified marina managers (CMM), despite a female representation of less than 12 per cent within the current list of European CMMs. Mieke Vleugels CMM, managing partner at Jachthaven Wetterwille in Holland, despite agreeing that more could be done, views the glass very much as half full.

Vleugels says: “The last few decades have seen a greater influx of women in the marine industry in general, and especially in the marina business. Just looking around in Europe, I can think of numerous examples of prominent female marina managers who combine hospitality with great organisational skills and technical insight – the latter aspect being sometimes overlooked as this is unfortunately still somewhat viewed as a typically ‘male’ characteristic.”

Vleugels applauds the networking benefits from the CMM accreditation process, saying that the programme “can also help to empower women in the industry and provide them with the necessary tools, title and confidence to reach the next level in their career.”

Renata Mareviċ CMM, from Marina Punat in Croatia, stepped into her role as manager via previous positions in the marina office and highlights the opportunities she was given throughout her career. Heading up Marina Punat for the last ten years, and a strong believer in positive encouragement and promotion of the active role of women in society and business, Mareviċ is pleased to report gender parity within the team of people in leading positions in Marina Punat but notes the need for wider change.

“Women are indeed present in the nautical industry, in all positions, where they actively participate in decision-making and daily marina operations,” she says. “Statistically, however, most women are involved at the sales level, in receptions, marketing, brokerage, etc., and there are far fewer of them at the level of marina management, design or jobs of a traditionally technical nature which tend to be ‘reserved’ for the opposite sex.”

Suzanne Bell CMM, marina manager of boatfolk’s Rhu Marina in Scotland, also counts on a female assistant manager and welcomes the “recognition and encouragement” received from boatfolk in generating a supportive and equitable workplace. She also, however, recognises the existence of unconscious bias. Bell explains: “When accompanied by a male colleague and a technical question is asked, or a decision is sought, the assumption is that he’s in charge. Promoting an inclusive culture within the marine industry will ensure that everyone, regardless of gender, has encouragement, resources, and support.”

Kerrie Grey CMM, manager at Poole Quay Boat Haven and Port of Poole Marina, describes first entering the marina industry in 2005, where she only stayed for a couple of years because she couldn’t see a career path: “There were no female marina managers that I saw or met at boat shows. “Even when I returned in 2011, it was only expected to be on a temporary basis because it was still difficult to see how my journey would unfold if I were to stay.” Grey remained, however, due to falling in love with the industry and wanting to help make a change, and has demonstrated that with the right encouragement and provision of opportunities, the industry has much to offer women.

Alison Wakelin, CMM, managing director of Emsworth Yacht Harbour in the UK, came into the industry through the family business, with a strong background in economics and the electricity industry. Her experience employing female workers throughout the marina and yard services has been very successful, and she recognises that this can “do much to break down stereotypes, notably among our customers, some of whom have more traditional expectations.” Wakelin notes that there “has very much been a ‘changing of the guard’ as older, more traditional employees have retired or moved on, and today’s workers are more modern and open to less gendered roles.”

Data-driven

She agrees that diversity needs work, particularly given their local context and the historical culture of the boating industry. Naturally, these practices should ideally also extend to any gender identity or sexual orientation, as to ethnicity, disability, age and religion. By amassing data on gender representation, establishing gender indicators across the industry and obtaining a baseline, the marine sector can create goals for improvement, begin to develop a strategy to tackle underlying issues, and monitor progress. It’s time to address the issue of the underrepresentation of women in marinas and the boating industry and make a serious attempt to start moving the dial.

Melanie Symes is the owner of Innovamarina.

Main image courtesy of Beaulieu Enterprises Ltd.