26 | Seaways | May 2019 Read Seaways online at http://www.nautinst.org/seawaysFeature: Uncharted waters
Women laying the groundwork for equality
Uncharted waters
D
o you remember the fi rst time you were brave? Was it
getting on the school bus with all those strange children on
your fi rst day of school? Maybe it was more recent – going
parachuting? Bungee jumping? Or maybe you don’t think
any of that as taking ‘courage’ – it is just life...
I applaud the courage of the fi rst women who became seafarers in
post-Second World War era, those who started charting the waters for
those who came later, including me!
The modern course for women in maritime was charted in the 1960s- an era known for social change. In 1962 Danuta Walas became a
ship’s captain in Poland. A newspaper report from 28 February 1966
states that ‘...at 35 [Danuta Walas] is one of the world’s three women
captains (the others are Russian and Dutch) and has 18 men under her
control...’ The report also notes that Capt Walas’s husband was joining
the ship as second mate. I can hardly imagine the courage of both Capt
Walas and her husband – both were true trail-blazers, charting a course
in unknown waters.
Maritime training
The courses charted by these amazing women led to further changes.
In Canada, the Canadian Coast Guard College (CCGC) was
established in 1965, with an initial mandate to train young men in
a four-year diploma programme for Marine Engineering or Marine
Navigation. In 1973 this programme was expanded to include women- the class of 1977. If you were a woman in maritime in 1973 who
would you want to meet? Why, Capt Walas, of course.
In the United States, the California Maritime Academy accepted the
fi rst women in the class of 1976. The US Merchant Marine Academy
had women graduates for the fi rst time in 1978.
In the 1970s and 1980s more maritime training institutes around
the world were welcoming women. In 1978 the Australian Maritime
College (AMC) was established and in 1980 115 students were
enrolled. AMC reported: ‘Students enrolled in the full-time courses
came from every State and Territory in Australia; one student was from
Fiji and one from New Zealand. As a refl ection of the situation in the
shipping industry at the time, 112 of these students were male and
three were female.’ Of these three, two were enrolled in the Associate
Diploma in Marine Radiocommunication and one as a female mid-
cadet. Elizabeth Datson successfully completed her course in 1980 and
went on to become Australia’s fi rst female Captain.
International recognition
In 1988 the International Maritime Organization introduced a
vanguard programme within the United Nations specialised agencies
to promote and integrate women in the maritime sector. For more than
30 years this programme has been promoting and supporting women
in a variety of roles within the maritime sector. In addition, the IMO
incorporated a gender dimension in IMO policies and procedures, and
developed resolutions to ensure opportunities for women in maritime.
This has led to the development of a focus on women in maritime
initiatives. With the development of Women in Shipping Trade
Association (WISTA), Women Offshore and other initiatives, we are
moving from the uncharted waters of the 1970s and 1980s to zones of
confi dence with women active in all areas of the maritime industry.Photo provided courtesy of Pierre Jean, Director, CCGC
International RecognitionJillian Carson-Jackson FN
Senior Vice President, The Nautical Institute