The Deputy Minister of Transport, Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga will address the 3rd World Maritime University’s International Conference on empowering women in the maritime community in Malmo, Sweden on Friday, 05 April 2019.
Deputy Minister Chikunga will demonstrate South Africa’s commitment in meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal no 5 which speaks to gender equality as a cross cutting theme.
The field of maritime is one of the sectors in which women are among the most underrepresented with only two percent of the world’s 1.2 million seafarers being females.
“With Operation Phakisa’s ocean economy eminent, women have an to be given an opportunity to play their part
and our country is playing an important role in addressing the obstacles that impede the participation of women in the sector”, said Deputy Minister Chikunga.
The Department is championing women empowerment in the sector through initiatives such as the South African Network
for Women in Transport (SNAWIT) and the Transport Sector B-BBEE Charter Council.
Through our skills development drive, we have been able to send students for training at the World Maritime University in Sweden. Some of these students were females.
Our external skills development programme produced South Africa’s first three black female master mariners.
“We hope that the resolutions of the two-day gathering in Malmo will translate into an action that will speed up transformation in the maritime sector worldwide”, concluded Deputy Minister Chikunga.