According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the current huge gender gap in the maritime sector is well-documented as “women represent only two percent of the world’s 1.2 million seafarers”. Although there is currently no hard data on maritime SAR, all available anecdotal evidence suggests that the position is no different: women are greatly under-represented across maritime SAR, in both volunteer and paid positions. 

In a bid to address this, the IMRF launched its #WomenInSAR initiative in June 2019 at that year's World Maritime Rescue Congress in Canada. 

This project aims to increase the representation of women in the maritime sector generally and to provide support for, and raise the profile of, women in the maritime SAR sector specifically. This IMRF initiative supports the IMO's Empowering Women in Maritime initiative.

As of mid-2023, the project is in its fourth year and we are committed to bringing new information and stories to the IMRF community to showcase the skills, passion and capabilities of women in maritime SAR. We have some exciting plans for 2024, including a exclusive #WomenInSAR training in August 2024 in Finland. Registration for this will open very soon. We will also be announcing more plans in the coming months! 

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The #WomenInSAR Report & Guidance

In October 2020, we launched our #WomenInSAR survey. The survey aimed to discover what people in all kinds of SAR roles think about gender balance and equality of opportunity across the maritime SAR sector and, crucially, what could be done to improve things. We received more than 1,600 responses from individuals and SAR organisations across the globe. The IMRF used the results of the survey to launch the #WomenInSAR Report on 8 March 2021 on International Women's Day.

The full copies of the #WomenInSAR Report and its Executive Summary are freely available for download to the maritime SAR community below.  

#WomenInSAR Executive Summary - 8 March 2021	#WomenInSAR Full Report - 8 March 2021
Download:#WomenInSAR Executive Summary - 8 March 2021	Download: #WomenInSAR Full Report - 8 March 2021

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The #WomenInSAR Award

In 2019, the IMRF introduced its #WomenInSAR Award as part of our annual IMRF Awards ceremony. The award highlights an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to improving equality of opportunity for women and girls in maritime SAR. Since its inception, the IMRF has awarded several awards to individuals that have contributed such efforts. Previous winners of the award include:

• Isobel Tugwell, RNLI
• Anna Bertrandsson Littke, Swedish Sea Rescue Society
• Krista Lynn Elvidge, Canadian Coastguard 
• Andrew Tate, RNLI

You can find out more about the IMRF's #WomenInSAR Award here.

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Exclusive #WomenInSAR Events

To promote the skills and capabilities of women in maritime SAR, the IMRF has held a number of exclusive events as part of its #WomenInSAR campaign.

November 2019: All-women maritime training in Morocco

The IMRF's first-ever all-women maritime SAR training event took place in Morocco in November 2019. It featured 12 women from across Africa and covered basic knowledge, a practical exercise and best practice training to enable the women to successfully manage rescue missions in their home countries in the future. The event was supported by the IMO. Read more about the event.

August 2022: The IMRF's #WomenInSAR Training & Seminar Event

The IMRF's official #WomenInSAR Training & Seminar Event took place in August 2022 in Finland, supported by the Finnish Lifeboat Institution (FLBI). The women-only training event was attended by 16 women from across the world, while the seminar had 42 participants, both men and women. The training event gave participants the opportunity to learn practical and real-life operational skills, delivered by experts at the FLBI. It included live exercises on board various types of rescue boats, simulated exercises on improving communication and decision-making skills, and talks on understanding crew welfare, operating safely, and how to be a leader in a SAR unit. Read more about the event.

February & April 2023: #WomenInSAR training events in Morocco and Kenya

The IMRF held two #WomenInSAR training events in early 2023 that enabled women from maritime SAR organisations across Africa to come together and take steps towards greater inclusivity and understand the necessity and benefits of diversity in maritime, including how to make the maritime SAR sector a better place for women to volunteer or work. Delegates also learned from and experienced how other countries and SAR organisations are increasing the representation of women. Empowered with information, they could return to their organisations to implement learnings and best practices. Read more about the event.

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Blogs & Podcasts

The IMRF has had the chance to sit down and talk with several profile-worthy women in the maritime SAR sector. Each of them spoke about their history in SAR, what inspired them to join their local SAR organisation, and how they think things can be improved for women in SAR in general. You can read all our interviews and listen to our #WomenInSAR podcasts below:

• Podcasts: Women in maritime SAR in Africa
• Jori Nordström, CEO, Finnish Lifeboat Institution
• Podcast: Why gender balance in maritime SAR matters
• Sharon Crowther and Carmen Long, South Africa's NSRI
• Martina Capriotti, Italian Federation of Aquatic Rescue (FISA)
• Frederike Bensche, volunteer rescue boat driver, German Life Saving Association
• Cia Sjöstedt, CEO, Swedish Sea Rescue Society
• Amber Sheasgreen, Operations Manager, Royal Canadian Maritime Search and Rescue
• Isobel Tugwell, volunteer, RNLI, and winner of the first-ever IMRF #WomenInSAR Award
• Rebecca Bethell, Director of Operations, Yellow Scorpion & Natalie Mussington, Technical & Engineering Graduate, Inmarsat
• Julie Schneider, Executive Creative Director, and Josie Giersing, volunteer crew member, Virgin Island Search and Rescue
• We also had the chance to interview 12 women across the world who use science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) in their roles as paid or volunteers in maritime SAR. Click on the following link to read all 12 Interviews.

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Webinars

As part of the IMRF's #WomenInSAR initiative, we hosted two exclusive webinars. The first, which took place on 11 January 2020, provided an overview of the #WomenInSAR initiative, and included case studies from Julie-Anne Wood from the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Jess Shield from the RLNI. The second webinar, which took place on 8 March 2021, provided a comprehensive look at the findings of the #WomenInSAR initiative, with speakers including Rikke Lind from the Norwegian Sea Rescue Society, David Jardine-Smith, the author of the report, Cdr Maritime Dr Suzanna Razali Chan, Chief Assistant Director at the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency; and Michael Vlasto, former chair of the IMRF.

Both webinars are available to watch for free below. 

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Want to know more?

The IMRF is committed to bringing new stories and information about the impact of women in maritime SAR to our members and the SAR community. We have some exciting plans for 2024, including a #WomenInSAR training in August 2024 in Finland. Registration for this will open very soon. We will also be announcing more plans in the coming months! 

If you have any questions and/or would like any further information or to assist us with our #WomenInSAR initiative, please contact Caroline Jupe at [email protected].

In the meantime, if you would like to be kept updated on our latest news you can sign up to our newsletter.