Promoting women’s access to quality employment and senior management level within the maritime sector is a key priority for IMO’s gender and capacity-building programme. IMO is encouraging its Member States to place a greater emphasis on incorporating women in the maritime field. To date, IMO has launched seven regional networks for women in maritime. To on from, and build upon the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in September 2015, the UN’s 193 Member States unanimously adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets. The SDGs universally apply to all countries, and through the adaptation of the Agenda, Member States have committed to mobilize efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one left is left behind by 2030. The Agenda emphasizes the need to simultaneously consider the three dimensions of sustainable development: social, economic and environmental.

IMO encourages and supports the establishment of a national “Women in Maritime Association” in their respective jurisdiction with a view to making it a partner in achieving SDG targets. In this sense, the three national chapters: WIMAPHIL, MYWIMA and WWIMA-TL have already established under Women in Maritime Association, Asia (WIMA-Asia) and the rest countries are trying to establish their respective chapters.