WISTA Norway released the first workshop report from its ’40 by 30′ initiative to promote female executive recruitment in the ocean industries at its recent successful AGM, where three new board members were also elected.

“At our recent AGM, we welcomed three new board members. There Landås from the Norwegian Maritime Authority, Karolina Mevold from Fender Marine and Agnes Mathiesen from VIKAND Medical Solutions. We also want to thank Adenike Bridget Knudsen, Agnieszka Sledz and Caroline Whittle for their great contributions to the board over the past years,” says Stine Mundal, WISTA Norway President.

Among the participants at the event was Birgit Liodden, founder of The Ocean Opportunity Lab (TOOL). She spoke both about her work to achieve greater diversity at leadership level and the upcoming SHE Conference where the official launch of the Global female candidate pool will be at the OCEAN Stage. The Global female candidate pool is an initiative TOOL has together with WISTA and partners.

In addition, there was a TOOL Female Candidate Pool pre-Kick-off and Equality Night in Oslo in January featuring Norwegian Minister of Culture and Equality Anette Trettebergstuen, WISTA Norway President Stine Mundal and members of the WISTA Norway board.

The ’40 by 30′ campaign, launched a year ago on International Women’s Day in 2022, aims to secure pledges to achieve its ambition of having 40 percent of leadership positions filled by women by 2030, and has gained significant traction among Norwegian leaders in the ocean industries.

A series of workshops are being run by the campaign and the report from the first of these, which was presented at the AGM in February, highlights the barriers and possible solutions to achieving gender equality in the ocean industries identified by ’40 by 30′ signatories.

The report explores which solutions are considered viable to overcome these barriers across critical areas of measurement, awareness, culture, and programs and policies.

It outlines the views of workshop participants on the challenges they have faced in attracting and retaining female talent, and the best practices that have worked for them. The report also describes actions that companies can take and points to resources to help them work towards a more diverse future.

Workshop participant Hans Christian Seim, CEO of Norwegian Hull Club, says: “At Norwegian Hull Club, we say that ‘the difference is the people’ – and we understand that people are incredibly different.

“As an employer, this really is exciting and an absolute bonus. But in order to bring out the very best from such a diverse pool of potential talent, we may have to do things a bit differently: to be more open and agile when it comes to processes such as recruitment, promotion, and career planning. Here, we’ve got to be curious about whether there may in fact be a better way of doing things.”

Feedback, insights and findings from the workshop have been collected and compiled by Tom Solberg of Hoegh LNG and Jaquelyn Burton of WISTA Norway. Burton says: “It is important for us at WISTA Norway to push forward actions that allow our industry to achieve equitable gender balance. Without it, our industry will lose out on talent as it faces its greatest challenges in the years to come.”

WISTA Norway is seeking to create waves of change through collaboration with Tool Spawn, Nor-Shipping, She Conference and many other organizations. Its work aims to ensure that measures for a diverse maritime future, together with the talent it brings, are on the agenda and are part of the action plan across all segments of the ocean industries.

WISTA Norway encourages industry leaders to join WISTA, evaluate their workforce goals and join ’40 by 30′ by signing the pledge to build together a fair, equitable and sustainable future.

’40 by 30′ signatories and WISTA members will be invited to further events to promote collaboration in reaching these goals in connection with She Conference and Nor-Shipping this spring and summer.

Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association (WISTA) is an international organization for maritime professionals with 3800 members in more than 56 countries. WISTA Norway consists of some 300 business and thought leaders – both men and women – who want to drive diversity for a sustainable future in the Ocean space.