Why More Shipping Companies Are Investing in Female Cadet Recruitment

A Shift That's Visible in the Numbers

Maritime training providers and shipping companies have, over the past several years, increasingly launched programmes specifically aimed at increasing the number of women entering cadetships — scholarships, dedicated outreach to schools and colleges, partnerships with organisations like WISTA International, and in some cases explicit diversity targets for cadet intakes. This isn't a minor PR exercise; it represents a genuine shift in recruitment strategy for an industry that has historically drawn from an overwhelmingly male applicant pool.

What's Driving It

1. The Industry Needs More People, Full Stop

With BIMCO and ICS projecting a significant officer shortfall over the coming years, shipping companies and training providers have an obvious incentive to widen the pool of people who consider a maritime career in the first place. Historically, outreach and recruitment messaging was overwhelmingly aimed at (and often only reached) young men. Reaching women effectively means roughly doubling the potential applicant pool — a meaningful lever against a workforce shortage that training more of the existing pool alone won't fully solve.

2. ESG and Charterer Expectations

Diversity metrics, including gender diversity in the seagoing workforce, are increasingly part of how shipping companies are assessed by charterers, investors, and in some ESG rating frameworks. ESG ratings that previously focused almost entirely on emissions and environmental performance now often include workforce diversity as a factor — giving companies a commercial reason, not just a values-based one, to invest in recruiting and retaining women.

3. IMO's Women in Maritime Programme

IMO has run a dedicated Women in Maritime programme for years, including an annual International Day for Women in Maritime, and has worked with member states and training institutions to set targets and track progress. This has given individual companies and training providers a framework and, in some cases, funding routes to develop their own programmes rather than starting from scratch.