Marine stakeholders and companies have expressed concern over an apparent gender imbalance on reconstituted boards of parastatals in the transport and maritime industries.
Participants at a virtual conference/seminar organized by the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria, CIOTA, to commemorate the first International Maritime Organization, IMO, International Day For Women In Maritime, also expressed concern about gender inequality in all segments of the transport sector.
They identified factors that have continued to create gender disparities in the workplace, such as caregiver bias, in which women are seen as the ones to care for children and elderly family members, motherhood, which has to do with the period of pregnancy and weaning the baby, among others, and advocated for an immediate halt to the identified stereotypes and prejudices.
Hajia Lami Tumaka, a guest speaker and former Director of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, stated that women work extra hard and make so many sacrifices to reach the pinnacle of their career rank as director and expressed disappointment that Rotimi Amechi, the former Minister of Transportation, did not sufficiently carry the women along in the distribution of appointments such as board members.
According to her, although just three women were elected to the 14-member Governing Council Board of the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology, NITT, only one woman was elected to the NRC’s 23-member board.
Women’s involvement on boards is limited to three per board, which members say is far below the equal scale set at the worldwide standard of 30 per cent.
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