Gender party achieved at ISA Secretariat

ONE of my first priorities as Secretary-General of ISA was to bring more women into the organisation, and especially into senior leadership positions. For the first time last year, we had women at the helm of three of our four ISA governing bodies in Jamaica, with Senator Kamina Johnson Smith, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade as president of the assembly; High Commissioner of South Africa to Jamaica Lumka Yengeni as president of the Council, and Michelle Walker, head of the Legal Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade as chair of the Legal and Technical Commission. As we mark IWD, I am also proud to say that we have achieved gender party in the ISA Secretariat with 65 per cent women.

It is time to redouble our efforts to increase the participation of women in ocean science and support gender equality across the board. Gender equality is a prerequisite for economies and communities to thrive. Women’s equal participation promotes sustainable, inclusive development and strengthens capacity in all sectors, including deep-sea scientific research. We know that women today account for only 38 per cent of the world’s researchers in ocean science, and the rate is even lower for women from developing countries. This must be corrected. Therefore, and recognising the benefits of fully including women in ocean science, ISA is committed to increase the active participation of women through targeted capacity-building initiatives, including deep-sea industry training, the Endowment Fund, secondments and internships.