Page 37 - Maritime Book 1

STRIVING FOR GENDER EQUITY
“Being rst is neither here nor there. What’s important is who follows, who you have brought along on the journey,”
says Captain Rufus Lekala
Following his appointment as Chief Harbour Master, one of Captain Lekala’s goals was to ensure that TNPA’s radical transformation of marine personnel extended beyond race to gender.
He set himself a target of four female harbour masters amongst the total of eight, and of achieving strong representation of females in Deputy Harbour Master and senior operations roles. Today, three of TNPA’s harbour masters are female: Captain Gugu Precious Dube in the Port of Richards Bay, Captain Vania Cloete in the Port of Mossel Bay and Captain Kgadi Matlala in the Port of East London. In addition, 60 percent of TNPA’s deputy harbour masters and a number of senior operations managers are female.
“I always re ect back on where I came from and I didn’t want to go back there. I had been given an opportunity and believed it was up to me to give women opportunities in the previously male dominated maritime industry. I realised that it
went beyond giving them an opportunity.
They required full support to enable them to succeed in their roles,” Captain Lekala explains.
The women we brought in and developed did not disappoint. Today we are leading the world in terms of the number of women in key positions in marine operations.
According to recent statistics released by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), women comprise only 1 – 2% of the 1.2 million global workforce of seafarers, with the majority of female seafarers (94%) working within the cruise industry.
We are proud that women hold 39.4% of the mission critical jobs in the South African port system. Their roles range from harbour masters, deputy harbour masters, to chief marine engineers and marine engineers, marine pilots, dredge masters, coxswains, tug masters, aviation technicians and helicopter pilots.
Of the eight commercial ports managed by TNPA, three have female port managers while seven have female harbour masters and/or deputy harbour masters bringing their unique characteristics and adding a woman’s touch to the job.
The introduction of female port managers, deputy harbour masters, senior operations managers and trainee pilots has signi cantly improved performance and productivity within the marine environment.
The Marine Cadet programme that commenced in 2009, currently has 69 female cadets out of a total of 164 trainees (42%).
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