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TH
17 CONVOCATION
Kindly allow me to take reference an initiative commenced at the Directorate General
of Shipping - “ SAGAR MEY SAMMAN- Honour at SEA - Charting a course towards an
inclusive future” – championing the role of women seafarers in India Shipping and
the stakeholder universe of Maritime scenario – from academia, policy framework,
industry, training institutes, media – all congregating around the clarion call of
“SAGAR MEY SAMMAN - Honour at Sea” to encourage more women seafarers to
pursue successful careers at sea.
Globally in September 2015, Governments united behind an ambitious agenda that
features 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets that aim to
end poverty, combat inequalities, and promote prosperity while protecting the
environment by 2030. The Sustainable Development Goal 5 – centered on Gender
Equality & Goal 8 – Decent work and economic growth point out serious concerns –
for instance – “Globally, the labour force participation rate among prime working age
women (aged 25-54) stands at 63% compared to 94% among their male
counterparts. Further, the global gender pay gap is 23%.
Gender parity is still a challenge – for India ranks 127th in the World Economic
Forum global rankings. The report reveals that India has achieved parity in enrolment
across all levels of education, a significant achievement, however, the country is
falling short in economic participation and opportunity.
In terms of political empowerment, India has made strides with a parity rate of 25.3
percent. Notably, women now represent 15.1 percent of parliamentarians. The
groundbreaking legislation of the historic Constitution (106th Amendment)
introduced in the new Parliament Complex as the first legislation to be tabled as the
Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Salutation to Women Power Bill) is a glowing
testament to the Nation’s commitment to gender equity and parity.
It is heartening to note that Indian women have always been in the forefront in all
spheres of progress and today constitute a share of 48 percent of STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) graduates. India has made significant
progress in promoting gender equality and has a value of 0.490 on the Gender
Inequality Index (GII) and the Economic Survey 2022-23 has highlighted the
performance of the Government’s policies with key initiatives like Beti Bachao Beti
Padhao (BBBP), Mahila Shakti Kendra (MSK), Working women Hostel (WWH),
Scheme for Adolescent Girls, Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana.

Although Indian seafarers numbers witnessed a growth of employed seafarers from
1.17 lakh in 2014-15 to 2.58 lakh in 2022 -23 (a percentage rise of 121 %) while
specifically - the growth of women seafarers from just 345 in 2014-15 to 3327 in
2022-23 ( a rise of 909%) – however at present, women have only 0.5 % share in
onboard seafarers in India.

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