The Women Wing of the Maritime and Dockworkers Union, Tema District, has held its quarterly meeting to take stock the performance of the union as well as deliberate on issues confronting women in the maritime industry.
The National Chairman of the Maritime and Dockworkers Union, updated the women’s council of the many strides been made towards the development of the MDU, in the various local districts as well as nationally.
“We have achieved something good, not just for the workers of GPHA and MDU but for Ghana as a whole,” he stated.
Esther Gyebi Donkor, General Manager, Marketing and Corporate Affairs of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, who was the guest speaker at the meeting, in line with the World Maritime theme of women empowerment urged women in the MDU to strengthen global efforts to bring equality within the local space of the maritime industry.
She urged women who look to break the traditional boundaries that have underutilized women for roles in the industry to work very hard and justify their inclusion.
“The whole idea is to make sure that we break that tradition of inequality where we have too many men and few women,” she encouraged.
She revealed that trends in the maritime industry, where automation is continually being introduced for port and ship operation has made it more attractive for women to take up opportunities in the sector.
“Discharging and handling of cargo were highly manually and that required muscles so the men were called upon and the women were seen to be weaker. But today there is so much changes thanks to automation and this happening is giving us an advantage,” she stated.
Rita Quarshie, the National Chairperson of the MDU Women Council, called for more implementation on the ground with regards to opportunities in operational work in the maritime industry for women.
“We do not always want the lip service of women empowerment but rather the opportunities should be availed unto us,” she stated.