Women build ships too

On Thursday, the 20th of June at 16:00, from the main entrance to the 100th shipyard (5 Jerzy Popiełuszki Street), a walk will begin with a guide along the route of the shipbuilding process in the Gdańsk Shipyard and the women involved. How far does their history go in this industry? When did the first graduate leave the Shipbuilding Department?

However, it will not only be a heraldic walk, but also a story about the present day – about where you can meet women in the maritime industry today, what challenges they face. The guide will be Anna Miler, who has been investigating the history of women working in the Gdańsk Shipyard for 8 years and is currently exploring the reality of women working in maritime industries.

A day later, on 21 June at 17:00 in a 100czni container (Starter in 100czni) will be a meeting for women involved in the process of building ships and more broadly – associated with the shipbuilding and maritime industries, students, schoolgirls. It will be an opportunity to talk in a relaxed atmosphere about the challenges they face, how to encourage girls and women to work in the shipbuilding and maritime industries, and how to support the professional development of those who already work there.

Why is this important?

As the organizers of the “Girls at the Polytechnic” action write on the project website: Science and technology need women. Especially now, when the culture of innovation is becoming more and more important and Europe and Poland are heading in this direction. Innovation is necessary to build a knowledge-based society and economy that is geared towards global competitiveness. The participation of women in this process is one of the key conditions for its success. Graduates of technical and scientific faculties must contribute to the creation of new solutions in the field of science and technology, because their potential and creativity are important for the country’s innovativeness. Women in Poland are statistically better educated than men, although they less frequently decide to study technical subjects. When they do not take up professional activity, do not share their knowledge, do not advance despite appropriate competences, their potential is not fully used.

Governmental organisations, non-governmental organisations and companies are involved in supporting women in the maritime sector. One of the key activities of the Maritime UK organisation is to equalize opportunities for women working in the maritime sector through, among others: running a database of speakers for conferences, discussion panels, etc., “lending” volunteers – experts from the industry who take part in interviews, ensuring greater diversity of teams conducting recruitment, workshops on public speaking.

Walking and meeting we announce the Starter Business Incubator project planned for the second half of the year to support women in the shipbuilding and maritime industries.

Rel (Gdansk Enterprise Foundation and Gdansk Business Incubator STARTER)

Fot.: Wikimedia Commons