Promoting gender equity and gender awareness in the maritime industry can be a bit challenging due to the nature of the work. Both men and women experience harassment in the workplace even in public spaces.

In fact, as early as 2019, the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) took the initiative to promote inclusivity in the maritime industry starting in the ports. Gender-neutral restroom facilities in all its ports nationwide were established in a bid to promote gender sensitivity and inclusivity in all PPA terminals nationwide.

Regardless of their choice of gender, passengers at the seaports can experience comfort without feeling guilt or being called names.

For the past couple of years, the PPA has been a neutral ground in terms of gender equality in its organizational setup which gives competent and qualified employees, regardless of gender, equal opportunities to be promoted to key agency positions.

A number of port management offices nationwide are now managed by female managers compared to a few years back when key positions were mostly held by males. Members of the LGBTQ+ community have likewise been given a chance to compete for positions they are most qualified to hold.

I asked PPA general manager Jay Santiago how the PPA promotes the rights of women, to which he replied that not only women but the rights of all genders are considered all the time by developing an environment of sensitivity and inclusivity for seaport personnel and passengers.

Do you remember the incident in a mall in Cubao back in 2019 where a janitress prevented a transgender from using the ladies room?

It may have seemed like a small issue but the incident went viral and made it to the front pages, even to the Senate which conducted an inquiry.

My point is that sometimes the issues of gender – which we think of as just tiny pieces of broken glass — cannot hurt us, but in the end it is the same small pieces that will pierce us.

Why am I saying this? It is because the nationwide 18-Day Campaign to End Violence Against Women kicked off on 25 November and it is already being be felt in the maritime industry.

Did you know that 60 percent of women seafarers experience sexual harassment on board ships?

According to studies by the Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association, the abuses include physical and sexual harassment, invalidating of safe spaces and privacy intrusions, inappropriate remarks, discrimination and psychological distress due to unwarranted advances in a male dominated workplace environment.

To put it in a wider perspective, globally, about one in three women worldwide experience physical or sexual abuse at some point in their lives.

Most of the women fear victim-blaming and rejection which often leads to the non-reporting of incidents.

This year’s theme is the recurring 2022 campaign of “UNiTEd for a VAW-free Philippines,” with the 2024 sub-theme, “VAW Bigyang Wakas, Ngayon na ang Oras!”

As defined in Republic Act 9262, VAW refers to “any act or series of acts committed by a person against a woman who is his wife, former wife, or a woman with whom he has or had a sexual or dating relationship, or with whom he has a common child; or against her child whether legitimate or illegitimate, within or without the family abode, which result in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, psychological harm or suffering, or economic abuse, including threats of such acts, battery, assault, coercion, harassment or arbitrary deprivation of liberty.”

For the seaports, film showings on ending violence against women and seminars on reproductive healthcare are a part of the 18-day campaign, as well as empowering Men Opposed to Violence Everywhere in the offices of PPA. Social media posts on all the platforms of the PPA have been maximized as well to raise awareness about VAW.

VAW is a serious issue not only in the maritime industry but globally. There is a need for a stronger enforcement of anti-sexual/physical harassment policies and the creation of more inclusive work and safe spaces for all.