Over the past year, taking all European Sea Port Organisation (ESPO) board meetings and technical committees together, 38% of port professionals participating in ESPO’s board and technical committees were women.
This represents a slight drop compared to last year’s results but is a clear progress since 2018, the first year when ESPO has been monitoring the gender balance of its internal meetings (in the first year the female representation was under the 20%).
“This year’s figures show a small decrease compared to 2024 in the number of port professionals participating in ESPO’s meetings, but if we compare to 2018 when we started the monitoring, we see an important progress. The projects that were submitted for this year’s ESPO award prove that ports are indeed actively working towards a better gender balance. Let’s hope their efforts will be seen in our next report'," says ESPO’s Secretary General, Isabelle Ryckbost.
The General Assembly scores well, with more than 48% of delegates participating in the General Assembly being women, compared to last year figures which were 46,5%. However, the Executive Committee saw a slight decrease in its female representation (39%).
Examining the technical committees reveals a level of female participation, generally ranging between 25% and 63%. The Cruise and Ferry Port Network saw an increase, reaching the highest female participation at 63%, followed by the Intermodal, Logistics & Industry Committee (ILICO), which counted 46% women at last year’s meetings; the Sustainable Development Committee 39%, and the Energy and Blue Growth Committee, 37.5%, which had a slight decrease.
Other committees will have to step up their female representation: the Economic Analysis and Statistics Committee counted 33% women during its meetings over the last year, the Harbour Masters and Maritime Safety Committee, 31.5%; the Trade Facilitation, Digitalisation, Security and Geopolitics Committee, 31.5%; and the Port Governance and Management Committee, 31%, whereas only 1 in 4 representatives of the Labour and Operations Committee (including the Social Dialogue meeting) is a woman (25%).
Building on its longstanding commitment to gender equality, ESPO has monitored the participation of port professionals in its meetings since 2018. Each year, the organisation shares the results of this monitoring to mark International Women’s Day. ESPO, also one of the founding members, helped to establish the European Commission’s “Women in Transport – EU Platform for Change” initiative, launched in 2017.
In 2025, ESPO also gave the ESPO award to a port excelling in its policy to attract more women to work in the port. The winner was the UK Port of Shoreham, located on the English Channel.
