Today is International Women in Engineering Day and to mark this important date the International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) has launched a range of resources to inspire the next generation of women to get involved in maritime search and rescue (SAR).
The resources are aimed both at women starting out to choose a career, as well as women considering a career change, or wishing to explore volunteering opportunities.
Theresa Crossley, CEO, IMRF says: “This Toolkit is just the latest step in our ongoing #WomenInSAR initiative, which aims to encourage equal gender representation in the sector. Today, women really can do anything they want to and by highlighting just some of the incredible women working in maritime SAR worldwide and the wide range of different careers available in the sector, we hope we can really demonstrate that fact.
“The resources have been tailored to interest women beginning to choose a career, those considering a career change or those wishing to explore volunteering opportunities. In addition on International Women in Engineering Day, they also show how women are using STEM subjects in a variety of ways in all sorts of maritime SAR roles. We hope that other women will look at what they are doing and think: “Wow! I could do that too! How do I get involved?” We want this Toolkit to be used by teachers, parents, SAR organisations and anyone interested in providing women with ideas on career and volunteering opportunities.”
The IMRF’s #WomenInSAR STEM Toolkit include 12 interviews with women working in different roles – voluntary or professional – in a range of different organisations, from Inmarsat to the RNLI, to the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Cote D’Ivoire, all talking about their careers, their experiences and their ambitions for the future.
The resources also include an article explaining more about the maritime SAR sector, as well as two podcasts, one focussing on volunteering in maritime SAR and the other focussed on technical careers in the maritime SAR sector. Both podcasts feature women working with IMRF member organisations in different parts of the world.
The IMRF has also interviewed two members who are both running initiatives to increase the participation of young girls in maritime SAR. Andrew Tate, RNLI, talks about the RNLI’s Women in Engineering (WinE) Day, and Julie Schneider from Virgin Islands Search and Rescue (VISAR) speaks about VISAR’s own youth trainee initiative.
The resources launched today are freely available from the IMRF website here to find out more.
