Industry associations, class societies, lawyers, maritime publishers and historical associations have joined forces to highlight the contribution of women to shipping over the centuries.
The ‘Rewriting women into maritime history’ project will collate the material, firstly from London in the UK, then from across the UK and ultimately from around the world so that contribution of women in shipping “can be identified and placed in the public domain for the first time”.
The objectives of the project are to:
- raise the profile of female shipping expertise, experience and leadership from maritime history
- reframe the narrative around women in maritime
- promote gender equality, diversity and inclusion.
Commenting on the project, Louise Sanger, Head of Research, Interpretation and Engagement at LRF HEC who is leading the research project said: “women in maritime history is an area of growing research but there is still work to be done. Apart from a few notable exceptions, women have largely been excluded from the maritime history narrative. We hope that this new research project will help to contribute to the growing discourse of women’s history and help uncover forgotten stories. Importantly, through raising awareness the initiative will help to encourage discussion and action on inequalities that still exist in the industry today.”
Examples of commercially-related female-oriented maritime history projects include:
People Power – Women at Lloyd’s Register
Three Women in the London Chart Trade, c.1800-1860
