Fleetwood Nautical Campus has received national recognition for the pioneering support it is giving to encourage more women to enter the maritime industry and to progress in their career.
The 126-year-old college, which is a specialist campus of Blackpool and The Fylde College, has been awarded a Charter Company Certificate by Maritime UK, the umbrella organisation representing the UK shipping industry and all its associated activities that together employ almost one million people.
Fleetwood Nautical Campus is one of only four organisations in the UK to receive this new award, which was introduced in September last year as a centrepiece of Maritime UK’s Women in Maritime programme. At that time the campus was amongst the first to sign the Women in Maritime Pledge and make a commitment to take practical steps towards building an employment culture that celebrates gender diversity.
Now well over 100 companies and organisations across the shipping industry have got behind the initiative. Each is developing action plans aimed at increasing the number of women in the industry and addressing the current gender imbalance through improvements to fairness, equality and inclusion.
To earn the Charter Company Certificate, Fleetwood Nautical Campus had to undergo a rigorous examination of its plans to improve the status of women in the industry and set out its targets for improvement over either five or ten years.
Captain Neil Atkinson, Head of Fleetwood Nautical Campus, said: “I am delighted that we are supporting this important initiative and to be amongst the first in the country to be formally recognised for doing so.
“As a vital sector of the UK economy, it is imperative that the maritime industry seeks to address the imbalance within the workforce and presents careers at sea as a viable option for everyone, no matter their gender. I hope that by playing a lead role in this initiative many more women will be inspired to seek out opportunities and to advance their careers in what is, in my opinion, the best industry in the world.”
