Addressing the gaps between maritime and gender frameworks

This workshop report, produced by the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) on 9 March 2022, examines the policy gaps between maritime and gender frameworks in Africa. It highlights the need for intersectional approaches to gender equality and notes that many regional maritime strategies remain 'gender-blind', often failing to integrate gender considerations into security and governance frameworks.

• Gender initiatives in Africa's maritime sector frequently conflate gender with women and treat women as a homogenous group, failing to account for intersectional factors such as age, race, or social status.
• Many African maritime security frameworks are 'gender-blind', with the term 'gender' rarely appearing in these documents. While the African Union (AU) has overarching gender policies like the Maputo Protocol and the AU Gender Policy, there is a disconnect between these and specific maritime security and governance frameworks.
• Barriers to women's participation in the maritime sector are primarily societal and structural, as technological advancements have reduced physical obstacles. Women continue to face harmful stereotypes and lack access to finance, security, and decision-making roles, particularly in the informal economy.
• A critical lack of sex- and gender-disaggregated data in Africa hinders nuanced decision-making and the ability to track the success of gender mainstreaming policies in the maritime sector.
• Capacity-building and skills development for women in the maritime sector are often ineffective because they are initiated outside of Africa and fail to consult professional networks like WIMAfrica or address local needs.

APA

Institute for Security Studies (2022). Addressing the gaps between maritime and gender frameworks. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/2022-05-18-other-maritine-gender-workshop-report.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Security Studies. Addressing the gaps between maritime and gender frameworks. 2022. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/2022-05-18-other-maritine-gender-workshop-report.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Security Studies |title=Addressing the gaps between maritime and gender frameworks |date=2022 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/2022-05-18-other-maritine-gender-workshop-report.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforsecuritystudies2022addressing, author = {{Institute for Security Studies}}, title = {{Addressing the gaps between maritime and gender frameworks}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2022}, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/2022-05-18-other-maritine-gender-workshop-report.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }