Rewriting women into maritime history
LLOYD’S Register Foundation Heritage and Education Centre (LRF HEC) launches a collaboration project to highlight the activities undertaken by women in shipping in the past few centuries.
According to the Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s website, the “Rewriting women into maritime history” project will collate the material that is spread across archives beginning within those in the City of London, and then expanding to the UK and Ireland, and internationally so that accounts of women in the shipping industry can be identified and placed in the public domain for the first time.
The collaboration includes Lloyd’s List, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), the Nautical Institute, the Women in Shipping and Trade Association (Wista UK), Nautilus International, and Preston Turnbull LLP.
Lloyd’s List is one of the world’s oldest continuously running journals, having provided weekly shipping news in London as early as 1734.
The project is also being supported by The International Congress of Maritime Museums, The National Maritime Museum, the University of Exeter, and The British Commission for Maritime History.
The extensive research and interpretation project will provide plenty of opportunities for organizations to be involved in outreach activities to engage a global audience.
A key theme of the project is diversity, equality, and inclusion. By ensuring that forgotten voices are heard, stories generated by the project can highlight the many opportunities presented by a maritime career.
“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,” says Louise Sanger, head of Research, Interpretation and Engagement at LRF HEC, who is leading the research project.
“Women have always been involved in the maritime industry but there is limited publicly available evidence of their engagement in shipping from the 1800s and even earlier, until the present day. This has created a misperception that women are ‘new’ to shipping, or that their past contributions have not been significant. We hope to help rectify that with Rewriting Women Into Maritime History and we hope other organizations will join us,” says Philippa Charlton, chief marketing officer at Lloyd’s Register.
“At ICS we are delighted to be supporting this important project. Women have long been a part of our industry and it is time that this is recognized. We are all currently on a journey, and rightfully so, to ensure that our sector is more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. As we mark our centenary here at ICS our focus is on the future but we should not forget the past and the important role that women played in history. ICS calls on the industry to support this project and to help rewrite women into maritime history,” added Natalie Shaw MBE, ICS director of employment affairs.
“Women have always played an important part in the maritime sphere both by running the maritime business, working in maritime industries, and through financial support, but finding them is the hard part. This project to identify sources will celebrate these women and highlight their contribution,” says Dr. Helen Doe, from The University of Exeter.
“Wista UK are delighted to partner on this vital research on the role of women in shipping historically. To develop in the future, we need to know our past and celebrate the achievements of the ladies who have been present, made a difference but not yet been recognized or acknowledged,” says Monica Kohli, president of Wista UK.