Belize Launches Local Chapter of WiMAC

In honor of International Day for Women in Maritime, a ceremony was held this morning to mark the launch of the Belize chapter of the Women in Maritime Association, Caribbean.  WiMAC is a regional organization under the auspices of the International Maritime Organization that is dedicated to promoting gender equality and empowering women in the maritime sector.  The establishment of a local chapter is important because it provides a platform for Belizean women in maritime to connect with each other.

 

Dolores Balderamos-Garcia, Minister of Human Development

“Coming together is a good start.  Staying together is progress and working together will be success.  So I just want to say that [the] Women in Maritime Association is something that is really, really good for the promotion of gender equality because many times we don’t hear about women in leadership in the maritime sector and the fact that young Jada Sutherland has been able to spearhead this chapter in Belize is a wonderful thing.  And I believe that with all of forty-three members already, I think there will be success.  She spoke about one of the goals being training for women in the maritime association and I think that is absolutely good.  I want to mention, too, that Minister Chebat said that in the administrative sector there is very good progress because there are between thirty percent in some areas, right up to fifty percent in terms of some of the offices in the various maritime sectors, whether public sector, private sector, blue economy, coastal zone, fisheries, all of those areas.  And I was also happy to hear Senator Janelle Chanona talk about being kind to our oceans.  She has been with Oceana for a such a long time and I thought that her remarks as a guest speaker were right on point.  So working towards gender equality, women working together in what may be an untraditional sector and of course them having the goal of being together and promoting their women, doing the training.”