Last night we told you the 39th Cnetral American Port Forum. It is being hosted in Belize and the 80 delegates from 8 countries are discussing a number of topics. One of those topics is about the role of women in the port sector. Now there is some level of involvement of women â€" the Commisioner of Ports is a female as well as the CEO of Ministry of Transport is a female. But the Commisioner says more has to be done to get more women on board.
Merlene Bailey Martinez - Commissioner of Ports
There had to be specific activities to increase the role of women or to include women in maritime activities generally."
Courtney Weatherburne:
"When you say maritime activities what positions or posts are you specifically talking about?"
Merlene Bailey Martinez
"The sky is the limit; you are talking from a captain, to an engineer, to a communications manager, to a cook to a deck hand. So whatever is there to be done in the maritime world, women are capable of doing it. At the Port Authority if I can use that as an example we have entry level people who are sea farers who are women who are on the boats who are captains and we also have at the board level who are women. Comparatively speaking we are okay but it still just like 23% of the persons who are engaged in the sector are women."
Courntey Weatherburne
"How do you all plan on encouraging more women to be a part of it?"
Merlene Bailey Martinez
"Well Belize is part of the Caribbean Association, the Women in Maritime Association Caribbean and that Association’s primary goal is to spread the word and encourage the participation of women in the maritime sector generally."
The forum ends on Friday.
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