Rewriting Women into Maritime content call

Posted: Wednesday 8th March 2023

A pioneering project to highlight the activities of women in the maritime industry, ‘Rewriting Women into Maritime History’ is using International Women’s Day 2023 to call for more organisations to search their archives and submit stories of women’s vital role in global shipping through the ages.

Since the initiative was launched in September 2022, more than 25 organisations have offered their support including Historic England, The Seafarer’s Charity, Maritime Archaeological Trust, the Seafarers Hospital Society, Women in Trade and Shipping Association UK (WISTA UK), The Nautical Institute and many more. Several Trustees of the British Commission for Maritime History are also taking part in the research project. Such as Dr Helen Doe, author of Enterprising Women and Shipping in the Nineteenth Century (Boydell Press, 2009) and vice chair of the BCMH. Helen notes that “women have always played an important part in the maritime sphere… but finding them is the hard part”.

The project is being led by Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s Heritage and Education Centre, supported by Lloyd’s Register Group. Organisers are calling for more organisations with archives connected to the maritime sector to contact them, so the process can begin of researching and interpreting their records through the lens of women’s involvement in shipping, now and over previous centuries.

A key objective of the project is to raise the profile of maritime expertise, experience and leadership, empowering women by reframing the narrative of a predominantly masculine industry and promoting opportunities to encourage more women into the sector.

Do you have stories about women in the maritime industry or want to take part in the project?

Find out more Rewriting Women Into Maritime History | Learn & Explore | Heritage & Education Centre (lrfoundation.org.uk)

Details of the Content call which closes on 30 June 2023.