Rewriting Women into Maritime History launches international phase

Following successful UK exhibitions, a project to highlight women's contributions to the maritime workforce is looking for new stories from around the world. Sarah Mott of Lloyd's Register Foundation reports

Rewriting Women into Maritime History was launched by Lloyd's Register Foundation in 2023, with Nautilus International as one of the project's partners. The project uses oral histories and archival material held by maritime organisations to piece together maritime women's stories, showcasing them publicly through the SHE_SEES exhibition.

Featuring a mix of striking visuals, art and storytelling, SHE_SEES debuted at the home of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) during London International Shipping Week 2023, and is currently on tour, with a residency at Boathouse 4 in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard until August 2025.

SHE_SEES includes three stories of incredible women contributed by Nautilus International: Linda Forbes, Marion Pettigrew and Rose King. These officer pioneers – who were members of Nautilus's predecessor unions – shared their experiences of working onboard ship during the 1970s in the deck, engine and radio departments. Several modern members of the Union also stepped forward to tell their stories as women working at sea today.

By highlighting the expertise, experience and leadership of women, the Rewriting Women programme helps reframe the narrative of a predominantly masculine industry and encourages more people to take up the opportunities offered by a career in the maritime sector today. Figures from the IMO show that women currently account for 29% of the overall industry workforce, and just 2% of seafarers in the crewing workforce.

Rewriting Women's international phase

Now, Rewriting Women into Maritime History and the SHE_SEES exhibition are looking to expand their impact internationally, by telling the stories of maritime women past and present in another nine countries around the world. These stories will be captured over the next three years, starting in 2025 with Greece, India and Australia.

The contemporary component of SHE_SEES – led by portrait photographer Emilie Sandy – is encouraging more women to get involved and share their own stories via a new participatory photography element: SHE_ SEES HER VOICE. This will enable a broader range of women in the sector to connect and be represented, empowering them to share their own stories, and to shape and control their own narrative.

Historical research will continue to be the heart of the initiative. Lloyd's Register Foundation wants the legacy of the Rewriting Women into Maritime History programme to be a research hub. An online portal where stories of past and present women globally to be signposted and made searchable all in one place. A citizen science approach, where researchers and members of the public can submit and signpost interesting articles, initiatives, stories of women globally so they are no longer silos of information floating on the web.

The Foundation has also launched a 'thought leadership' campaign to provoke conversations on how we can make active changes within the industry. This campaign will interview leaders in the maritime space for their reflections on the current workforce and what needs to be done to make active change within the industry. The results from this campaign will be published in a report launching in June 2025 for the UN Ocean Conference which will provide the top recommended action points for industry to take to advance diversity in maritime.

How to get involved

SHE_ SEES HER VOICE is currently seeking eight female harbour pilots from around the world to share their stories. For more information and to get involved, visit the Lloyd's Register Foundation Heritage Centre website or contact hello@samacreatives.com.