Chikunga calls for maritime skills revolution for women

South Africa’s extensive coastline and marine resources offer opportunities across several industries, yet employment figures show that women remain significantly underrepresented in the maritime workforce.

South Africa needs a major shift in maritime skills development if women are to secure a meaningful share of the country's growing ocean economy, Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Sindisiwe Chikunga has said.

Speaking at the National Women's Month Commemoration hosted by Parliament at Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley, Northern Cape, Chikunga called for a "maritime skills revolution" that would tackle the cultural, structural and workplace barriers keeping many women outside the sector.

Her call comes as South Africa marks 70 years since the historic 1956 Women's March, with attention increasingly turning towards whether the rights secured over decades are translating into economic participation, ownership and leadership for women.

Maritime sector remains dominated by men

South Africa's extensive coastline and marine resources offer opportunities across several industries, yet employment figures show that women remain significantly underrepresented in the maritime workforce.

Findings from the first Maritime Skills Summit showed that men make up 71.5% of people employed in the sector, while 54% of maritime workers are between 35 and 55 years old. Chikunga believes these figures point to the need to attract more women and younger people while building a stronger pipeline of locally trained workers.

She said simply making positions available would not be enough to correct existing inequalities, arguing that black women need to be deliberately prioritised across maritime value chains if the sector is to become genuinely inclusive.

"Black women will not merely take centre stage in this sector; they will have to be prioritised," Chikunga said, adding that meaningful participation would require changes within both the maritime industry and wider society.

Skills needed to unlock ocean economy opportunities

Chikunga identified fisheries and aquaculture, offshore oil and gas, marine biotechnology, and coastal and marine tourism as high-potential areas where stronger skills development could create employment and business opportunities.

She warned that South Africa could struggle to capture the economic value of its own marine resources if the specialist knowledge and technical expertise needed to develop those industries remained concentrated outside the country.

For Chikunga, developing local expertise is also about preventing resource-rich communities from being excluded from the wealth generated around them. She cautioned against repeating patterns where valuable natural resources are extracted without creating lasting prosperity, skills or ownership for people living closest to those resources.

A sector-specific skills drive would need to respond to existing shortages while preparing workers for future occupations as new technologies and industries reshape the ocean economy.

Women's empowerment must be part of planning

Rather than treating gender inclusion as an additional programme once maritime projects are already underway, Chikunga wants women's empowerment and skills development included from the earliest stages of economic planning.

She said these priorities should be incorporated into project implementation, industrialisation, beneficiation, monitoring and evaluation, creating clearer routes for women to gain qualifications, employment, leadership experience and opportunities to build businesses.

"Skills development and women's empowerment must be built into the planning, the implementation, and the monitoring and evaluation of how we industrialise and beneficiate the resources of our oceans," she said.

This approach would make women active participants in creating value from marine resources rather than limiting their involvement to a small number of occupations traditionally associated with the sector.

Turning historic rights into economic participation

The Women's Month commemoration was held under the theme, "70 Years of Resistance, 72 Years of Vision – Advancing Gender Justice, Equality and Resilient Economies for All", reflecting on the achievements of earlier generations while examining barriers women still face.

The gathering also forms part of the Milestones of Freedom campaign launched by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 18 June 2026. The year-long initiative commemorates significant moments in South Africa's journey towards democracy while linking those anniversaries with community service delivery and social cohesion.

Chikunga said much had changed since thousands of women marched against apartheid pass laws in 1956, but the next challenge is ensuring legal rights and educational opportunities translate into visible participation and leadership throughout the economy.

"Our task is smaller than theirs. The laws are written. The doors of learning and culture are largely open," she said, calling for young women to be supported into mines, ports, courts and Parliament until their presence in those spaces becomes ordinary.