Dutch yard Damen Yachting took their Women in Yachting series on the road last week with an event held on the sunny rooftop of Winch Design’s new HQ in Putney, South London.
Women from all corners of the yachting industry gathered to network over summer drinks and canapés and to hear an impassioned panel discussion by Damen Yachting’s supervisory board member Annelies Damen, Winch Design CEO Aino Grapin, Burgess’ chief sustainability officer Georgina Menheneott and Savage Lighting’s managing and sales director Julie Clark. The discussion was chaired by Damen Yachting’s marketing manager Sarah Flavell.
The discussion opened with a reflection on the yachting’s male-dominated nature. While progress has been made in recent years, participants acknowledged that there is still significant work to be done to achieve true gender parity. Julie Clark, who has been in the business twenty years, recalled the early days of her career where she struggled to be taken seriously in meetings and observed how she had to "work a little bit harder" to be accepted.
The common consensus was that it is essential for companies to have a robust DEI (diversity and inclusion) policy in place, one that supports women through their various life stages such as maternity and fertility through to "returnity" (coming back to work). While these obstacles are slowly being broken down and open discussions about issues such as menstruation and menopause are no longer the stigma they used to be, more needs to be accomplished to ensure women are supported through these life stages and are not left behind. "We've got to make sure that [women] are on a level playing field at the start. You can't win a race if you're 500 metres behind the starting line," said Georgina Menheneott.
While female representation at senior level is increasing – exemplified by Damen Yachting’s managing director Rose Damen and her sister Annelies – the panel agreed that full gender parity remains elusive, and that this is also a challenge that extends beyond the yachting industry. Aino Grapin emphasised that achieving balance is not only about representation at the senior leadership level, but also about avoiding gender concentration within specific departments, especially within the design sector. "It's equally important to ensure that no team is entirely male or entirely female – that's where attention is also needed," she noted.
Georgina Menheneott agreed, adding she thought yachting can sometimes feel compartmentalised. "It's an industry that's grown very traditionally and when we get to pushing into those senior levels or crossing across those silos, it's difficult." She suggested that regardless of your sex, even women can often hold unintentional unconscious gender biases without realising it which can influence decisions and behaviours and that we all need to be hyper aware of this.
Aino Grapin commented how important gender balance is to making a yachting business successful, noting that boat design can be very complex and the process demands diversity of thinking. "What Andrew [Winch] taught us is that you can't design a boat on your own, and I'm sure that goes for so many other roles within the industry. It's all about teamwork – [boats] are super complex, very coordinated projects, and to get the best result, you need to be looking for diversity of opinion around the table."
The panel discussed how gender balance could be achieved, agreeing that it should start with young girls and teaching them to be confident in their technical abilities. Annelies Damen emphasised that encouraging young girls into STEM roles starts with companies and shipyards opening their doors. She urged the industry to take a more active role in partnering with technical colleges and showcasing the wide range of career opportunities available to inspire the next generation.
Everyone agreed that it was ultimately about women supporting each other no matter where they are on the career ladder and opening up opportunities for other women by engaging in mentoring schemes.
"It’s about three small words,” concluded Georgina Menheneott. "Advocate: if you're in a position of responsibility, it doesn't matter how high up the tree you are, advocate for other women coming up. Support: look out for the women around you and figure out, are they struggling? Are they doing well? And opportunity: create opportunities, give opportunities, advocate for opportunities."