Thank you for supporting Women Offshore in 2017. We launched this year with hopes of connecting with women around the globe. By sharing and engaging, you helped us make that happen!
Women Offshore has grown thanks to the many women and men who have publicly shared and spread the word about the resources available on our site. Our vision of a global reach has been made possible by each and every one of our readers and contributors. And for that, we are deeply grateful to you all!
As we celebrate the women in our industry – sharing their accomplishments and what motivates them to pursue careers on the water – and provide resources to empower careers, we’ve been fortunate enough to receive support from the public, outside our industries. We’ve received messages from women all over the globe, wanting to connect, share their own stories, and ask questions about working on the water. Women are hungry to start their careers – to one day, make a difference in the maritime and/or offshore industries. That same hunger provides an energy that is infectiously invigorating and inspiring!
Dare Greatly in 2018
Looking back at 2017, we also saw our fair share of comments from both men and women, seeking to tear down our offshore female workforce for pursuing their dreams of working on the water. We thank our community for empowering and supporting one another, despite the critics.
If you have been affected by the naysayers, we want you to know that it’s the not the critic who counts. Instead, the credit belongs to you. You who works hard, day-in and day-out, providing for loved ones, while obliterating that glass ceiling as you pursue your dreams on the water.
We believe in you. Go on, dare greatly!
President Theodore Roosevelt said it best on April 23rd, 1910:
“It is not the critic who counts;
not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,
or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,
whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;
who strives valiantly;
who errs, who comes short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;
but who does actually strive to do the deeds;
who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions;
who spends himself in a worthy cause;
who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,
and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly,
so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Together, We Can Reduce the Gender Gap In 2018
Women Offshore is just getting started. We have a lot of work to do: women only make up 2% of the maritime industry and less than 4% off the offshore energy industry. We will need your help to change that.
We know that we can reduce the gender gap. There are many jobs women are performing on land that women might sign up to do offshore, if they only knew of those jobs that were available to them. There are maritime schools around the world that more women might apply to, if they only knew these educational facilitates existed. There are also women emerging in these industries who are looking for guidance as they apply for jobs.
Sailing into 2018, let us empower and connect. Let us continue to share our stories of lessons learned on social media. Let us gather our resources to sponsor and mentor women’s careers, so that we can reduce the gender gap, out on the water, in 2018!
Love this and love the meaning of this article. Others ought to get on ‘board’ this ship. We are proud to support you Women Offshore!