Country Inspector for the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), Captain Catherine Haizel, has urged young women to cast away their fear of the sea and venture into maritime careers.
In an interview with Rev. Erskine on the special Y Leaderboard Series segment of the Myd-Morning Radio Show which airs on Y107.9FM, she debunked the notion that maritime only has to do with going to sea and back, and charged women to consider getting in that field as it is an industry fit for any gender.
“I’d like to see more people joining the sea especially the ladies. I think they should shed off the fear of the sea, the fear of the unknown, and venture out into these areas”, she said.
Capt. Haizel stated that, “The maritime industry is a very big industry. When people look at it, they see it as just going to sea but if you don’t want to go to sea or even you go and you want to come back ashore, there are so many other industries that you can branch into.
There’s the operations aspect where you can go to the docks, you can go to the port, you can be a marine surveyor or marine engineer. There are many avenues you can branch into. The only thing is that sometimes you have to prepare yourself by reading some programmes in those areas to be well-equipped for the job you’re going to do”.
Captain Catherine Haizel is an ace mariner and a retired senior lecturer at the Nautical Science department of the Regional Maritime University (RMU). She is currently the ITF Inspector for Ghana.
By: Maureen Dedei Quaye