Gendered Perspectives on Maritime Security: An Ocean of Opportunity for Caribbean Island States

Jun 19, 2024 | Marisa O. Ensor

Maritime security constitutes a geopolitical, legal, and environmental issue of critical importance. For small island developing states (SIDS), maritime security has also emerged as a pressing national security concern and, given their susceptibility to exogenous shocks, it is expected to continue to be so in the foreseeable future.  The maritime community has traditionally overlooked the significant roles that women can and do play, but noteworthy steps to correct this imbalance have been recently taken. As a case in point, the importance of gender equality and women’s empowerment is prominently featured in the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS), the outcome document of the UN 4^th International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4) celebrated last month (27-30 May 2024) in this Caribbean twin-island nation.

Maritime Security and Human Security

The history of maritime security stretches back centuries, evolving alongside the expansion of sea trade, exploration, and the strategic importance of naval power. Its development has been shaped by the need to protect maritime interests, ensure safe navigation, and counter threats at sea. In modern times, maritime security is acknowledged as affecting the land, air, cyber, and outer space, not only oceans and seas. It impacts multiple domains including security and defense, critical infrastructure, trade and shipping, transport, energy, tourism, and fishing. Environmental drivers of maritime insecurity have also been recently identified.  Healthy oceans and seas are vital to combat climate change, biodiversity loss including depletion of fish stocks and loss of coral reefs, mangroves and other wetlands, and flooding in coastal areas and islands, all of which would have long-lasting adverse consequences for maritime security if not adequately addressed.

The 2008 UN Secretary General’s Report on Oceans and the Law of the Sea identified seven major threats to maritime security that go beyond traditional, state-centric security challenges – these are (1) piracy and armed robbery against ships; (2) terrorist acts involving shipping, offshore installations, and other maritime interests; (3) illicit trafficking in arms and weapons of mass destruction; (4) illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances; (5) smuggling and trafficking of persons by sea; (6) illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing; and (7) intentional and unlawful damage to the marine environment. This broader understanding of maritime security acknowledges risks to societies, communities, individuals, and marine ecosystems, and reflects modern human security approaches. Nevertheless, although global recognition of the stabilizing benefits of gender equality – a core element of human security – has been on the rise, the maritime space has only recently taken meaningful steps to correct its gender-blindness. As members of a region connected by the ocean, where women are recognized as “a powerful force driving progress and pushing for change,” Caribbean States are taking the lead in this endeavor.

The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Global Maritime Crime Programme (GMCP), and the US Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and law Enforcement Affairs (INL) produced the first-ever maritime security strategy for CARICOM member states in July 2023. The Caribbean Maritime Security Strategy (CMSS) is underpinned by four fundamental principles (1) promotion of the rule of law; (2) promotion of inclusion and equity; (3) environmental sustainability; and (4) culture of cooperation. The CMSS constitutes the region’s framework for achieving a safe and secure maritime space, promoting cooperation between Caribbean States, institutes, and development partners, and addressing current and future internal and external maritime security challenges. It recognizes that “the effective inclusion and active participation of all societal groups, especially women, young people, and local communities are essential to realizing the Blue Economy.”

Gender Matters in Maritime Security

Maritime security has traditionally been considered a “hard” national security issue. Women remain underrepresented in the maritime domain, and the intersection between the Women, Peace and Security agenda (WPS) and the wider context of maritime security remains unexplored. It is, however, well documented that maritime crime affects women differently than their male counterparts. IUU fishing reduces food and economic security, compromising women’s coping strategies as resources become increasingly scarce. Women living in poverty are further challenged when illicit trade undermines their already precarious economic security, and may become victims of human trafficking often associated with trade in arms and drugs. Women’s prospects in maritime-based employment are further hindered by numerous legal and cultural obstacles.  Fewer than one-third of the countries featured in One Earth Future’s Stable Seas Maritime Security Index have laws against gender discrimination in hiring or mandate equal compensation.

Defying traditional expectations, women are nevertheless increasingly present at sea. Recognizing the role of women as equal actors in addressing maritime security issues is critical to improving the effectiveness of the maritime industry, governance mechanisms, the “blue economy,” and initiatives to address security threats. The presence of women in fisheries provides a source of food security and economic livelihoods for vulnerable populations, directly contributing to community resilience. Although accurate sex-disaggregated data are not always available, it is estimated that women globally constitute 47 percent of the 120 million people who make a living from fishing and processing marine resources. This estimate is likely to be higher, as a large proportion of women fishers remain unreported, leaving the extent of their existing and potential contributions insufficiently accounted for. But a ripple effect of transformational gender action is creating waves of positive change.

In the Caribbean region, the gender-maritime-security nexus is supported by the Women in Maritime Caribbean (WiMAC) Association established in 2015 under the auspices of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). As stated in the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS) which, as noted, is the outcome document of the recently celebrated 4^th International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4), “gender equality and women’s empowerment and the full realization of human rights for women and girls have a transformative and multiplier effect on sustainable development and are a driver of economic growth in small island developing states. Women can be powerful agents of change.” References to women and gender appear 13 times in the 28-page document – a unanimously adopted 10-year plan of action intended deliver transformative change for this group of countries which, while singularly vulnerable to multiple threats, are also on the frontlines of meaningful, gender-responsive solutions.

An Ocean of Opportunity: A View from Caribbean States

Maritime security is more critical than ever, requiring global, integrated, and equitable approaches. As noted by a recent report by The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, “interstate competition and, in extension, global and regional maritime security has returned to a position of prominence it has not occupied for decades.” Recent estimates indicate that 90 percent of global commerce takes place along sea routes, while shipping lanes, ports, and offshore oil and petrol facilities comprise roughly 70 percent of the earth’s ocean. Security concerns such as piracy and terrorism are reportedly on the rise, and constitute a serious threat to global peace and security.

Furthermore, the accelerating impact of climate change has the potential to increase pressures on already vulnerable coastal populations. It is likely to lead to an escalation in the movement of people across maritime frontiers, fostering transnational criminality. These issues need to be approached in a comprehensive, gender-responsive way if policy and operational interventions are to be effective and sustainable.  A secure marine environment is unlikely unless both women and men in coastal communities benefit from blue economic development, new coastal governance architectures, and relevant capacity-building projects. Recent initiatives such as the CMSS and the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAS) are promoting women’s meaningful participation across the maritime domain in the Caribbean region and, by qualified extension, can guide related efforts in other SIDS and coastal communities elsewhere.

Dr. Marisa O. Ensor is an applied environmental and legal anthropologist currently based at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) where she leads the portfolio on climate security.  She is also the current Chair of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association’s Gender Interest Group (“EnPAx-GIG”).