DMET SAMVAAD Session XLVIII Breaking Barriers at Sea: Inspiring the Next Generation of Women in Maritime
- DMET Cadets
- 10 hours ago
- 5 min read
🔗 Join via Zoom :
🆔 Meeting ID: 814 8525 2866
🔐 Passcode: 508891
🎥 Also streaming on YouTube
But what Conrad could never have foreseen what perhaps no one in the centuries of maritime tradition could have fully imagined is the day when women would not merely accompany the sea's restlessness, but command it. That day is not coming. It has already arrived. And Session 48 of the DMET SAMVAAD series is here to prove it.
A Session That Was Always Meant to Happen
The DMET SAMVAAD series has always had a gift for choosing conversations that the maritime world needs to have. With Session XLVIII, it does so again and this time, it does so with particular urgency, particular pride, and a particular set of guests who represent what happens when talent refuses to be deterred.
Breaking Barriers at Sea: Inspiring the Next Generation of Women in Maritime is not just a title it is a promise. A promise that on Friday, 20th March 2026, at 5:30 PM IST, three women who have collectively rewritten the rules of what is possible in this industry will sit down for a conversation that every cadet, every aspiring mariner, and every member of the maritime fraternity simply cannot afford to miss.
The Speakers: Three Women Who Changed the Tide
Capt. Radhika Menon Co Founder, International Women Seafarers Foundation
She is India's First Woman Merchant Navy Captain and the first Indian woman to win the International Maritime Organization (UN body) award for Exceptional Bravery at Sea. In June 2015, in the Bay of Bengal, in the teeth of a storm that brought 60 70 knot winds and nine meter waves, she sighted a barely visible fishing vessel through binoculars and immediately ordered a rescue operation, saving the lives of seven fishermen who had been adrift for days. The radar could not find that boat. Only a human being, alert and present on the bridge, could and that human being was Captain Radhika Menon.
On March 8, 2022, she was honoured with the Nari Shakti Award in recognition of exceptional work for women empowerment by Former President of India Ram Nath Kovind on International Women's Day.
But perhaps her most enduring legacy is not the awards she has received it is the foundation she built so others would not have to fight alone. The International Women Seafarers Foundation (IWSF) was co founded in 2017 by Capt. Radhika Menon, Ch. Engineer Suneeti Bala, and Ms. Sharvani Mishra as a not for profit organization that works for the benefit of the women seafaring community around the world to bring about gender equality in the maritime profession.
She believes seafaring as a male profession is a wrong concept: "There is no stamp on any profession saying that it is for males or females. Professions are not gender based."
When a woman of that conviction walks into your session, you listen.
C/E Rupali Raj Joshi Fellow, TERI
The maritime world is full of engineers who know their ships. It takes something altogether different a rare combination of technical mastery, institutional courage, and unwavering perseverance to rise to the rank of Chief Engineer as a woman in an industry that has historically made every step harder.
C/E Rupali Raj Joshi brings maritime engineering expertise built across roles at The Great Eastern Shipping and Tolani Shipping, where she oversaw vessel maintenance and ensured operational efficiency. She holds a MEO Class 1 certification among the highest engineering qualifications in the merchant navy and has further served as a surveyor with IRClass, contributing to survey and certification work at the intersection of technical compliance and maritime safety.
She was recognised by Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal for her contributions to the maritime sector an acknowledgment that speaks not just to her personal accomplishments, but to the broader significance of the path she has forged.
As a Fellow of TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute), her perspective bridges the technical heart of the engine room with the wider horizons of sustainability and policy making her a uniquely compelling voice for where maritime engineering must go next.
C/E Sonali Banerjee Ex Marine Surveyor, Indian Register of Shipping
Some people enter a room and change its temperature. Sonali Banerjee Ma,am walked into a room that had never seen anyone like her and changed history.
On August 26, 2001, she boarded a Mobil Shipping Company vessel and officially became the first Indian woman to take charge of a ship's machine room. The year before, in 1999, she had passed out of MERI as India's first woman marine engineer, the only girl among 1,500 cadets.
She was also the first in India to clear MEO Class 1 as a woman and sailed for seven years before clearing the Chief Engineer's licence. In a career that has since spanned Manning Superintendent roles, Technical Manager responsibilities in the offshore sector, and a long tenure as Principal Surveyor at the Indian Register of Shipping, she has never stopped being exactly what she was at the beginning: the one who goes first, so others can follow.
Her success opened a new chapter in the institute's history, sparking interest and enthusiasm among girls about the mariner's world not just in her institute, but inspiring girls to sign up for marine engineering colleges across India.
🧭 What to Expect: A Conversation Worth Attending
This is not going to be a ceremonial panel where pleasantries are exchanged and everyone goes home comfortable. The women joining Session 48 have navigated hostile seas, professional scepticism, systemic gaps, and personal sacrifices that most of us can barely imagine. They speak from lived experience not theory.
Participants can expect to explore:
What it actually takes to rise through the ranks in a male dominated maritime world the real story, not the sanitised version
How women seafarers today can navigate challenges that still persist at sea and ashore
The institutional, regulatory, and cultural shifts needed to create a truly gender equal maritime workforce
The role that training institutions like Indian Maritime University and the cadets within them play in shaping the future of this industry
Practical guidance, inspiration, and mentorship from women who have been where many of you are hoping to go
What the next generation of maritime women needs and what the broader maritime community owes them
💻 Join the Session Don't Just Watch History, Be Part of It
📅 Date: Friday, 20th March 2026 🕠 Time: 5:30 PM IST 📺 Platform: YouTube | Zoom
Scan the QR code on the event banner to join.
Host: Urjita Bisht (Roll No. 10377) | Class of 2024–28 Co Host: Debaleena Kar (Roll No. 10200) | Class of 2024–28 Vote of Thanks: Divya (Roll No. 10214) | Class of 2024–28
🌊 May Auspiciousness and Peace Flow Upon Us
As the banner of Session 48 carries the timeless Sanskrit invocation शं योरभि संवन्तु नः May auspiciousness and peace from both day and night, heaven and earth flow upon us it is worth pausing to consider what this session truly represents.
It represents every cadet sitting in a classroom today, wondering whether a career at sea is really possible for her. It represents every woman who was told by a relative, a recruiter, a shipmate, or a system that this was not her world. And it represents every one of those women who went anyway, proved them wrong, and came back to hold the door open for the next one.
Captain Radhika Menon || C/E Rupali Raj Joshi || C/E Sonali Banerjee.
Three names. Three journeys. One very clear message: the sea belongs to those who dare.
Block your calendars. Bring your questions. Bring your ambitions. And come ready to be inspired.
शं योरभि संवन्तु नः.
