Barriers to women entering shipping are slowly being eroded but are still very much in place, Celebrity Cruises chief executive Lisa Lutoff-Perlo says.

Passengership owners hire 94% of the women working in all maritime sectors, but only 2% of all 1.2m seafarers worldwide are female, according to the International Maritime Organization.

“It is no secret that women have been under-represented or flat out discouraged from pursuing careers in the maritime industry,” said Lutoff-Perlo, whose company is part of Royal Caribbean Group.