projects
Empowering Women
BREAKING BARRIERS
Women in Ocean Science
Mads founded Women in Ocean Science C.I.C, a non-profit organisation and female empowerment movement aged just 22, to tackle gendered issues in marine science and conservation, and to empower women to thrive in ocean-related careers. Aiming to break down gender barriers and elevate female voices within the marine science and conservation space, since 2018 WOS has worked to close the gender gap through education, celebration and empowerment, highlighting the intrinsic link between the need to protect the ocean and the need for a diverse, inclusive workforce of those working to protect it.
Today, WOS has morphed into the largest network of female marine scientists; a global community that spans 99 countries, hosts 60K across social platforms and has hundreds of ambassadors at academic institutions across 5 continents. Mads has taken discussions on gender equity to COP26 and UNOC22 and authored the first large-scale marine science sexual harassment study.
“Fundamentally, supporting women is protecting the ocean and I believe that we're squandering one of the most powerful tools we have for ecosystem resilience by keeping female voices from the ocean conversation.”
Madeline St Clair | Founder and Managing Director, Women in Ocean Science
building capacity
Empower Ocean
An initiative powered by Women in Ocean Science and developed in collaboration with local stakeholders, EMPOWER OCEAN is a female empowerment and capacity building initiative conceptualised to facilitate ocean guardianship by local women from ocean-dependent coral reef communities within the Indo-Pacific. Creating an intersectional conservation and female empowerment model in Maldives or Indonesia, Empower Ocean unites SDG’s 5 and 14 with the aim to increase long-term ecosystem resilience through prioritising gender equity in marine resource management.
As an Open Water Scuba Instructor and marine biologist, Mads works alongside her local collaborators to train women in marine conservation and scuba diving, pioneering a “closed-loop” empowerment model, whereby culturally-integrated, generational change is implemented through training super-trainers within the community. Mads aims not only to support women in not only finding confidence, but in sustaining it to continually engage in leadership, decision-making and management roles for the ocean within their communities.
elevating voices
Ocean Wxman
In April 2023, Mads was selected as the winner of Fujifilm's Regional Grant Award. Over 5 months, Mads will work on a hybrid photography-film series exploring female ocean guardianship throughout the Indo-Pacific, supported by FUJIFILM Europe and their stunning GFX cameras. Captured within the world's most biodiverse coral reef regions, this project is an intimate portrait of women quietly breaking stigmas in conserving the sea and their role in shaping the protection of our ocean. Mads is stoked to be finally bringing this project to life and is incredibly grateful to have the support of Fujifilm!
