Guyana's contingent to the annual Tradewinds Exercises in St Vincent saw a continuation of its male-only policy despite there being female participants in other contingents.
The 43-member all-male contingent returned yesterday from the annual regional exercise involving coast guard personnel from the Caribbean, the USA and the United Kingdom.
However, the absence of a female from the contingent was seen as the continuation of an unwritten policy of having only males aboard the GDFS Essequibo despite females being part of the Coast Guard outfit.
Questioned on this, a senior official saw it as merely the continuation of the "old boy's club".
He acknowledged that other contingents had females as part of their teams including Barbados whose second-in-command is a woman.
Two other women - one a Guyanese and another of West Indian origin - performed duties as part of the crew on a US boat, the official said.
The official was unable to indicate a reason for the coast guard's policy other than to say it was part of the rules, which had to be addressed at another level.
Females are part of the regular army and perform duties equally as their male counterparts.
This newspaper during its visit to the Coast Guard's Ruimveldt base saw several female personnel at the site and was also told they are active members of the outfit.