WOMEN IN FISHERIES NETWORK (WOFNET)

Addressing gender inequities in the Fishing Sector

hermank256 — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 14:23:32 +0000

It has become clear that the challenges women face in fishing and fisheries needs to be
addressed at various levels. There’s a need to challenge unequal gender relations
within and outside the household, and within organisations. There’s also a need to seek
recognition for the paid and unpaid labour of women that goes towards sustaining
fisheries and fishing communities, and to ensure that women’s roles in the fisheries
sector don’t remain ‘invisible’. Women also need to have an increased right to
participate in decision-making processes with respect to fisheries planning and
management. WOFNET believes that addressing gender inequities by improving
women’s incomes and educational levels, as well as their access to information and
decision-making processes, will enhance women’s capabilities and ability to contribute
to fishing and fisheries with clear benefits on a number of levels for households, as well
as society in general.

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Increasing the Role of Women in Fisheries

hermank256 — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 14:23:22 +0000

In Uganda, women make up 12% of people working in fisheries sector. However the
number has been steadily increasing over the past two decades. Women also play a
critical and significant role in small-scale fisheries. In 2010, they represented almost half
the people working in small- scale fisheries with even greater numbers working in inland
fisheries. Women perform many of the pre- harvesting and most of the post- harvesting
tasks. However, since these tasks are not always recognized, information is not usually
gathered and women’s labour remains largely invisible. For example, the activity of
selling is almost invisible in most fisheries statistics and is an activity in which women
make up a large portion of the labour. Women also perform many unpaid pre- and post-
harvesting tasks (mending nets, collecting bait, preparing food for fishers, keeping
accounts), which are unacknowledged or undercounted as employment. WOFNET has
revealed the astounding amount of work that women do in the fisheries sector. In fishing
communities the household often functions as an economic unit where the roles of both
men and women tend to be complementary: women control land-based activities, such
as net- weaving, processing and marketing fish, while men engage in fish harvesting. At
the same time, women remain responsible for sustaining the fishing household, and
maintaining community networks and support structures. The diverse array of women’s
roles in the fishery sector, as well as their activities within the home, make them
important contributors to both national and household food security. However, the
recognition of women’s contributions is not equal to that afforded to men. WOFNET is
thus working to increase the Role of Women in Fisheries and make their work and
contribution more visible.

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Addressing the main Problems faced by Women in the Fishing Sector

hermank256 — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 14:23:13 +0000

WOFNET has established that Women from fisher households are involved in fish
processing, aquaculture, small-scale fishing and fish selling, but less often in
commercial fishing. The main problems faced by fisher women are:
a) They’re confined to less visible roles. Although women are and have always
been present in the fishing industry, in most instances their participation is
neither socially acknowledged nor economically remunerated. This is primarily
due to the fact that the stages at which they become involved aren’t the most
visible ones, both within and outside the community.
b) Women often have no control over income earned from fisheries’ activities.
c) Women lack opportunities to hold managerial and decision-making posts. The
main obstacles appear to be a lack of confidence in their abilities to hold such
positions, as well as finding sufficient time to do so.
d) There are high numbers of male-either moving away from fishing grounds leaving
an increased workload for women, or moving into fishing grounds where they
compete with women for scarce resources. For example, if a fish project goes
well, there may be an influx of males which may limit the resulting benefits for
women.
WOFNET is working with Women in fishing communities to ensure that such obstacles
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Increasing the understanding of Gender Roles and Fisheries

hermank256 — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 14:23:00 +0000

Despite women’s significant role in fisheries, there’s a lack of attention to gender roles.
This has resulted in policies or programmes failing to improve livelihoods or reduce
vulnerability among fishing communities.
WOFNET believes that addressing the largely ‘invisible’ role of women in small-scale
fisheries will increase the chances that actions aimed at improving the livelihoods of
small-scale fishers and their families are successful. Fishing households often have
clearly defined gender roles and responsibilities. This results in different income
streams within households. Women who buy fish for processing and marketing may
have to compete with others to obtain fish, even from their male relatives. These
complex arrangements and gender relations need to be considered when planning
development interventions. Doing so can avoid women being further marginalized and
avoid creating an environment that makes the women more vulnerable. Rural women
play a critical but often undervalued role in fishing-reliant families and communities.
Their direct activities include collecting, processing, preparing and marketing of fish and
other marine resources. They also have an indirect influence through household
management in accounting for how many fish are supplied to the household. Women
also have the main responsibility for educating young children about food collection,
preparation and management. This extends to passing on their knowledge on resource
use and traditional management. While women may bear the brunt of the costs of
gender differences and inequality within society, the impact of this is felt widely. Women
are the main family caregivers, so negative impacts on them will result in persistent
poverty for all members of the society. WOFNET is working with different actors to
increase the understanding of Gender Roles and Fisheries.

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Why are Gender Issues in Fisheries Important?

hermank256 — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 14:21:37 +0000

There are good reasons why effective and efficient development of fisheries must take
the roles of both women and men in the sector into account, including the obvious
concerns about fairness, equal opportunity and discrimination:
a) Women make up an important part of the fishing sector, particularly in small-
scale fisheries, and increasingly in capture fishing and other activities. By
acknowledging the role they play, better management and development
strategies and interventions can be developed that address all of the activities in
the sector, not just those carried out by men.
b) Women make significant contributions to fishery-related activities other than
fishing. They play the major role in processing fish and fishery products, as well
as in marketing. Although these roles are often very different to those of men,
they are integral parts of the industry. Ignoring these activities means ignoring a
large portion of the sector.
c) The different work done by women generates different kinds of knowledge. For
example, while men may know which grounds have the best fishing, women
know the price these fish will fetch in the market. Only with an understanding of
both women’s and men’s experiences and expertise can we understand the
fishery sector in its entirety, and manage its development appropriately.
d) The under-representation of women in decision-making limits the

use of their expertise and knowledge.
e) The number of women holding managerial posts with decision- making powers is
very low. Many women in fisheries have low self- esteem, possibly reflecting
social values in those settings that hold men to be superior. This reduces
women’s involvement and limits the ability for women to be empowered and
contribute to the fullest of their capacity.
f) Women don’t usually participate in meetings held by fishermen’s organisations.
Most fishing projects are male-oriented, and women’s participation is limited with
respect to planning, programming and management. As a result, consideration of
women’s knowledge and needs is limited, which ultimately limits the
effectiveness of such plans and programmes, etc.
g) There are very few policies or programmes within the fishing sector where
gender aspects are considered, resulting in excluding a significant portion of the
fishing community from programmes development and assistance and equal
opportunities.

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