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Category: Women



Economic outcomes in small-scale fish trade: The role of gender norms

Economic analysis of market data was conducted by the research team to understand quantitative differences in livelihood outcomes for women and men engaging in the same trading activities at the same markets. Results from economic models show that gender is a key factor influencing earnings in fish trade and that other important drivers, including processing type and selling market size and location, are also shaped by gender. The team found that while women and men participate in fish trade in near-equal numbers in Malawi, women are earning less money per unit than men and tend to trade in smaller volumes.

This entry was posted in: Africa, Economics, Fisheries, Gender, Labour, Malawi, Markets, Men, Women

A Review of the Multi-dimensional Perspectives of Taboos on Gender Roles of Fisherfolk in the Global South

Traditional knowledge and belief systems can play an important role in contemporary governance systems, making valuable contributions towards sustainable fisheries; however, understanding the role that taboos play in mediating human interactions with ocean resources, especially those limiting women’s access to such resources, is necessary for advancing gender equity in small-scale fisheries.

This entry was posted in: Africa, Men, Nigeria, Women

GeNA: Developing gender-responsive monitoring in NbCS aquaculture projects in Southeast Asia

The Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Section (GAFS) of the Asian Fisheries Society (AFS) has been awarded a 46 months project titled “Making nature-based climate solutions (NbCS) in aquaculture in Southeast Asia monitoring more gender-responsive: What gets measured gets done.” GeNA or Gender-responsive NbCS in Aquaculture for short is supported by IDRC Canada’s AQUADAPT-SEAPAC grant.

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, ASEAN, Asia, Cambodia, Gender, Men, Philippines, Thailand, Women

Participatory Action Research enhances fish smokers’ willingness to adopt social change and technology innovation in Lagos, Nigeria

A recent project in Lagos, Nigeria focused on the use of participatory action research (PAR) to change the beliefs, dispositions, and interactions between fish smokers and researchers. It demonstrated how PAR stimulated interest among fish smokers in biomass briquettes and a prototype drum smoking kiln. It also encouraged co-ownership of the research and the readiness to use contemporary technology.

This entry was posted in: Africa, Concepts, Theory, Nigeria, Smoked Fish, Women

Amphibious Living Opportunities: ALO for the Sundarbans

Vijay Mahajan and SS Tabrez Nasar ask what can the people living in precarious locations in the Indian Sundarbans do to survive rapidly encroaching climate and ecosystem threats? The communities will need to quickly adapt to “Amphibious Living,” including by choosing “Amphibious Living Opportunities.” Abbreviated as ALO (আলো) in the local language, Bengali , this means “illumination” or “light” and also signifies “dawn”.

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Asia, Concepts, Theory, Country, Fisheries, India, Men, Women

Masculinities riptide: wind in the sails or anchor for the inclusion of gender in fisheries?

Physical strength, toughness, and endurance. These are some of the most common bodily attributes associated with men. These attributes play an important role in defining whether one is a fisher or not, as these masculinity expressions are generally present in fishing. Therefore, people who do not participate in harvesting (fishing) and who do not reflect these characteristics, such as women, are not usually considered part of the sector, even when according to official data, they make up half of the fisheries workforce worldwide, when pre- and post-production activities are also considered.

This entry was posted in: Gender, Labour, Men, Women

Gender @ 12th Indian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum

The 12th Indian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum (12IFAF) was held in Chennai from 5 to 7 May 2022. We are pleased to report on two events with special relevance to gender in aquaculture and fisheries. The first is an award to a gender stalwart, Dr B. Shanthi, and the second is a report by Dr Nikita Gopal of the Special Session on Gender in Fisheries held at 12IFAF.

This entry was posted in: AFSIB, Aquaculture, Asia, Conferences, Fisheries, India, Labour, Mariculture, Seaweed, Women

Calling for Cooperation in Action for Decent Work and Thriving Businesses for Women in Fisheries

The Cooperative Action Plan recognizes this issue and presents a guide for addressing gender and labor issues faced by women workers in Asia-Pacific fisheries and aquaculture. It focuses on women’s labor and business opportunities, recognizing that women are not a homogenous category and their needs vary according to their working situations, life stages from youth to elderly, ethnicity, education, social and economic positions, immigrant status, among others. A call is made to individuals and organizations to make the Plan a reality.

This entry was posted in: Asia, Fisheries, GAF8, Gender, Labour, Transgender, Value Chains, Women

Reflections on Gender and Fisheries: Through the lens of presentations @ 13AFAF

The 13th Asian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum (13AFAF) was a watershed for how gender was included in Asian Fisheries Society’s triennial Forums. Gender topics were in the Plenary, as a topic session and in the Forum’s graphic elements. The gender theme has come a long way in Asian Fisheries Society and can still go much further. Three messages to take home: why and how research is practices is critical to gender; need to focus more on women’s agency rather than their victimhood and marginality; and gender relations are dynamic under changes in resources and even new technologies.

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, ASEAN, Asia, Concepts, Theory, Conferences, Fisheries, GAF8, Gender, Global, Men, Nigeria, Pacific, Philippines, Samoa, Seaweed, Women

Women fish too: Invisible women in tuna industries

The assumption that the tuna industry is dominated by men, or that only men fish, is not only wrong, but also damaging. As women make up half of the population, it is important to know if the development of fishing industries benefits both women and men. To do that, a first step is making women visible through gender-disaggregated data to have a better picture of how women are impacted in their societies.

This entry was posted in: Asia, Fiji, Fisheries, Indonesia, Labour, Men, Pacific, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Tuna, Women

International Women’s Day 2022- GAF

Getting to the Core Principles of Gender and Fisheries: The Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Section of the Asian Fisheries Society (GAFS), celebrates International Women’s Day 2022 by releasing its Core Principles statement. The GAFS Core Principles are based on the formal Objectives in our By Laws, and our own and others’ experiences working in gender equality. The Principles have been drafted, discussed and put through open consultation among GAFS members and other interested experts.

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Fisheries, GAF8, Global, Men, Others, Transgender, Women

Issue #3 of the Gender Section e-Newsletter released

Read the latest E-Newsletter of the Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Section (GAFS) of the Asian Fisheries Society, our second COVID-19 era edition. The E-Newsletter Editor, Surendran Rajaratnam pointed out, “COVID-19 continues to disrupt our lives and livelihoods, we have learned to endure and continue to live with the disease and the uncertainties it brings. Although the pandemic has exposed political, health, economic and social vulnerabilities of many countries, the show of resilience and global cooperation to weather the virus is applaudable.”

This entry was posted in: Bangladesh, Conferences, GAF8, GAFS, Gender, Global, India, Men, Nepal, Seaweed, Women

Rocking the boat: resistance to marine conservation policies along lines of ethnicity, class and gender in the Wakatobi National Park, Indonesia

Local Sama-Bajau do not passively accept the conservation regulations imposed upon their communities. Instead, they continue to access marine and coastal resources for their culture and livelihoods in ways that they consider to be morally fair. Despite much ‘women’s work’ being made illegal by the protected area, and social stigmatization, the women are important providers and contributors to household livelihoods.

This entry was posted in: Asia, Fisheries, Indonesia, Men, Women

Towards a ‘thick description’ of gender relations: a new framework based on dried fish value chains

Dried fish is considered a ‘hidden’ sub-sector within small-scale fisheries, and is particularly important in Asia and Africa. Women make up a significant portion of the workforce in this sub-sector. A new framework may reveal a thick description of gender relations.

This entry was posted in: Bangladesh, Concepts, Theory, Fisheries, Gender, Global, Men, Tanzania, Value Chains, Women

In fishing industry, women face hidden hardships: study

Women are the unseen backbone of seafood supply chains, supporting local food security and ensuring that fish are processed and packaged for sale at regional and national markets. A recent paper by authors from Conservation International highlights how systemic discrimination and a lack of representation and recognition in the seafood industry worldwide makes women more vulnerable to abuse.

This entry was posted in: Concepts, Theory, Fisheries, Global, Value Chains, Women

Roles of women in the purchasing node of the value chain of tuna in Vietnam: Case study of Binh Dinh province

Vietnam has seen its economy undergo many drastic changes during the past 40 years, going from a centrally planned economy to a market-driven one. Since the transition to a market-driven economy, many studies on the economics of commodities have been conducted but this story reports on the first study of women in the purchasing node of tuna.

This entry was posted in: Fisheries,Gender, Men,Tuna, Vietnam, Women

Bringing to light women’s participation in the seaweed industry

Seaweed farming is an important livelihood source for tens of thousands of families in the Southeast Asia. Using a gendered analysis in the Philippines, this story reveals essential gender aspects of production and risk mitigation strategies.

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, ASEAN, Men, Philippines, Seaweed, Value Chains, Women

USAID Oceans Gender Activities

The recently completed project, USAID Oceans and Fisheries Partnership (USAID Oceans: 2015-2020) had human welfare and gender (HWGE) in fisheries as one of its workstreams, along with technology development for an electronic Catch Documentation and Traceability system (eCDT), Ecosystems Approach to Fisheries Management (EAFM), Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and Regional Collaboration.

This entry was posted in: ASEAN, Cambodia, Gender, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Men, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Women

Issue #2 of the Gender Section e-Newsletter released

We are pleased to release the latest annual E-Newsletter of the Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Section (GAFS) of the Asian Fisheries Society. The E-Newsletter Editor, Surendran Rajaratnam pointed out that as he wrote his introduction, “people around the world have already endured weeks of social and economic restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Fisheries, Gender, Women

Marine science meets social science – a gender and human rights focus in the Pacific

In the Pacific, the ocean is home. It connects social and cultural life, while providing key resources such as food and economic benefits, as well as connecting infrastructure and leisure opportunities. The Pacific’s richness in culturally enshrined lifestyles, its vast diversity of Polynesian, Micronesian and Melanesian traditions and its co-existence with...

This entry was posted in: Fisheries, Gender, Men, Pacific, Value Chains, Women

The story behind collecting the data on women in global study on small-scale fisheries

Gender experts from across the globe have sought out scarce sets of sex-disaggregated data for the Illuminating Hidden Harvests initiative, ensuring that both women’s and men’s contributions to small-scale fisheries are seen. Just as data tells stories, so too does missing data. In fisheries, the lack of sex-disaggregated data is a story in itself,” said Dr. Jennifer Lee Johnson, an anthropologist with Purdue University.

This entry was posted in: Fisheries, Gender, Women

Addressing the gender data gap and illuminating women’s participation in fisheries

Despite evidence of women’s contribution to the sustainability of fisheries worldwide, their roles in fisheries remain poorly understood and most often unrecognized altogether. The main hurdle in assessing women’s contribution is the lack of gender disaggregated data in fisheries, a well understood and nearly universal impediment to understanding women’s participation.

This entry was posted in: Fisheries, Gender, Men, USA, Women

Latest special issue of Gender, Technology & Development examines new learnings on women and fisheries

Women work in all stages of the fish value chain, producing, processing and selling fish and through their work support the economy, their households, and communities in rural and coastal regions. They are said to make up half the fisheries workforce, yet their work goes unrecognized in most official Read more about Latest special issue of Gender, Technology & Development examines new learnings on women and fisheries ...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Barbados, Fisheries, Men, Mozambique, Philippines, Tanzania, Value Chains, Women, Zambia

Valuing invisible catches

Over a decade ago I started working with fisheries data and noticed that much was missing from the official statistics that are often the basis for fisheries management and policy. My work at that time, as a research assistant for the Sea Around Us initiative, focused on fisheries catch data, where small-scale fisheries were found to be grossly under-reported, with certain species completely overlooked and large amounts of discarded bycatch, mostly from industrial scale fisheries, missing from the data.

This entry was posted in: Fisheries, Women

Social relations and women’s roles in Malawi fish value chains

Social relations are important in small-scale fisheries value chains. This study addresses the question of how social relations affect engagement and outcomes of women who participate in the fish value chains. The social relations approach was useful to the study as it helped in understanding the social relations within the household and between the actors in the fish value chains.

This entry was posted in: Country, Fisheries, Freshwater Fisheries, Malawi, Men, Value Chains, Women

Three reports on GAF7 outcomes

Three new reports have been released on the 7th Global Conference on Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries (GAF7), held in Bangkok 18-21 October 2018. These all present different types of important reportage on GAF7 and, from their different perspectives, help fill out the detail on the event. In addition, a number of presentations from GAF7...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Fisheries, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Mariculture, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Inclusive management and coastal/ocean sustainability

All actors are needed to reach the goal but especially women are a key starting point By Maricela de la Torre-Castro, Stockholm University maricela (at) natgeo.su.se In my recent article, I used the concept of inclusive management to represent “any management strategy that consciously and explicitly considers gender and the whole diversity of actors” dealing ...

This entry was posted in: Country, Fisheries, Marine Fisheries, Tanzania, Women

Issue #1 of the Gender Section e-Newsletter launched!

We are delighted to introduce the first annual e-Newsletter of the Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Section of the Asian Fisheries Society. Officially launched during the Opening Session of the 12 Asian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum of the Asian Fisheries Society in Iloilo, Philippines, the Newsletter introduces the Section, its membership and Executive Committee, news ...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Fisheries, Gender, Women

Are some governance principles more valued than others? Gender equality as an under-represented and ill-defined principle in coastal fisheries

Regardless of the natural resource sector in which we work (i.e., agriculture, forestry or fisheries), we are all guided by a common set of governance principles. These principles may include commitments to sustainable modes of resource management, protection of biodiversity, or participation of stakeholders.

This entry was posted in: Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

OPINION: Boosting women in seafood and ending gender inequality

A call to the seafood community: time for commitment and change is now! By Marie Christine Monfort, Natalia Briceno-Lagos, Meryl Williams, Jayne Gallagher, Leonie Noble, Editrudith Lukanga, Tamara Espiñeira, Marja Bekendam and Katia Frangoudes In honor of International Women’s Day 2019, this Opinion also appeared on the following sites: AKTEA, Blog Activ EU, Industrias Pesqueras (Spanish), International Collective in Support of FishWorkers (ICSF), Fisheries ...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

‘Good science’: Using sex-disaggregated data in small-scale fisheries research and policy

Globally, relatively few data are available about women’s role in small-scale fisheries, despite their active participation as fishers, processors, traders and marketers. This calls for greater efforts by researchers, national fisheries agencies and global policymakers to collect and report separately on women’s and men’s contributions to this sector. “When we only collect ...

This entry was posted in: Women

From “women do fish” to “women do participate and lead”

Slowly over the last few decades, the number and type of organisations representing the interests of women in fisheries and aquaculture have begun to grow and diversify. Little is written about this welcome growth of activity and so the new FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular by Enrique Alonso-Población and Susana Siar (Link) “Women’s participation and Read more about From “women do fish” to “women do participate and lead”...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Marine Fisheries, Women

GAF-India Prizes and Launch of GAF Section at 11IFAF

GAF-India was held in Kochi, Kerala, India from 21-24 November 2017. Previously, the prize winners of the M.C. Nandeesha Photo Competition were announced (link). Now we are happy to announce the student prize winners for GAF-India presentations and posters, and the winner of the first Asian Fisheries Society Indian Branch Prof. M.C. Nandeesha Gender Justice and...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, India, Mariculture, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

A gendered approach to nutrition-sensitive homestead pond polyculture

A recent paper: “Homestead pond polyculture can improve access to nutritious small fish” published in the journal Food Security1 investigates an aquaculture production system in Bangladesh which is tailored towards improving nutrition and is accessible to and can be managed by women. In Bangladesh, and many parts of rural south Asia, women’s movements outside the homestead...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Bangladesh, Gender, Sector, Women

Report from the Thematic Symposium on Gender and Fisheries @ World Women’s Congress

On 1 August, at the 13th World Women’s Congress, held in Florianopolis, Brazil, Maria do Rosário de Fátima Andrade Leitão and Maria Helena Santana Cruz coordinated the Gender and Fisheries Thematic Symposium. Researchers at the Symposium presented studies about Brazilian women in fishery activities, plus a contribution on women in fisheries in Mexico.

This entry was posted in: Mariculture, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Securing women’s fishing rights: a look at 5 South American coastal communities

Rights1,2 and rights-based management (RBM) 3 have long been fundamental concepts examined in theory and practice in the search for sustainable and socially just fisheries management. However, few studies have engaged this discourse on the practical issue of women’s rights in fisheries. One exception is a study presented at the North American Association for Fisheries...

This entry was posted in: Mariculture, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Sustainable Development Goal 5 and fisheries

The May 2017 issue of Yemaya, the gender in fisheries newsletter of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, is now out. This issue is full of stimulating and diverse articles from around the world – Mexico, India, Fiji and more, many with a focus on the implications of Sustainable Development Goal #5 on gender...

This entry was posted in: India, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Videos capture women in action in the seafood sector

The results of the Women in Seafood video competition are now out and all the videos can be viewed through this WSI website link. Click this link to go to the interactive map and open the videos. The videos are interesting, often inspiring, and all are short and to the point, ranging from 2 to 5...

This entry was posted in: Women

Contributions by women in the fisheries of five major fishing countries

A recent paper published in Coastal Management (Contributions by Women to Fisheries Economies: Insights from Five Maritime Countries) investigates the contribution by women to fisheries economies in Mexico, Peru, Senegal, South Africa, and Vietnam. Through an exhaustive review of data and literature on women and fisheries, the authors of this paper, Sarah Harper, Charlotte Grubb, Margot...

This entry was posted in: Women

Mapping the action on International Women’s Day ’17

Map showing the locations (mainly at country resolution level) for events and news about women in aquaculture, fisheries and seafood in honor of International Women’s Day 2017. If you have more events from 8 March 2017 to put on this map, please let us know at: e-mail genderaquafish@gmail.com. Before, during and after 8 March 2017...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Marine Fisheries, Women

Yemaya: gender equality in small-scale fisheries is a struggle at two levels

The first 2017 issue of Yemaya, the gender and fisheries newsletter of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), recognizes that implementing the gender equality provisions of the Voluntary Guidelines on Small Scale Fisheries is a struggle at two levels. The first struggle is in the household and community, and the second is the level Read more about Yemaya: gender equality in small-scale fisheries is a struggle at two levels...

This entry was posted in: Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Broadening perspectives on markets, relationships and benefits in seafood trade: The role of Zanzibari women in small-scale fisheries

Market structures of small-scale “economically developing” country fisheries (SSF) have remained relatively under-examined in the academic literature and the work done has focused primarily on relations between fishers and traders. However, most studies have focused only on economic transactions and this has likely skewed our understanding of the...

This entry was posted in: Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

WSI the new association for women in the seafood industry will be at the Icelandic Fisheries Fair

WSI Press release, Paris, Tuesday 24 January 2017 WSI, an international association for Women in the Seafood Industry was created in December 2016 by specialists at the cross-road between the seafood industry and gender issues. WSI’s goals are to highlight women’s contribution to the seafood industry, to raise awareness of gender issues within this industry and to promote...

This entry was posted in: Men, Women

4th Anniversary of Dr M.C. Nandeesha

Dr. Mudnakudu C. Nandeesha (1957-2012), who instigated many women/gender in aquaculture and fisheries initiatives, passed away on 27 December 2012. On the 4th anniversary of his passing, we pause to remember him and acknowledge his contributions on many fronts, including on gender awareness and action. Dr Nandeeshabegan his work in aquaculture research and development in Karnataka...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Bangladesh, India, Men, Women

FAO: Promoting women’s empowerment in fisheries and aquaculture

FAO has released a publication, “Promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in fisheries and aquaculture”, prepared jointly by the Social Policies and Rural Institutions Division and the Fisheries Department within FAO. The publication provides an overview of current gender equality and women’s empowerment issues in the fisheries and...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Fiji and Solomon Islands articles feature in SPC’s Women in Fisheries Info Bulletin #27

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s 27th Women in Fisheries Information Bulletin features several in-depth reports on women in Fiji fisheries and rural communities, and a one on women in Solomon Island fisheries. In addition, several news items are carried. The whole issue or individual articles can be found at this link. Inside issue #27...

This entry was posted in: Marine Fisheries, Women

Learning from forestry and landuse: Good practices for women’s inclusion

In 2013, a group of organisation, led by WOCAN (Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management) produced a very useful distillation of good practices for including women in key climate change mitigation programs, especially REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation). Most of the good advice in the “Scoping study of ...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Women disadvantaged by how fisheries are structured

The September 2016 issue of Yemaya (Issue 52), the gender and fisheries newsletter of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) is full of articles that explore the structural inequalities affecting women in fisheries and aquaculture. This is recommended reading! Contents (below) and link to Issue 52 Gathering cooperation (Costa Rica mollusk gatherers) by Aracelly Jimenez ...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

European Institute for Gender Equality profiles relevance of gender in maritime affairs and fisheries

The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), an autonomous body within the framework of the European Union policies and initiatives, has developed a profile on the relevance of gender in maritime affairs and fisheries. In a clear and attractive interactive display, the profile covers the relevant policies, the issues concerning gender equality, the objectives, how ...

This entry was posted in: Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Milestones for women in fisheries

To celebrate International Women’s Day 2016, Yemaya, the gender in fisheries newsletter of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, collected a set of regional summaries of milestones for women in fisheries. In her overview for this issue of Yemaya, the editor, Nilanjana Biswas, concluded that while we take stock of, and celebrate the achievements ...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Marine Fisheries, Women

Mrs Usha becomes a community leader through aquaculture

Mrs. M. Usha belongs to the Indian Scheduled Irular tribal community. She lives in the remote area of Kulathumedu, a Scheduled Tribal village, Palaverkadu (Pulicat) Post, Ponneri Taluk, Tiruvallur dt.,Tamil Nadu, South India. Reaching her farming site is quiet tedious. Either you need to trek to these remote villages or go in by boat.

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, India, Women

Reflections on gleaning

Also see our overview of gleaning and gender: Discover Gleaning The Philippines is one of Southeast Asia’s many diverse cultural regions, and together with other Asian nations is in an area that has gone through tremendous changes, economic, social and environmental. Changes which ...

This entry was posted in: Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Coral Gleaning in Lido Village, Papua New Guinea

The women of Lido Village, on the north coast of Papua New Guinea, have traditionally made an important contribution to their families’ protein intake by gleaning for marine invertebrates and small fish off exposed reef flats at low tide. Unlike their counterparts in many Pacific communities...

This entry was posted in: Marine Fisheries, Women

Yemaya releases 50th issue

Yemaya, the gender and fisheries newsletter of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) has published its 50th newsletter. As usual, Yemaya is an excellent read from its varied and thoughtful articles, to the wry Yemaya Mama cartoons, to reviews and news. The contents in this December 2015 edition are: Editorial by Nilanjana Biswas...

This entry was posted in: Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Yemaya releases 50th issue

Yemaya, the gender and fisheries newsletter of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) has published its 50th newsletter. As usual, Yemaya is an excellent read from its varied and thoughtful articles, to the wry Yemaya Mama cartoons, to reviews and news. The contents in this December 2015 edition are: Editorial by Nilanjana Biswas...

This entry was posted in: Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

2015: our year in review

Wishing all our readers and contributors a healthy, productive and happy 2016! Looking back on 2015, the Genderaquafish website continued to serve a large and very diverse range of people in 163 countries and territories in all regions. Our top 5 countries for readers were: India (2,973), USA (2,673), Philippines (798), Australia (607) and South...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, India, Women

3rd Anniversary of Dr M.C. Nandeesha

On 27th December 2012, Dr M.C. Nandeesha, who initiated the first efforts to address gender in aquaculture and fisheries in Asia, passed away. We honor his memory and achievements and hope that his legacy will continue to grow through the gender efforts of the Asian Fisheries Society and other professional and grassroots groups. In collaboration with...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, India, Men, Women

Gender roles in Pacific coastal fisheries

The latest Secretariat of the Pacific Community Women in Fisheries Information Bulletin (#26), “highlights gender roles in coastal fisheries and development, and women’s fishing activities in urban and rural communities”, said its editor, Veikila Vuki. The issue contains the following articles, and can be downloaded here: Guest editorial: Gender in aquaculture and fisheries – Navigating change, by...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Social development in seafood production

Brief report on the Proceedings of the Seafood Industry and Social Development Conference 21-22 September 2015, Annapolis, Maryland, USA By Arlene Nietes Satapornvanit In early 2015, NACA (Network for Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific) was invited by Oxfam/SFP/UNDP to participate in the Seafood Industry and Social Development Conference to present the work we are doing on...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

New working group “Gendered Seas“ studies the role of women in fisheries over time

As part of the European project Oceans Past Platform, a new working group on gender and fisheries history has been established. See our video introduction on Youtube. Gendered Seas will explore the different roles and responsibilities of women and men in the exploitation and management of living marine resources over time.

This entry was posted in: Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Fishing out the Invisible

In the August 2015 issue of Samudra Report, the journal of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, Marie Christine Monfort describes her expedition to “fish out” what was happening for women in the fish sector. She also provides an abridged version of the recent Globefish Report, “The Role of Women in the Seafood Industry”...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Yemaya highlights how changes in fish trade affect the lives and labour of women

The July 2015 issue of Yemaya (from the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers) highlights the experiences of women in fish trade and support industries. The editor, Nilanjana Biswas, concludes that the evidence is that women are being ‘ousted from local markets’, typically ending up in more dangerous, less lucrative substandard sites. Read the Editorial...

This entry was posted in: Women

1-2-3: Counting the ways women access fish

In a recent FAO report (A Review of Women’s Access to Fish in Small Scale Fisheries), Angela Lentisco and Robert Lee have gone beyond the typical portrayal of women as fish processors and marketers have reviewed and categorized three main ways in which women access fish in small scale fisheries. First is primary access through...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Women in Solomon Islands tuna and coastal fish chains

Women are particularly important in the key industrial tuna and coastal fish value chains in the Solomon Islands. They are active inshore fishers, critical in providing labour in the large SolTuna at Noro in Western Province, and in certain domains of local fish marketing. A recent World Bank study [“Gender, Fisher, Trader, Processer: Towards Gender-Equitable...

This entry was posted in: Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Building climate resilience in Laos by bringing in women

Charlotte Moser worked among Lao fishers in the Sekong River basin that begins in Vietnam, traverses Lao PDR and flows into the Mekong in Cambodia. The project on which she worked, in Samakhixay and Saysettha districts of Attapeu Province in southern Laos, involved Lao PDR, World Bank and IUCN support. She reports [“Listening to Women Fishers on...

This entry was posted in: Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

How are women faring in the Abrolhos Islands rock lobster fishery?

In 2000, the Western Australian rock lobster (Panulirus cygnus) fishery was the world’s first fishery certified by the Marine Stewardship Council. Since then, however, the stock has had shocks from climate shifts. The fishing communities that harvest it, especially on the remote Abrolhos Islands, have been affected both by the...

This entry was posted in: Women

FAO report highlights gender imbalance in fish industry

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through its GLOBEFISH unit on international fish trade, recently released a report – “The Role of Women in the Seafood Industry” – that highlighted the contributions and constraints on women through all levels and scales of the fish industry. The report, written by Marie-Christine Monfort, ...

This entry was posted in: India, Women

Women in aquaculture and fisheries at World Aquaculture 2015, Jeju, Korea

These reports on the Women in Aquaculture and Fishery Session at WA2015, held at the ICC Jeju, Korea, 27 May 2015, have been written by Jin Yeong Kim, Bibha Kumari and Jenny Cobcroft. Thanks also to Aquaculture without Frontiers (AwF) Women’s Network, World Aquaculture Society, Roy Palmer and all the presenters. Women in Aquaculture and Fisheries ...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Marine Fisheries, Women

EAF-Nansen project publishes gender audit

The 34 year old series of FAO-Norwegian fisheries projects based on capacity building and use of the Research Vessel (R/V) Dr Fridtjof Nansen has released the report of its first gender audit. The latest phase of the Nansen work is based on the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries (EAF), hence the need to take a much more ...

This entry was posted in: Men, Women

Latest ICSF Yemaya Newsletter Now Out

The latest issue of Yemaya, the newsletter on gender and fisheries put out three times a year by the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, is full of interesting and thought-provoking articles, several centered around International Women’s Day and continuing struggles for decent lives and rights around the world. The whole issue or individual Read more about Latest ICSF Yemaya Newsletter Now Out ...

This entry was posted in: India,, Men, Women

Making and marketing Fijian pearls to tourists

The Ba Women’s Forum, a peak body of 79 women’s groups in the Ba area of Fiji (62 km from Nadi, a tourist center on the main island of Fiji), has gradually been developing its engagement and the identification of opportunities in the pearl culture and marketing sector, with help from an ACIAR project.

This entry was posted in: Women

Women-led fish farming improves life for families in Yapacani, Bolivia

The Fish for Life project, initiated by experts from Canada, Brazil and Bolivia, and carried out with families in Yapacani, Bolivia, has succeeded in expanding the farming families’ diversity of food and farming options – previously based on single crop rice farming – by successfully introducing women-led fish farming. The comprehensive development project, complete with pilot...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Marine Fisheries, Women

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2015: Make it Happen!

This International Women’s Day we are pleased to share a heartening and forward looking set of messages from Asian women in the aquaculture sector. The presentation comes courtesy of the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific and Aquaculture without Frontiers. Click on the picture above to launch the slide show, which starts with the challenges...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Men, Women

Broadening the perspective of fisheries management by including gender

The Secretariat for the Pacific Community’s recent regional workshop on the “Future of coastal/inshore fisheries management,” 3 to 6 March 2015 included the role of women (along with youth and culture) in fisheries management as one of the main topics. Other topics included community based resource management, livelihoods and the private sector, and the role of tuna in...

This entry was posted in: Men, Women

Going all the way: gender-just food security

Food security is often presented as a gender-neutral problem, but unequal access to food affects women and girls disproportionately and so gender-sensitive solutions are needed. The UK-based BRIDGE gender and development initiative has just released a policy brief and report on gender, food security and nutrition exploring the evidence and providing a new vision of gender-justice with implementing...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

New rural technologies and gender

A tremendous emphasis in agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture research is given to developing new, more efficient and profitable technologies for farmers and fishers. Governments all around the world support research and extension institutes, and the private sector also has a huge influence. But how are women faring in having a say in what their priorities...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

The influence of exisiting gender and labor patterns on women’s participation in the Island of Chiloé salmon industry, Chile

Rapid economic development in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors often relies heavily on local or migrant women workers entering the paid workforce. This has been the case on the Island of Chiloé in southern Chile, one of the areas of intense growth of salmon aquaculture and salmon processing for export. In their recent paper in...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Marine Fisheries, Women

Gender lessons from field research in Bangladesh and Zambia

A new report from the CGIAR Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS) research program picks out some early lessons from the floodplains of Bangladesh and Zambia where the gender transformative approach is being tested in the field. The approach, which the AAS program seeks to apply, tries to go beyond simple gender approaches and checklists that usually...

This entry was posted in: Bangladesh, Gender, Men, Women

Genderaquafish: 2014 year in review

Our Genderaquafish website continued to grow in popularity in 2014, with visits to the site increasing by 9% over the 2013 level, reaching 18,454 visits from people in at least 162 countries, covering all regions. Our top 5 countries for visitors were: India (4,734), USA (2,528), Philippines (941), Malaysia (831), UK (696). REGIONS Posts from Asia and Africa were...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, India, Marine Fisheries, Women

Second Anniversary of Dr M.C. Nandeesha

On 27 December 2012, we lost Dr M.C. Nandeesha, who brought awareness to the importance of women in Asian and global fisheries, and who initiated the first substantive activities to address gender inequality to the work and the considerations of the Asian Fisheries Society. Beginning with the 1990 Women in Fisheries in India Workshop, held...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Bangladesh, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Still a long way to go

The November 2014 edition of Samudra Report, the global periodical on fisheries issues published by the International in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), highlighted the 5th Global Symposium on Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries (GAF5) in its article “Still a Long Way to Go.” The article, by Katia Frangoudes and Shuddhawati Peke, give an overview of GAF5...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

25th SPC Women in Fisheries Information Bulletin: Looking forward and back

The Secretariat for the Pacific Community (SPC), has just released its 25th Women in Fisheries Information Bulletin. Congratulations to the SPC, Bulletin Editors including current editor Dr Veikila Vuki, donors and supporters for this achievement. This issue starts with a message of support from Moses Amos, the new Director of SPC’s Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems...

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Gender and small-scale fisheries in the central Philippines

In earlier posts on this site, we highlighted papers arising from the work of Danika Kleiber and her colleagues on gender in the Northern Bohol section of the Danajon Bank in the Central Philippines and on a global overview of gender in small scale fisheries. With pleasure, we draw your attention to Danika’s doctoral thesis, recently ...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

World Bank speaks out on what constrains women’s voice and agency

Voice and Agency: Empowering women and girls for shared prosperity In his Foreword to this strong, empirical book recently released by the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, the World Bank Group President and himself a physician and anthropologist, says: “Our flagship World Development Report 2012 demonstrated that gender equality and economic development are inextricably linked.

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

How can we incorporate gender into our research and development approaches?

More development research institute leaders, researchers and project developers are aware of the importance of gender equality in programs and project activities. Some have made public commitments to action through their work. Often, however, these good intentions are thwarted by lack of knowledge and expertise on how to go about it. Of course, in an...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Never too late to mainstream gender

Many agencies and projects find themselves in the same situation as the Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem project (BOBLME), which realised that it had not taken gender into account in formulating its strategies and project priorities. To overcome this gap, BOBLME undertook an ex post analysis of the gender dimension of their work and...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Bangladesh aquaculture value chain analysis

A new CGIAR report, “Bangladesh small and medium-scale aquaculture value chain development: Past trends, current status and likely future directions” by Niaz Ahmed Apu reviews a wealth of recent information and and also endeavours to do justice to available knowledge on the contributions and opportunities for women in the value chains. Gendered knowledge is still Read more about Bangladesh aquaculture value chain analysis...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Bangladesh, Men, Women

Women’s economic space in Sierra Leone’s small-scale fisheries

In a recent publication in the journal Feminist Economics, “Fishing Na Everybody Business”: Women’s Work and Gender Relations in Sierra Leone’s Fisheries, Andy Thorpe and co-authors take three sets of data (from the National Frame Surveys of the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, a survey of women fish processors by the Institute of Marine Biology...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Report recommends integrating fish into food security and nutrition

A new report, Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture for Food Security and Nutrition, has provided probably “the most comprehensive recent attempt to review and synthesize the current knowledge” said Dr Christophe Béné. Dr Béné, of the Institute of Development Studies, chaired the team of the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) on Food Security and Nutrition of...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

World Bank report on “Gender at Work”

A new report from the World Bank provides practical and strong arguments for making gender equality explicit in the workplace. The report also continually makes the case that gender equality in the world of work is a win-win on many fronts. The new report accompanies two World Development reports from the World Bank: 2012 World...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Fish trade policy and women in the Gambia

From sardines and mackerels to cockles and oysters, the fisheries and fish processing activities of the Republic of the Gambia in West Africa are important to people and to the economy. A new report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), called “The fisheries sector in the Gambia: trade, value addition and social inclusiveness, with...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

April issue of Yemaya now out

Yemaya, the gender and fisheries newsletter of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) has recently released its April 2014 issue. This issue, Yemaya has a special focus on the progress and shortcomings of the coverage of women’s equity strategies in the forthcoming Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale fisheries in the Context of Food Security ...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Reducing gender disparities in Mozambique fisheries and aquaculture value chains

A new Norad report by Cecile Brugere and Bodil Maal has delved into gender roles in the fisheries and aquaculture value chains in Mozambique, finding that women play a large role in the fisheries value chain, but their social organization is not strong. Women dominate aquaculture production but the aquaculture value chain is still only...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Chandrika Sharma

With deep concern we report that Dr Chandrika Sharma, the Executive Secretary of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, is one of the passengers on the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 that went missing on early Saturday morning. Chandrika and ICSF are great stalwarts of the struggle for fishworkers rights including the rights of women...

This entry was posted in: Women

Women and children first: Gendered and generational change in small scale fisheries in Canada and Norway

Barbara Neis, Siri Gerrard and Nicole G. Power have written a reflective paper on the social-ecological systems of cod (Gadus morhua) fisheries in Atlantic Canada and Norway. Their study revealed similarities but also many differences between the ways small scale fishing communities in the two countries have reacted to changes in the fish stocks and ...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Counting all the fishers: a global overview

Women’s as well as men’s fishing should be taken into account in marine ecology assessments, according to the recent global review, “Gender and small-scale fisheries: a case for counting women and beyond“, by Danika Kleiber, Leila Harris and Amanda Vincent. Typically, they point out, women’s participation is only considered from a social perspective. After reviewing ...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Philippines reef study shows the importance of defining “fishing”

Danika Kleiber and her co-authors have made a welcome contribution to the information on total fisheries harvest and the often un-recorded harvests of women and men, especially by reef gleaning. Working with local communities who live and work on the reefs on Danajon Bank, Bohol Province Central Philippines, and 4 Cebuano-speaking research assistants (see photo), they ...

This entry was posted in: Men, Women

Tips from the expert: on-the-job gender training

One of the biggest challenges for achieving gender equality is educating the present generation of leaders, project managers and other experts on the basic concepts and how they apply in daily work. Dr Anne Coles, a gender expert with extensive experience of research in migration, gender, development and social change, and also in delivering in-service ...

This entry was posted in: Gender,Men, Women

Looking back at 2013

In 2013, the Genderaquafish website continued to develop as a global source of information sharing and news. Compared to 2012, the number of visitors grew by 16%, to over 17,000 for the year. The visitors came from even more countries than last year (163 countries, compared to 154 countries in 2012). The top 5 countries of our ...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Gender Strategy for CGIAR livestock and fish research aims for transformation

The Gender Strategy for the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish is designed to “operates along a continuum of gender integration approaches, from the accommodating to the transformative, and will contribute to understanding under what conditions each approach has the potential to advance chain performance and the outcomes of poor women and other marginalized...

This entry was posted in: < Gender, Men, Women

SPC WIF Info Bulletin: coastal fisheries, women’s fishing, climate change and gender in development

We welcome the latest edition of the Secretariat for the Pacific Community’s (SPC) 23rd Women in Fisheries Information Bulletin. The Editor, Veikila Vuki highlights that the contributions covers gender roles in coastal fisheries, women’s fishing activities in communities, climate change and gender issues in development. Read the latest issue online! CONTENTS Gender and change in the...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Marine Fisheries, Women

Diversifying options for women in Indian brackishwater fisheries

In coastal communities in India, fisheries and aquaculture can provide women and men with many opportunities for work and livelihood. In Tamil Nadu state, the Central Institute for Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA) has long worked on the ground and out in the villages to improve those opportunities with science and people-based projects. Recently, CIBA published two...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, India, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Realistic understanding of gender relations needed when making policy

Christine Okali’s latest blog challenges policy makers to scrap the handy (and often unsupported) narratives on women/gender and climate change. Here is some of what she said – but do read the whole blog! “It is time to re-socialise gender policies. For real progress to be made towards gender equity and transforming gender relations across...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Are fisheries activists and researchers afraid of being seen as Feminists?

Christine Okali’s latest blog challenges policy makers to scrap the handy (and often unsupported) narratives on women/gender and climate change. Here is some of what she said – but do read the whole blog! “It is time to re-socialise gender policies. For real progress to be made towards gender equity and transforming gender relations across...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Empowering women in Africa – legal rights and economic opportunities

A new publication from the World Bank’s Africa Development Forum takes a hard look at gender inequality in legal rights and relates this to women’s chances of succeeding in the economic sphere. Particularly, this book looks at family inheritance and land laws, which underlie the (gender-blind) business laws. It examines the laws in all 47...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Gender, Women

Handy guide to gender equality text in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Many fisheries and aquaculture experts are now engaged in climate change research and action, so this new publication from the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) and collaborators is a handy guide to finding the gender-sensitive text in the various formal agreements under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Download the document here: http://www.wedo.org/wp-content/uploads/united-nations-web.pdf...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Women

Social cohesion, masculinity, conservation and more discussed by MARE Gender Panel

Angela Lentisco reports on the Centre for Maritime Research (MARE) Conference in Amsterdam (26 to 28th June 2013), panel sessions led by Easkey Britton on Engaging Gender for Sustainable Fisheries Livelihoods and Improved Social Wellbeing: Perspectives from the Global North and South. “The panel presentations (which you can download from the links on this website) were food for...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem Project to get serious on including gender

Most marine and fisheries development projects are gender blind, even though, in recent years, they generally pay much more attention to reaching out to fishing communities. What does a major, multi-country project do when it wants to get serious on overcoming its gender-blindness? For sure, the project partners face a steep learning curve, but the...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Good Practices to Eliminate Fish Supply Chain Inequality

This FAO publication is a very welcome addition to the material on the problems and solutions to gender inequality all along fish supply chains. Good practice policies to eliminate gender inequalities in fish value chains, by Jennie Dey de Pryck analyses the facts, as they are known and provides guidance to action to address the inequalities across the sector,...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Irular women in Tamil Nadu succeed in raising fish and their incomes

A report and news story have come out on “Capacity building of tribal women self help groups on brackishwater aquaculture integrated with agro – based technologies” by Dr B. Shanthi, and her colleagues M. Kailasam, K. Ambasankar, P. Mahalakshimi, V.S. Chandrasekaran, S.M. Pillai and A.G.Ponniah, all of the the Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA, Indian,...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, India, Women

New Drying Racks Improve Burundi Fish Profits but Reduce Women’s Participation

Change is often gendered as revealed in a recent FAO post harvest fisheries report. FAO introduced simple but highly effective fish drying racks to local processors in Burundi in a project in 2004 and local people have continued to develop and use the new effective technology. An FAO short report “Simple fish-drying racks improve livelihoods and...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

The Joys and Pains of Managing a Maturing Website

This website, genderaquafish.org, will be 3 years old next month. Recently, as I undertook some long overdue maintenance, I reflected on the joys and pains of a maturing website. First the joys! Thanks to a steady feed of good and relevant material on women/gender in aquaculture and fisheries, and supporting material from...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Goulburn Island Women’s Insights and Preferences on Climate Change and Aquaculture

In northern Australia, Lisa Petheram, Ann Fleming, Natasha Stacey and Anne Perry reported the results of a first study in Wurruwi community on South Goulburn Island (Northern Territory, Australia) people’s, especially women’s, perceptions and preferences on marine resource use and climate change. The report describes the local communitys’ modern history up to the 2011 establishment...

This entry was posted in: Marine Fisheries, Women

Reviewing the Evidence for Links between Gender Equality and Economic Growth

Naila Kabeer and Luisa Natali recently published a review for the Institute of Development Studies into the two-way relationships between gender equality and economic growth, across sectors and countries. They reviewed studies of labour market participation in different sectors and services, earnings and well-being and rights. Their conclusion is that the relationship between gender equality...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Gender, Men, Women

Is Climate Change Debate Re-cycling Past Women-Environment Narratives?

Bernadette Resurreccion of the Asian institute of Technology recently examined whether we are experiencing a return to the old narratives regarding women and the environment. In her paper, “Persistent women and environment linkages in climate changeand sustainable development agendas“, she found evidence that advocates, researchers and development practitioners are resorting to simplistic and potentially distorting narratives Read more about Is Climate Change Debate Re-cycling Past Women-Environment Narratives?...

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Women in the EU Fish Processing Economy

In 2012, the European Union (EU) Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF), through the Joint Research Centre of the EU, published a report on the Economic Performance of the EU Fish Processing Industry Sector (STECF-OWP-12-01). In aggregate from the reporting countries, the 2011 employment statistics show that women and men are almost evenly balanced, in terms of...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Prof. Stella Williams leads new Nigerian Women in R&D Initiative

A bold new Nigerian initiative to support Nigerian rural women and women academics has launched, led by Dr Stella Williams, well know to many of the genderaquafish.org followers. The Nigerian Women in Agricultural Research for Development (NIWARD) initiative will be hosted at the Centre for Gender Issues in Science and Technology (CEGIST) of the Federal University...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Counting Women’s Participation in EU Aquaculture

A new EU report on the European Union member countries’ aquaculture sector contains some basic gender-disaggregated data on employment in the production segment of aquaculture. Although the statistics are incomplete, they nevertheless provide some useful information. The report is called: The Economic Performance of the EU Aquaculture Sector – 2012 exercise. (STECF-13-03). It is a joint Scientific and...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Women

How to Mainstream Gender in Small Scale Fisheries: Lessons from Experience

The FAO-Spain Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme for South and Southeast Asia has taken their more formal gender materials (especially the RFLP gender mainstreaming manual) and their on the ground experience and produced this attractive, easy to read and yet very rich guide to what to do. Get the guide here: Download The clear lessons from experience include...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Understanding and measuring women’s empowerment in agriculture

Last year, Genderaquafish posted on the new IFPRI, USAID, OPHI index on women’s empowerment in agriculture tool (see the post and links). Now, Christine Okali, one of the world’s foremost researchers on rural development and gender, has challenged the approach of the women’s empowerment index as being too specific, constrained to a point in time and...

This entry was posted in: Women

New IFPRI release: data needs for gender analysis in agriculture

Good gender-sensitive research starts with good data. IFPRI has just released a discussion paper to the 2011 FAO “State of Food and Agriculture 2010-2011: Women and Agriculture: Closing the Gender Gap for Development“. The Discussion Paper provides “guidelines on how to collect better gendered data through surveys. It details who should be interviewed; how the Read more about New IFPRI release: data needs for gender analysis in agriculture...

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International Women's Day - 08 Mar, 2013

Ending violence against women is the important theme of this 2013 International Women’s Day and many websites and media have excellent messages on the theme. Therefore, I will take the opportunity of International Women’s Day to highlight instead the global estimates of the “gender gap” – differences in attainments against several indices between women and ...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Indian Researchers Help Women Succeed in Sea Bass Culture and Crab Fattening

Dr B Shanthi of the Indian Central Institute for Brackishwater Aquacutlure (CIBA) and other researchers have been working to get technology into the hands of women’s groups in India (see Dr Shanthi’s PPT and paper from GAF3, 2011). Recently, the successes of some of the women entrepreneurs from southern India have been highlighted in the...

This entry was posted in: India, Women

A Future Gender Roadmap in Indian Fisheries Research

Getting gender into the fisheries and aquaculture agenda requires large and fundamental changes inside the organisations that support the sector, including the research institutes. Last year, the fisheries institutes of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), one of the world’s largest agricultural research systems, held a pioneering workshop to plan a future roadmap for Read more about A Future Gender Roadmap in Indian Fisheries Research...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, India, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Arctic fisheries in the news

The European Union Fisheries Commissioner, Maria Damanaki, and the Norwegian Fisheries Minister Lisbeth Berg-Hansen have recently discussed the need for a responsible approach to the Arctic region and and for governments to engage more closely with the people who live there. Concerns over climate change and its impact on Arctic fisheries and the people dependent on...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

More than equal: Women’s Inshore Harvests in Oceania

A new paper in the journal Marine Policy, gives an overview of Women and fisheries: Contribution to food security and local economies. The paper is written by Sarah Harper, Dirk Zeller, Melissa Hauzer, Daniel Pauly, Ussif Rashid Sumaila and is a contribution from the Sea Around Us project. The paper is an overview of a wide range of issues...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Marine Fisheries, Women

Infographics: Using Pictures to Tell the (Data) Story

The Spain-FAO Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme for South and South East Asia (RFLP) started its work in 2009 by undertaking comprehensive baseline studies in its selected coastal project sites in Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. RFLP published the baseline survey reports in traditional formats. Now, RFLP has turned the detailed reports into...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Lake Victoria Fishermen’s Spouses Who Travel More at Risk of HIV/AIDS

The new study by Zachary A. Kwena, Carol S. Camlin, Chris A. Shisanya, Isaac Mwanzo, Elizabeth A. Bukusi, carried out in Kisimu County, near Lake Victoria, Kenya, delves into social patterns of mobility and the risks it brings for contracting HIV/AIDS. Short-Term Mobility and the Risk of HIV Infection among Married Couples in the Fishing Communities along Lake Victoria.

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Add Gender Transformative Approach to Existing Efforts to Overcome Gender Inequality

The report from a recent CGIAR workshop at WorldFish Center, plus interviews with thought-leaders give insights into new ideas on a gender transformative approach. Building Coalitions, Creating Change: An Agenda for Gender Transformative Research in Development CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems. Penang, Malaysia. Workshop Report: AAS-2012-31. Abstract: There is compelling evidence that increased...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

What does space in a fish trading house mean to the fish traders?

Nelson Turgo’s paper, “Bugabug ang dagat” (Rough seas): Experiencing Foucault’s heterotopia in fish trading houses, in Social Science Diliman, provides intriguing analysis of how women and men fish traders use and view their daily spaces in fish trading houses of Mauban, Quezon province, Philippines. Abstract: Places in the contemporary world are subjected to the workings of differentiating logics, foremost R...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Genderaquafish website gathers momentum: 2012 in Review

Women’s and men’s contributions are both critical to the success of aquaculture and fisheries. Statistics on the growing interest being shown in this website since its creation over two years ago (in September 2010) indicate that more people are taking an interest in research and development insights on gender in aquaculture and fisheries. In 2012, the...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, India, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Passing of Dr M.C. Nandeesha

With deep regret, I convey the sad news that Dr M.C. Nandeesha, the inspiration for starting the Asian Fisheries Society’s Gender/Women in Fisheries/Aquaculture activities in the early 1990s, has passed away in Chennai, India. The gender and fisheries community, and others such as the fisheries education and aquaculture research and development communities, convey their sincere...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, India, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Overcoming Gender Inequalities in Fish Supply Chains

“Gender equality thinking should not focus just on the numbers of women and men in fish supply chains”, said Gifty Anane-Taabeah (Ghana), the final panelist on Overcoming Gender Equalities in Fish Supply Chains. The panel and two presentation sessions (Markets and Value Chains for Small Aquaculture Enterprises and Looking at Fish Supply Chains with a...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Gender, Men, Women

Foreign Aid for Gender Equality: The Challenge for Donors

The United Nations University – World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) held its first Research and Communication in Foreign Aid project workshop on gender equality (12-13 July 2012, Helsinki). Gender equality is one of the project’s five themes. The workshop identified key focus areas for what works, what could work, what is transferable, and...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Five-country information for gender in fish production

A new working paper from WorldFish Center delves into some of the basic background information needed to develop research and development programs with a gender focus in aquaculture and fisheries production systems in Bangladesh, Cambodia, the Philippines, the Solomon Islands and Zambia. Transforming aquatic agricultural systems towards gender equality: a five country review Weeratunge, N., Chiuta,...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Philippine conference on women fishers a great success

By Rosario H. Asong, PhD and Anna Razel Ramirez of The National Network on Women in Fisheries in the Philippines, Inc. NNWFP Holds 6th Biennial National Conference The National Network on Women in Fisheries in the Philippines, Inc. held its 6th Biennial National Conference on Gender and Fisheries on September 19-21, 2012 at Hotel Alejandro,,...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Gender, environment and economic development

A new UNDP report – Powerful Synergies: Gender Equality, Economic Development and Environmental Sustainability – is aimed at the policy makers. It does not explicitly address fisheries and aquaculture, but this document nevertheless is useful background on how the global environment agreements and events have virtually ignored gender, and specifically women. Description. “This publication, Powerful Synergies: Gender,...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Women hold up 47% of the (fisheries) sky

To highlight the importance of small scale capture fisheries contributions to employment, livelihood and the economy, the World Bank recently released its study on “Hidden Harvest: The Global Contribution of Capture Fisheries”. FAO and WorldFish Center also collaborated on the study. Download the report here Although cautious in its conclusions owing to the quality of ...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Seaweed Farming: Three Countries, Three Different Experiences

Seaweed farming has grown at much the same rapid rate as other forms of aquaculture in the last twenty years, but seaweeds are produced in far fewer countries than, for example, farmed fish. The Philippines and Tanzania are among the top 8 countries. India is not yet on the list but, on the Coromandel (southeast) ...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Gender, India, Men, Women

Having Impact with Your Research Results

What Difference Does a Policy Brief Make? Penelope Beynon, Christelle Chapoy, Marie Gaarder and Edoardo Masset of the Institute of Development Studies, the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation and NORAD carried out an intriguing randomized control design survey involving over 800 experts to try to answer this question. The policy brief used in the study was ...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Highlighting the Work of Prof. (Mrs) Vijayakhader, India

Prof Vijaykhader has a strong record of contributions to women in fisheries through food technology research and education in India. Her contributions have been recognized recently. She was appointed by the Government of India National Mission on Education and the Ministry of Human Resources Development as the subject coordinator for ICT enabled Higher Education at...

This entry was posted in: India, Women

Insider’s Rapport? Take a Visit to a Philippine Coastal Community with Dr Nelson Turgo, Social Scientist

This highly readable account of a social scientist’s experience in returning to his own community to conduct research will make field researchers reflect on, how, as Dr Turgo says, “our identities as researchers are made and remade through the research process”. The gender insights are also revealing, such as what women and men do after Re...

This entry was posted in: Women

Women, Business and Law

A new web-based data system from the World Bank and a report, “Removing Barriers to Economic Inclusion” provides valuable legal information on laws affecting businesses. In aquaculture and fisheries, many studies have found that access to investment credit, capital and rights over resources, land and other assets are not equal for women and men in...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Yemaya 40 focuses on GAF outcomes from Rio+20

The latest issue of “Yemaya”, the gender and fisheries newsletter of the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers, has just been released, containing materials on global initiatives (Rio+20, FAO’s Committee on Fisheries work and CEDAW), and special reports on gender dimensions of fisheries in Africa (Gambia, Senegal, Tanzania), and profiles of leaders from Indonesia and...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

New insights into gender roles in UK fishing communities

Two papers published recently (see below) in Marine Policy journal examine in depth gendered roles in the fishing communities of Northern Ireland and northern England, respectively. In the Northern Island case, Easkey Britton and Sarah Coulthard used a three-dimensional framework to measuring social progress (material, relational and cognitive dimensions) and conclude that “fishing society is...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

BRIDGE: climate change and gender

Many readers of Genderaquafish are interested in or already working on climate change projects in aquaculture and fisheries. Therefore, we especially thank Cornelie Quist for alerting us to the rich set of resources on gender and climate change that were recently released in BRIDGE Update, Issue No. 92, June 2012 http://archive.ids.ac.uk/bridge/cutting-edge-programmes/gender-and-climate-change.html In the BRIDGE Update...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Latest SPC Women in Fisheries Information Bulletin now out!

The Women in Fisheries Information Bulletin is always welcome. The WIF Bulletin started in 1997 and always contains interesting information from the central and western Pacific ocean, the region where women have traditionally had a very active role in fisheries. Here is the line-up of articles from the 22nd issue. We thank the coordinator Veikila...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

In for the Long Haul

Mekong Gender and Fisheries Network Meets in Nong Khai, Thailand On 21 and 22 June 2012, the world’s longest running gender and fisheries network, the Mekong Network for Gender Promotion in Fisheries Development (NGF) held its 13th annual meeting and field visits to women’s groups for fish processing and aquaculture in the northwest of Thailand...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Women and men differ in roles, responses to rules in Ostional turtle protection

The Ostional National Wildlife Refuge on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica is well known for its turtle fisheries and allied turtle conservation efforts. Women and men are actively engaged in the fishery and protection activities, usually in different ways. This management analysis in Marine Policy (open access article) (“What makes them follow the rules? Empirical ...

This entry was posted in: Men, Women

Enhancing global aquaculture opportunities for women

We are delighted to announce that the “Proceedings of the Global Conference on Aquaculture 2010: Farming the Waters for People and Food” has now been launched, including a chapter on gender and human capacity development, and the inclusion of gender in the Phuket Concensus statement. The inclusion of gender is a breakthrough and a first ...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Gender, Men, Women

New tools for gender studies

Two new gender analysis tools could be useful for your research. One is the gender and asset toolkit, and the second is a mapper, specifically for agriculture and natural resources in Africa. 1. Gender and Asset Toolkit Assets, control over them and their ownership are a critical component of the well-being of individuals and households.

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

RFLP Women in Fisheries awards announced

RFLP’s team in the Philippines won the ‘Women in Fisheries’ award for its short film entitled “From gambling to earning” featuring the efforts of the La Conception Women’s Association. The Women in Fisheries Award was contested by the six RFLP countries to recognize and encourage their efforts to mainstream gender in their activities. Taking runner’s...

This entry was posted in: Women

Women’s role in sea cucumber fisheries

Updated February 2013! In her recent paper in the SPC Beche-de-mer Information Bulletin, Poh Sze Choo reported, among other results, on a survey of gender roles in sea cucumber fishing in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia. She found that “fishers who collect sea cucumbers in Semporna belong to either the Bajau Tempatan or Bajau Laut communities. Most...

This entry was posted in: Men, Women

Malaysian workshop upgrades knowledge, develops plans for gender equity in Asian aquaculture

Workshop short report by the following four colleagues from the Indian Council for Agricultural Research. Dr B. Shanthi, Senior Scientist, CIBA, Chennai Dr.B.Meenakumari, Deputy Director General, (Fisheries), New Delhi Dr.P.Jayashankar, Director, CIFA, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, and Dr.Vipinkumar,V.P, Senior Scientist, CMFRI, Kochi, Kerala. Under the UPM (Universiti Putra Malaysia) led ASEM Aquaculture Platform WP7 (ASEM stands for Asia-Europe...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Gender, India, Men, Women

UPV Women’s Day Forum highlights practical risk reduction

Disaster risk reduction and good governance were the topics highlighted at the Women’s Day Forum held at UP Visayas on March 9, 2012, Iloilo City campus. The Chairperson of the Philippine Commission on Women, Ms. Remedios I. Rikken, delivered the keynote address in response to this year’s theme: “Women Weathering Climate Change: Governance and Accountability...

This entry was posted in: Women

Protest at lack of recognition of women in fisheries meeting

The recent North Atlantic Seafood Forum, held in Norway, drew protests from atteendees at the paucity of visible women on the agenda (4 of 64 speakers, one of whom was Lisbeth Berg-Hansen, the Norwegian fisheries Minister – pic). The story, “the gender issue” from SeafoodSource.com is well worth reading.

This entry was posted in: Gender, Women

New institutional gender strategy for a research institute (ILRI)

Many aquaculture and fisheries agencies and research institutes are starting to wonder what they should be doing about getting gender into their work – “mainstreaming” is one of the buzz words we hear. Across the fence in agricultural research organizations, you can find some useful materials to guide your organizations’s emerging gender strategy. Start by taking a look...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Development ideas for helping women

What Works for Women: Proven approaches for empowering women smallholders and achieving food security This book has been produced by a group of nine international development agencies, including some of the biggest welfare NGOs. It distills their experiences from their efforts to promote gender equality and working with women smallholders and rural women over many...

This entry was posted in: Bangladesh, Gender, Men, Women

Measuring women’s empowerment in agriculture – a new tool

A new tool for measuring women’s empowerment in agriculture should have good applications in the aquaculture sector also. The index was developed through a partnership between the US Agency for International Development (USAID), IFPRI and Oxford University’s Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI). Using 5 criteria, it measures the empowerment of women in agriculture and in their own...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Women

Every day is women’s day…

8th March is International Women’s Day! The UN’s theme for 2012 is Empower Rural Women – End Poverty and Hunger. This is also an appropriate call for women in aquaculture and fisheries. Women now make up a greater percentage of the agricultural workforce than they did a few decades ago. Individual studies on gender...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Marine Fisheries, Women

Asian women – finding additional income, improving fish quality

The February Newsletter of the FAO-Spain Regional Fisheries Livelihood Program (RFLP) has stories of women’s contribuitons to improving fish quality and of finding additional income earning opportunities outside the fisheries supply chain.

This entry was posted in: Women

Tunisian women clam harvesters

We often lament that women’s roles and contributions to fisheries are invisible. This wonderful FAO photogallery of Tunisian women harvesting clams [Ruditapes decussatus] (click here) is one example that contradicts us! It is accompanied also by a very thorough and informative YouTube video (click here) [in French] on the FAO YouTube Channel. The harvesters work...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Marine Fisheries, Women

Turning points in modern aquaculture

Click here to view video We recommend you check out this new comprehensive FAO aquaculture video that, among others, highlights the role of women in aquacutlure. Good to see women highlighted in a mainstream aquaculture presentation. Turning Points in Modern Aquaculture Short Description: “This 15-min video was produced by the Aquaculture Service of the FAO Fisheries...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Marine Fisheries, Women

Learning from livestock and gender

Recently we posted on ‘Learning from gender research in agriculture’, now its time to pick up some materials and methods from work being done on gender in the livestock and rural poverty realms. Here are some useful websites and materials. I thank Beth Miller for alerting us to these livestock and gender resources. 1. Poverty...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Research on women in fisheries: the era of political ecology

In her 2011 papers, Nilanjana Biswas, an independent researcher from India, argued that research on women and fisheries had shifted, over the decades, from a ‘political economy’ approach to a ‘political ecology’ approach. Along with this, fisheries development assistance and general development assistance has shifted to align efforts with those of countries to become more...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, India, Marine Fisheries, Women

RFLP: news on projects involving women

The December 2011 RFLP Newsletter (FAO-Spain Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme) features several articles on projects that reach out to women, such as vocational training, skills enhancement in processing, and a case study gender analysis for Negombo and Puttalam Districts in Sri Lanka. To download the Newletter: Dec 2011 RFLP Newsletter Sri Lanka gender analysis report: Gender_Analysis_Puttalam_Negombo...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Nori culture and gender in Japan

ransition in nori cultivation : evolution of household contribution and gendered division of labor by Dr A. Delaney ad@ifm.aau.dk In Cahiers de Biologie Marine Link [CdBM (2011) Vol 52(4):527-533] Abstract: Consumers throughout the world have gained familiarity with the seaweed nori (porphyra spp) thanks to the popularity of Asian cuisine, particularly Japanese sushi. Few actually know...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Climate change: consider women’s agency, not just vulnerability

With world attention on climate change, two recent publications on gender and climate change, though not focused on fisheries and aquaculture, deliver a similar message: yes, women and men have different vulnerabilities to climate change, gendered analysis and approaches are needed but women and men’s agency, not just women and men’s vulnerabilities should be considered.

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

New global beach seine fishing review

This new FAO Technical Paper gives a global overview of beach seine fisheries, studies the operations in several countries in depth and identifies key issues in the responsible use of beach seines and the sustainable livelihoods of beach seine fishers including women and children. It examines women’s roles in 9 country case studies – Benin, Ghana,...

This entry was posted in: India, Women

Fish consumption risks and benefits – new FAO, WHO review

Here are excerpts from the abstract of this interesting new review of the scientific evidence on fish consumption and health, including gender-based distinctions in advice. In response to growing public concern in recent years regarding the presence of chemical contaminants in fish as well as emerging evidence on the multiple nutritional benefits of...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

eGender resources from World Bank

The World Bank has released two new resources to complment its recent 2012 World Development Report (see our post). These resources will be useful to researchers and experts seeking statistics to give context to their work. World Bank Little Data Book on Gender (2011) Available online only as e-book, ‘this handy pocket guide is a ...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Essential new tool for projects: Mainstreaming gender into project cycle management in the fisheries sector

New from the Spain-FAO-RFLP! ‘Women play a significant role in fisheries, yet lack of attention to gender roles and relations can result in policies or programmes failing to improve livelihoods or reduce vulnerability of fishing communities. The largely ‘invisible’ role of women in small-scale fisheries must be addressed if actions aimed at improving the livelihoods ...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Learning from gender research in agriculture

Gender research is still sparse for gender and aquaculture, fisheries and the coasts. Gender studies are a little further advanced in agriculture and natural resource management. Very useful resource materials can be found from the work of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), one of the CGIAR Centers. Here are 5 links to IFPRI ...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Bangladesh, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Rural Women’s Empowerment

This Expert Paper by Christine Okali of University of the University of Sussex is well worth reading. It was prepared for the UN Women Expert Group Meeting on Enabling rural women’s economic empowerment: institutions, opportunities and participation that is now being held in Accra, Ghana, in cooperation with FAO, IFAD and WFP. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw56/egm/Okali-EP-8-EGM-RW-Sep-2011.pdf Achieving Transformative Change ...

This entry was posted in: Women

Communicating Gender and Rural Development

FAO has just released a new handbook, “Communicating Gender for Rural Development.” This handbook contains good materials and clarifies some concepts. “Gender is at once a sociological concept, a development approach, an operational strategy and an analytical method”. Have a look especially at the schematic on page 16.

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Gender Equality and Development

Another gender ‘first’ – the World Bank’s flagship World Development Report 2012 has gender as its theme for the first time: Gender Equality and Development. Released on 19 September 2011, the Bank says: “Gender equality matters in its own right but is also smart economics: Countries that create better opportunities and conditions for women and...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Community listeners’ clubs – a new idea from Africa

“Community listeners’ clubs: Stepping stones for action in rural areas” Invented in Niger and the Democratic Republic of the Congo by NGOs and FAO, community listeners’ clubs are creative new institutions that help rural women and men access and share information by radio to improve their lives and solve their farming and other problems and...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Marine Fisheries, Women

Gender and aquaculture issues brief

WorldFish Center has released an Issues Brief on Gender and Aquaculture, “Gender and aquaculture: sharing the benefits equitably” Download at: http://www.worldfishcenter.org/resource_centre/WF_2832.pdf The issues brief focuses on 5 themes that draw on many of the papers from previous AFS GAF Symposia and proceedings (see https://www.genderaquafish.org/events/ for hand access to all the previous proceedings and publications) Markets, trade...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Men, Women

Microfinance impact: a challenge to assess

Over the last several months, studies, blogs and news articles have highlighted the challenges of assessing and understanding the various impacts of microfinance. Although not directly addressing fisheries and aquaculture, the findings are relevant to those studying gender in aquaculture and fisheries as microfinance is often part of a development initiative targeted at women in small scale...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Uganda fishing communities: study on HIV/AIDS rates in women and men

HIV and syphilis prevalence and associated risk factors among fishing communities of Lake Victoria, Uganda By Gershim Asiki, Juliet Mpendo, Andrew Abaasa, Collins Agaba, Annet Nanvubya, Leslie Nielsen, Janet Seeley, Pontiano Kaleebu, Heiner Grosskurth, Anatoli Kamali Link (access required for full paper) Correspondence to Dr Gershim Asiki, Medical Research Council Research Unit on AIDS...

This entry was posted in: Men, Women

RFLP News: Gender mainstreaming, women’s activities

In the FAO-Spain Regional Fisheries Livelihood Program for South and Southeast Asia, the August Newsletter (download newsletter) contains several stories that highlight support for fishing community development, with strong participation by women. Gender (p. 6): Mainstreaming gender in fisheries in the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Viet Nam Post Harvest (p.5): – Timor Leste fishers to form National...

This entry was posted in: Women

Chile: protected areas, women’s and men’s livelihoods

In studying peoples’ livelihoods in the Pinguino de Humboldt National Reserve and Isla Choro and Isla Damas Marine Reserve, Susan Qashu used a political ecology framework to study women’s and men’s strategies in adapting to a national marine reserve, national park, and tourism development while retaining their traditional fisheries. She found that women and men...

This entry was posted in: Men, Women

Iceland: mobility and flexibility in the face of change

Urbanization trends and the social impacts of economic change are macro social and economic themes today but rarely do we look more closely at the impacts on local and rural people. Anna Karlsdóttir has recently looked more closely at the women’s perspectives in Husavık village, NE Iceland, in a study done after Iceland’s economic collapse. Over...

This entry was posted in: Men, Women

Influencing change, gender mainstreaming

Recommended reading! “Influencing Change: Mainstreaming Gender Perspectives in Agricultural Research and Development in Eastern and Central Africa.” Edited by: Barun Gurung, Elizabeth Ssendiwala, Michael Waithaka Link to download publication Part of the CGIAR Particiaptory Research and Gender Analysis Program, the project from which this very useful report came sought to influence the policies of agricultural ...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Consensus on Equality

UN Women’s has released its first Annual Report The Report highlights UN Women actions in 5 areas 1. Increasing Women’s Leadership and Participation 2. Enhancing Women’s Economic Empowerment 3. Ending Violence against Women and Girls 4. Engaging Women in Peace and Security Responses 5. Making Plans and Budgets Gender-Responsive ...

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Bangladesh: women’s aquaculture assets built faster through groups

Rigorous studies on the effects of introduced fish pond and vegetable technologies in Bangladesh show that “..women’s assets increase more relative to men’s when technologies are disseminated through women’s groups”, indicating that the gendered outcomes of new technologies depend on how they are introduced. This and related studies are reported in papers in the latest...

This entry was posted in: Bangladesh, Gender, Men, Women

Women in India: good and bad news

The good news: 2011 is the 250th anniversary of the founding of the world’s first veterinary science school (in Lyon, France) and the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day. To celebrate, Prof. Mathuram of Madras Veterinary College (MVC), Tamil Nadu, India, spoke on gender issues in veterinary science (News story, Presentation). In many countries, women...

This entry was posted in: Gender, India, Men, Women

In Yemaya 36: Gender and power relations in small-scale fisheries

The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) has just released the latest edition of its triannual newsletter on gender and fisheries, Yemaya. Yemaya No. 36, dated March 2011, carries several articles from around the world on women in fisheries, and how gender and power relations play out in small-scale fisheries. A report on a...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Learning how to speak up at work

“One Woman’s Advice to Another: It’s Always Time to Speak Your Mind” How women contribute and are perceived at work depends a lot on how they express their ideas and views. This article, although written for the US corporate workplace, contains some sage advice for all women, and indeed men, on how to make your...

This entry was posted in: Women

Women face gender gap in agriculture

In 2010-11, FAO’s annual flagship publication, The State of Food and Agriculture, is devoted almost totally to the role of women in agriculture, including some coverage of women in fisheries and aquaculture. Sub-titled, ‘Closing the gender gap for development’, it highlights that women face a serious gender gap in access to the most productive agricultural...

This entry was posted in: Aquaculture, Freshwater Fisheries, Gender, Marine Fisheries, Men, Women

Women organizing in West Africa to improve livelihoods in fish processing

From the the ‘New Agriculturist’ Wren Media: By organising women into groups and providing them with training, resources and credit, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), through the Post Harvest Fisheries Pilot Project of the Sustainable Fisheries Livelihood Programme (SFLP), has enabled post-harvest processors in ten communities to participate more effectively in decision-making processes...

This entry was posted in: Freshwater Fisheries, Marine Fisheries, Women

SPC Women in Fisheries Info Bull 2010 now out

The Secretariat of the Pacific Community has just released its latest Women in Fisheries Information Bulleting (WIF21). Read the Bulletin at: http://www.spc.int/DigitalLibrary/Doc/FAME/InfoBull/WIF/21/WIF21.pdf Articles in this edition 1. Gender and seaweed farming on Wagina Island, Choiseul Province in Solomon Islands. By M. Kronen et al 2. The historical development of seaweed farming, including roles of men...

This entry was posted in: Gender, Marine Fisheries, Women