Category Archives: Easkey Britton

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

Posted on August 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

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.

Men making fishing nets. Photo: E. Ellison.

Men making fishing nets, coastal western Ghana. Photo: E. Allison.

“The panel presentations (which you can download from the links on this website) were food for thought, covering aspects related to gender and fisheries/marine/coastal environment, and the improvements that need to be done in the value chain, particularly on markets, identifying possible negative consequences, and ways to empower women with special attention given to women’s own perceptions of their occupational activity and their sense of self-worth. The role that women play in social cohesion and community wellbeing appeared several times during the panel, but so did the concern on women’s overburden, and the possibility of gender based violence as an unfortunate consequence of changes in gender roles. This issue was also explored during the presentation on maritime masculinities, and the expressed need to focus some of the research on men, due to the important role they also must play in attaining equitable societies. I presented the future directions of the Genderaquafish network and discussed in more detail potential joint initiatives between the Too Big to Ignore Project and the Gender Network during coffee/lunch breaks.”

Read Angela’s full report https://genderaquafish.org/events/mare-panel-addresses-the-highs-and-lows-of-gender-issues/ and view the PPTs.

Elizabeth Matthews. Using a gender perspective to improve marine conservation and fisheries management programs

Angela Lentisco. Getting Gender on the Fisheries and Aquaculture and Fisheries Agenda in Asia and the Pacific: 20 Years of Asian Fisheries Society Experience

Edward Allison. A ‘provocation’ on maritime masculinities – and why they matter for marine resource management

Minghua Zhao.  Women and Social Cohesion: Preliminary Findings in Fishing Communities in Three EU Countries

NC Britton. The hidden costs of gender-based violence in an Irish fishing community: a new pathway to policy and structural change

Easkey Britton. Women as agents of wellbeing in Northern Ireland fishing households

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Posted in Angela Lentisco, Conservation, Easkey Britton, Events, awards, grants, employment, Fish post-harvest, Fisheries, Gender, Gender and development, Global, India, Kerala, MARE, Men, Natural resource management, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, Women

Women as agents of wellbeing in Northern Ireland’s fishing households

Posted on January 12, 2013 | Leave a comment
Herring processing, Ardgladd, Ireland 1920s. Source: www.banffshiremaritime.org.uk

Herring processing, Ardgladd, Ireland 1920s. Source: http://www.banffshiremaritime.org.uk

Gendered change in fisheries is starting to emerge as a significant field of research. This new research paper from Easkey Britton, published in Maritime Studies, finds that, over the last century – from the days of the independent “herring lassies” to the days of  fisheries decline and factory closures –  women have become less and less visible, but more and more important to family well-being, often at the expense of subjugating their own needs. The paper is called “Women as agents of wellbeing in Northern Ireland’s Fishing households.”

Abstract
This paper focuses on the gender dimensions of wellbeing in fishing households in Northern Ireland. The impact of change in the fishing industry on women’s wellbeing is outlined and linkages are made between changing access to fish and changing roles of women in fishing households. The paper explores what this change means for how women perceive and pursue their wellbeing needs and aspirations and how they negotiate their needs with the needs of the household. In an occupation as gender biased as fishing it is argued that in order for fisheries management and policy to be successful, a profile of what really matters to people is important. In particular, the paper highlights how such priorities link to the complex and dynamic role of women in fishing households.

The paper is open access and can be downloaded here

Also check out our earlier story on northern UK women in fisheries, covering a previous paper by Easkey and one by Minghua Zhao and colleagues.

https://genderaquafish.org/2012/08/01/new-insights-into-gender-roles-in-uk-fishing-communities/

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Posted in Change, Country, Easkey Britton, Europe, Fish post-harvest, Fisheries, Gender, Gendered impact study, Gendered labor studies, Geography, Globalization, Localization, Men, Northern Ireland, Organisations and People, United Kingdom, Women

New insights into gender roles in UK fishing communities

Posted on August 1, 2012 | 2 comments

Northern Ireland Women in Fisheries. Photo: Easkey Britton 2011

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 a gendered one where the burdens of coping can fall disproportionately on women, and much can be learned from women’s active responses to improve wellbeing for themselves and their families.”

The second paper by Minghua Zhao, Marilyn Tyzack, Rodney Anderson, and Estera Onoakpovike on women in fishing communities in northern England recommended, on the basis of detailed analysis of roles of women and men, that: “capitalising on the genuine interest in the sustainability of the industry and hence their families and their livelihoods would seem to be the most effective way of increasing women’s awareness, involvement and participation.”

[Both papers require institutional access to the journal].

1.      Assessing the social wellbeing of Northern Ireland’s fishing society using a three-dimensional approach

Easkey Britton, (http://www.easkeybritton.com/, easkey.britton@wellcoast.org, @Easkysurf) and Sarah Coulthard

Download at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X12000747

Abstract: The concept of ‘wellbeing’ has received growing interest in policy domains in the UK, and inter- nationally, as a multi-dimensional approach to understanding and measuring social progress and development. Policy makers and scientists alike are debating the potential of wellbeing to deliver a people-centred, and holistic, analysis of what matters to people in terms of the quality of life people pursue and are able to achieve. There is also growing interest in how the concept of wellbeing might be applied to fisheries, especially in terms of deepening assessment of the ways in which decline in the fisheries sector is affecting fishing-dependent families, and the wider community. This paper applies a three-dimensional wellbeing framework and methodology to gain insight into the wellbeing of fishing society in Northern Ireland, a region that has faced substantial decline in its fisheries over the past 100 years. A three-dimensional approach considers material, relational and cognitive dimensions; putting resources, relationships and subjective reflections on life satisfaction together as a whole assessment. All three dimensions are important for a full assessment of wellbeing. Following an overview of the methodology used and data collected, the paper then assesses the extent to which a three-dimensional well-being approach can provide useful insights for sustainable fisheries policy in Northern Ireland.

See also:

NIWIF logo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23265903@N03/2391565567/

AKTEA: http://fishwomen.org/

Wellcoast.org: www.wellcoast.org

2. Women as visible and invisible workers in fisheries: A case study of Northern England

Minghua Zhao (m.zhao@gre.ac.uk), Marilyn Tyzack, Rodney Anderson, Estera Onoakpovike

Download at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X12000747

Abstract: This paper is based on an externally-funded research project on women’s roles and contributions in fisheries conducted in Northern England in 2010. The research focuses on the key roles played by the women involved in fisheries in this region of the country, aiming to help promote the equality and participation of women in the industry by contributing to policy making with independent evidences. The paper analyses some of the major roles played by women and their contribution in four selected sectors: capture fishing, families and communities, trading, processing and management/administration. It identifies the main issues and barriers which prevent women from equal treatment and full participation in the industry and from a more effective involvement in policy making in the country. The paper also presents and analyses women’s strong wish for change with suggestions for policy reform.

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Posted in Easkey Britton, England, Europe, Fisheries, Gender, Gender research resources, Men, Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland, Research, communication resources, Risk reduction, United Kingdom, Women