Content uploaded by Karuna Bamel
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Karuna Bamel on Jun 29, 2022
Content may be subject to copyright.
ISBN: 978-93-5457-795-6
ISBN: 978-93-5457-795-6
Page-35
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR FISHERWOMEN
Karuna Bamel*, 1, Rachna Gulati1 and Keshav Bamel2
1Dept. of Zoology and Aquaculture, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana
2Department of Civil Engineering, Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and
Technology, Murthal, Sonipat, Haryana, India
*Corresponding au karunabamel7@gmail.com
Abstract: Collaborative action is a key element for successfully implementing sustainable
fisheries. Still, gender equality, being an essential component in any such actions, is often
unrepresented in the statistical analysis. In this paper, we examine the current challenges and
opportunities of women in fisheries based on the governmental programs and reports as well as
few case studies from various countries. Women now act as cooperative leaders, entrepreneurs
and collaborative decision-maker. They have acquired resources and decision-making power that
facilitate project developments and leads to more opportunities and sustainability in fisheries.
management to raising voice on working conditions in industries which support the gender
equality. In different ways, the paper offers insights into the knowledge gaps and ways to
encourage a greater inclusion of gender into fisheries research in general.
Keywords: gender, problems, fisherwomen, opportunities
1.1 Introduction
Fisherwomen play a significant role in the development of fisheries sector in supporting to their
role of household managers. They have contribution that perforates every aspect of post-harvest
handling, processing, preservation, and marketing of products and also provide a link between
p
fisheries sector, they have not been seen as fishers, nor by men or by women themselves.
This paper has been drawn on multiple disciplines, and this is a huge thematic collection on
fisheries, gender, challenges, coastal communities, opportunities and offers a perfect opportunity
to confront and collate these very different perspectives. It relates economic and social changes
ISBN: 978-93-5457-795-6
Page-36
to the environmental changes and at the same time discussing the consequences of caste-based
culture, gender roles, and division of labor.
1.2 Prospects and problems of Fisherwomen
Fishing is a sector where we have prevailing uncertainties of no guaranteed income. The
responsibility of childcare, family health, household management, food, sanitation, children's
education, responsibility of repaying debts and financial management is mostly on the women's
shoulders. In the off-season, the burden of these responsibilities get doubled (Sreeranganadhan,
2012). Declining resources, difficult working, and increased competition conditions make their
work even more difficult and challenging. Fig.1 depicts the major problems fisherwomen face.
1.2.1 Social problems
Fisherwomen are income generator of their families through their fishing jobs. Dowry,
less literacy rate, lack of proper health care and cooperation among fishermen and fisherwomen
are the major social barriers that fisherwomen need to cross. Apart from that, fisherwomen
engaged in fish selling face problems like fluctuation of market prices, unhygiene and lack of
basic amenities at market places. In India, at Kashmir, the main social issues confront by
fisherwomen are lack of their representation in local bodies, development agencies and
cooperatives, a platform to express and poor social acceptance. An effective way of solving these
problems is formation of a voluntary organization by fisherwomen through which they will be
able to redress their grievances (Mathew, 2003). John (1989) also observed that fishermen have a
low status and are characterized just a lower caste. The communication between children and
parents is a peer ground for social well being. In the coastal areas usually the communication
status of children with their family members especially a working fisherwomen and her offspring
seems to be very low. They usually are engaged in work have no time to listen them (Nazy,
2007).
ISBN: 978-93-5457-795-6
Page-37
Fig.1: Major problems faced by fisherwomen
1.2.2 Economic problems
Poor income and lack of any alternate employment leads to many complications in the life of
fisherwomen. Evidently, they are forced to borrow money with huge interest due to which the
vicious cycle of indebtedness continues. Low price for products and lack of any assured market
are also major economic constraints. This is due to the lack of a proper marketing channel.
Dearth of saving schemes also increases their economic issues.
1.2.3 Technical problems
Technical difficulties are unforeseen ways that have a great impact on people. Fisherwomen
generally face the lack of technical supervision, innovative equipments and methodology.
Fisherwomen face constrains in the post-harvest Fisheries. There is seasonal availability of raw
material, high perishability, uncertainties of catch and lack of cold storage facility at markets.
Inadequate facilities are there for women at markets, landing centers and there is also a lack in
transportation facilities. The knowledge of changing technology in the industry is significantly
important that affects the business very much.
1.2.4 Personal and Household problems
ISBN: 978-93-5457-795-6
Page-38
After intensified whole day fishing fisherwomen have household responsibilities also.
Ergonomic problems arise commonly for fisherwomen due to deplorable working conditions.
Least social contacts, less literacy rate, household activities, no support from counterparts,
matrimonial alliance problems, school dropout among children, are some of the personal
problems faced by fisherwomen. Debt and family disputes also needed to be resolved to enhance
participation of women in fish market (Farooqi et al, 2018).
1.2.5 Health related problems
The fisherwomen have to carry loads of fish from the water bodies to the markets available
nearby every day. These women carry a load 35-40 kg of fish on their head. This leads the whole
pressure to rely on their body, especially on the backbone which leads to disk slip and back pain
problems. The fisherwomen are also prone to fever and diarrhoea. There are long working hours
and exploitation by middle man. Commonly vitamin A and B complex deficiency disorders are
found in fisherwomen apart from ailments like diabetes, hypertension and depression.
1.2.6 Education related problems
Literacy is an indicator of development. But, the literacy rate among the fisherwomen and their
children is very low. It incapacitates their capacity of bargaining in the market and finally
divesting them of their reasonable price rates. According to Fishermen community do not felt
education as a compulsory need they employ their children in fishing and other related jobs from
their childhood itself. They think this could help them to satisfy the financial needs of their
family.
1.2.7 Political pressure
Fishermen communities are sometimes a marginalized group in socio political life. The Political
parties consider them a as a vote bank. The middlemen usually have political connections. The
decision about the price of the catch is finalized by them and this starts the story of exploitation
and economic backwardness of fishermen.
1.2.8 Mechanization of fishing crafts
The mechanization of fishing crafts and gears got popularized and became common after 1960.
The fisheries sector is attracting the entrepreneurs who are with enough capital for investment
ISBN: 978-93-5457-795-6
Page-39
but these are not the member of fishermen communities. So, one negative impact of this
mechanization is the drastic reduction of human resource in the fisheries sector and a significant
number of fishermen lost their jobs. Such people might not have any skill or alternative option
for fishing and therefore they usually get indulged in playing cards, consuming liquor, alcoholic
and other narcotic products (Priya and Sreeranganadhan, 2016).
1.3 Women in Fisheries and Fisheries Communities
In fisheries sector research on women and gender is being carried out from nearly five decades
with first studies conducted on women (Gerrard, 1975, 1986; Holtedahl, 1986 and Porter, 1991)
and later on gender (Yodanis, 2000; Bennett, 2005; Frangoudes and Keromnes, 2008; Williams
2008; Frangoudes 2013; Kleiber et al 2014). But the research on women and gender has not been
visible across the sub-disciplines. Regarding fisheries, mostly only the social and culture
sciences researchers have brought important contributions by estimating the importance of
gender and its relations in order to provide a better understanding of human interactions within
the fisheries and coastal communities. In fisheries research development, acceptance of gender
topics and its perspectives have taken a much longer time to materialize.
One of the reason that women in fisheries remain behind the scene is because Natural sciences
have always choose the main domain that drove out fisheries research as stock assessments and
fisheries resource management are the core issues being examined. Due to this the decision-
makers were just designing policies that spoke of the fisheries resource management and not in
terms of social and culture aspects. They just focus on what happens at the sea which makes the
scence that fisheries is a male dominating sector. This might explain the lacking of sex-
disaggregated data in fisheries among many countries. Work of women in fisheries, aquaculture,
shellfish harvesting is rarely being found in statistical analysis (Kleiber et al., 2014, 2017;
Santos, 2015).
1.4 Fisherwomen: Marginalization and Invisibility
very less documented (Frangoudes and Keromnes, 2008; Zhao et al., 2013). According to the
State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture Report published by FAO (SOFIA, 2018), 59.6 million
people were found engaged in the sector of capture fisheries and aquaculture in the year 2016.
Out of this, 19.3 million people were engaged in aquaculture and 40.3 million in the fisheries.
ISBN: 978-93-5457-795-6
Page-40
The FAO estimated that women represent nearly 14% of all the people that directly engaged in
the fisheries and aquaculture sector.
The same report emphasized that such a low percentage of women were reported due to variation
of sex-disaggregated data in many regions and countries because they reported only men and
female gender was not at all specified. If we talk about Asia, women represent 15% of total
employment in the capture fisheries while men are representing 78% of it (SOFIA, 2018). This
means that 7% of the people are unspecified that are related to fisheries. Asia is reporting the
highest employment of women in fisheries and aquaculture at the global level with its 15%. This
shows the poor recognition of importance of small-scale fisheries where the contribution of
fisherwomen is much vital than that involved in having ownership rights over large scale vessels
and aquaculture units. This scenario needed to be changed. Japan has come with some positive
prospects and has internationally endorsed FAO SSF Guidelines, within the women and gender
researchers, non-governmental organizations and activists. SSF Guidelines will recognize the
participation of women all along the value chain and would also inform about the improvement
of gender equality in fisheries. (Kleiber et al., 2017; Badjeck et al., 2010).
1.5 Intersectionality of gender, nationality, level of education and Fisheries
Even, women and men if working in the same industrial plants can have different perceptions
and practices. Yingst and Skaptadottir (2018) examined differences and similarities concerning
work, division of labor and various other aspects of job satisfaction of Filipino, Icelandic and
Polish women who were employed in fish processing plants at Westfjord , Iceland. Here,
processing plants have not only hired the local women but have moved to hire female workers
recruitment of labor is also a highly gendered bias process in the processing plants.
Khan et al. (2018) under his study in Chennai, India demonstrated that fisherwomen not
only have to compete with men but among themselves also. Religion and case is also having a
huge impact. Women of low caste are having had a higher rate of employment and are migrant
-
for women.
ISBN: 978-93-5457-795-6
Page-41
Women use different Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) from men because they are usually
engaged in shellfish gathering, harvesting of fishes on foot near shore areas. They do not use
spaces (Kleiber et al., 2018). Kleiber et al. (2018) also found the same results in relation to
MPAs within local fisheries communities of the Central Philippines.
Gallardo and Sauders (2018) focus on the experience of In Coliumo, Southern Chile, women
organized themselves through agencies, capacity building and there they were granted exclusive
user rights on the maritime areas near the shore. This was done under the Territorial Use Rights
for Fishing (TURFs) system that has been established in this country. Therefore, here women are
good negotiators. They are professional gatherers of seaweed and also effective managers of
their area. This shows that when policies and laws give attention to women, its easier for them to
be empowered as fishers, workers and resource managers.
1.6 Changing scenario
Nowadays, women look after marketing along with sun drying and salting of fish. Khader (2019)
conducted a study in the coastal villages of Andhra Pradesh, India that indicates that 31% of
women are involved in fishing activities in these villages. 62% are involved in the agricultural
work. In India, many beneficiary programmes like Matsya Ashraya Yojane, Matsya Mahila
Swalambana Yojane, Central Scheme for Saving and Relief, SC/ST women Subsidy on purchase
of Fishery requisites, Subsidy to purchase Cooling box have been started. Nearly 67 per cent of
the respondents had a medium level of awareness on beneficiary programmes of State Fisheries
Department in Karnataka (Mahesh et al., 2016). Up to 90% of fish processing is done by women
FAO (2014). In some of the Pacific Islands, women have been responsible for over 50% of the
small-scale fisheries catch (Harper et al. 2013). It is estimated that 47% of fishery workers
worldwide are women, when post-harvest activities are included (World Bank 2012).
1.7 Conclusion and future prospects
Topics including intersecting issues like labor and migration, changes in job opportunities (e.g.,
unpaid and paid contributions of women in fisheries and aquaculture), organizations including
the unions and participation of women in the public sphere, resources management, property
rights in the fisheries and capacity building need to be emphasized. We need such a broad focus
to help us discuss, challenge, and further develop perspectives and concepts introduced and also
ISBN: 978-93-5457-795-6
Page-42
used by gender and the feminist researchers. It is also need of the hour to necessary capture
communities. The article also notes down that level of education, nationality and language skills
combined have a significant influence on the degree of the job satisfaction. All women,
irrespective of the nationality and education, stress the importance of having good wages. The
paper emphasizes the importance of properly qualifying and hence defining the concept of
women in the industrialized world. Elaborating on these conclusions, further studies are needed
about the job satisfaction, division of work and quality of life among women with the different
nationalities and educational backgrounds.
References
Badjeck, M., Allison, E. H., Halls, A. S., & Dulvy, N. K. (2010). Impacts of climate variability
and change on fishery-based livelihoods. Marine Policy. Elsevier, 34(3), 375 383.
Bennett, E. (2005). Gender, fisheries and development. Marine Policy. Elsevier 29 (5): 451 459.
Farooqi, F. S., Rasool, S., & Simnani, S. A. (2018). Problems and prospects of fisher women of
Kashmir Valley. International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Studies, 6(3), 358 360.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2014). The state of world fisheries
and aquaculture. Opportunities and challenges. Rome.
Food and Agriculture Organization. (2018). The state of world fisheries and aquaculture, 2018 -
meeting the sustainable development goals. Rome: Licence:CCBY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.
Frangoudes, K. (2013). Women in fisheries: A European perspective. Brussels: European
Parliament: BA-01-13-425-EN-C.
Frangoudes, K., & Keromnes, E. (2008). Women in artisanal fisheries in Brittany, France.
Development, 51(2), 265 270.
Gerrard, S. (1975). Arbeidsliv og Lokalsamfunn: Samarbeid og Skille Mellom Yrkesgrupper I et
Nord-norsk Ffskevær [Working life and local community Collaboration and divisions
among workers in a North-Norwegian fishing village] [Magistergrad Thesis]. Tromsø:
Institutt for Samfunnsvitenskap, Universitetet i Tromsø.
Gerrard, S. (1986). Kvinnersmaktogavmakt-etkjønnsrolleperspektiv på forvaltning av faglige
A gender perspective on managing work
interests]. FDH-report, Alta, IA: Finnmark University College, (6): 1 197.
ISBN: 978-93-5457-795-6
Page-43
Harper, S., D. Zeller, M. Hauzer, D. Pauly, and U.R. Sumaila.2013. Women and fisheries:
contribution to food security and local economies. Marine Policy 39: 56 63.
Holtedahl, L. (1986). Hva mutter gjør er alltid viktig. Om å være kvinne og Mann I en nordnorsk
bygd I 1970-årene (what mother does is always right to be a women and man in a North
Norwegian communities in the 1970). Oslo: Universitets for laget 224 pp.
John, K. (1989). Kerala Marine fisheries Development Socio Economic Profile, Trivandrum,
Centere of Development Studies.
Khader, V. 2019 Challenges Faced by Fisher Women of South India specific. Acta Scientific
Nutritional Health 3.7: 137-139.
Khan, N. F., Collins, A. M., Naya -
scale fisheries and environmental changes in Chilika Lagoon. MAST Thematic
Collection(En) Gendering change in Small-Scale Fisheries and fishing communities in a
Globalized World.
Kleiber, D., Frangoudes, K., Snyder, H. (2017). Promoting gender equity and equality though the
small-scale guidelines: Experiences from multiple case studies. In. The small-scale
fisheries guidelines global implementation J. Svein, R. Chuenpagdee, M. J. B. Pladines&
N. Franz (Eds.), Mare publication, 14. Berlin: Springer.
Kleiber, D., Harris, L., & Vincent, A. C. J. (2018). Gender and marine protected areas: A case
study of Danajon Bank, Philippines. MAST Thematic Collection (En)Gendering change in
Small-Scale Fisheries and fishing communities in a Globalized World.
Kleiber, D., Leila, M. L., Harris, M., & Vincent, A. C. J. (2014). Gender and small-scale
fisheries: A case for counting women and beyond. Fish and Fisheries, 16, 547 562
Mahesh, V., Swathi Lekshmi, P. S., Shivaprakash, S. M., Kumar Naik, A. S., Muttappa Khavi
and Jagadeesh, T. D. 2016. Study on awareness and participation of fisherwomen in
beneficiary programmes of state fisheries department in coastal karnataka, india. J. Exp.
Zool. India 19(1), 1437-1441.
Ma
through local governance. Canada: Institute of Social Sciences and South Asia Partnership.
Nazy, P. (2007). Status of children in the Coastal areas of Kerala. Trivandrum, India: Kerala
University.
ISBN: 978-93-5457-795-6
Page-44
13.
Priya, S. V., & Sreeranganadhan, K. (2016). Gender issues and challenges of fisher women to
become an entrepreneur in Kerala. 3rd International HR Conference, University of Sri
Jayewardenepura, Department of Human Resource Management. 3(1) pp. 276 283.
Santos, A. N. (2015). Fisheries as a way of life: gendered livelihoods, identities and perspectives
of artisanal fisheries in eastern Brazil. Marine Policy, 62, 279 288.
Sathiadhas, R. (2009). Inter-sectoral disparity and marginalization in marine fisheries in India.
Asian Fisheries Science, 22, 773 786.
Sreeranganadhan, K. (2012). Role of cooperative socities in the marketing of fish and fish
productions in Kerala. University Grants Committee: New Delhi, p. 33.
Williams, M. J. (2008). Why look at fisheries through a gender lens? Development, 51(2), 180
185.
World Bank. 2012. Hidden harvest. The global contribution of capture fisheries. Washington,
D.C.
Yingst, A., & Skaptadottir, U. D. (2018). Gender labour in the Icelandic fish processing industry.
MAST
Thematic Collection (En) Gendering change in small-scale fisheries and fishing communities in
a globalized world.
Yodanis, C. L.. (2000). Constructing gender and occupational segregation: A study of womenand
work in fishing communities. Qualitative Sociology, 23(3), 267 290.
Zhao, M., Tyzack, M., Anderson, R., & Onoakpovike, E. (2013). Women as visible and invisible
workers in fisheries: A case study of northern England. Marine Policy. Elsevier, 37, 69 76.