7 Gender and Fishing
Learning Objectives
- Describe the roles that women play in fishing, fisheries, and aquaculture.
- Recognize the contributions of women to the science of managing fish and fishing.
- Explain the activities of governance where women’s issues are not recognized.
- Explore intersectionality as a starting point for discussions of human rights and social justice related to fish conservation.
7.1 Why Gender Is Relevant to Sustainable Fishing
The old axiom goes “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.” A feminist version of this would be, “Teach a woman to fish, and everyone eats for a lifetime” (Sharma 2014). Contributions of women in fishing and fisheries science have been historically invisible because someone else got credit for them. Furthermore, in scientific fields dominated by white males, harassment and other behaviors discourage participation by women. Women’s contributions to fishing communities may be direct or indirect, such as: (1) direct contribution of women’s labor in catching or processing operations; (2) creating the next generation by bearing and raising children; and (3) special responsibilities because of the absence of men away while fishing (Thompson 1985). In some fisheries, the catching of fish for sale is dominated by males, while the catching of fish for feeding the family is dominated by females (Bennett 2005; Santos et al. 2015; Ameyaw et al. 2020; Tilley et al. 2020).
Women hold knowledge, skills, and traditions relevant for fisheries management. However, despite the seemingly valuable contributions, women are often not paid for their work and, consequently, women’s fishing activities are not included in official statistics. Because of both diminished appreciation and differing roles, women in the fishing industry are likely to have a smaller role in governance and suffer disproportionately during difficult times. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic affected women fishers differently due to gender-based norms or restrictions (Lopez-Ercilla et al. 2021; Woskie and Wenham 2021). More inclusive consideration of gender in fishing should result in more sustainable fisheries, yet important obstacles remain.
Gender refers to a social construct based on how women and men relate. Thus, gender is expressed in behaviors, roles, social status, and rights of women and men as organized and justified by society on the basis of biological differences between the sexes. However, gender analysis in fisheries is impossible without observations and data by gender or sex. Categorization of gender and sex as binary (i.e., male or female) is not a full or accurate portrayal of the diversity of human behavior or biology. American adults identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersexual, or asexual (LGBTQIA) rose to 5.6 percent in a 2021 Gallup poll (Jones 2021). LGBTQIA adults are unlikely to see themselves represented in fishing and fish conservation arenas