The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) has released the latest edition of Yemaya, its newsletter on gender and fisheries. The articles in this issue are drawn from the presentations and discussions at the webinar organized by GAFS, Women Work in Fisheries, Too! held on 29 November 2021. The webinar identified areas that respond to the inaccurate and inadequate portrayal of women’s work in Asian countries.
Yemaya No. 65, dated March 2022, features articles from Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, India, Malaysia, Philippines and Uganda, on decent work, small-scale fisheries and gender issues in the seafood industry.
Arlene Nietes Satapornvanit and Meryl J Williams write that a shared understanding on gender and labour in fisheries would benefit from defining “some basic terms commonly used when applying a gender lens to activities in fish-value chains, fisheries statistics, policies, and interventions.”
Nikita Gopal illustrates the shortcomings of definitions by examining women’s fishing in India, for which “no data or official records of women doing fishing” exist. Yet, recent studies contradict this, finding women are often doing small-scale fishing, earning incomes and also feeding families.
In studies in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand that considered all workers, Jariya Sornkliang says: “We did not find any value chain in which all workers were of just one gender.”
Ravadee Prasertcharoensuk recommends practical strategies to make women’s, as well as men’s, concerns and experiences an important part of marine and coastal policies and plans, without which “the gender gaps in marine and coastal biodiversity management will only widen”.
Joe Pres Gaudiano shares how woman cope with stress, debt-burden, and extra work to make ends meet, and are the lead decisionmakers regarding household finances, whether their fisher husbands are at sea or on land.
In the case of businesses in fisheries and other food and beverage sectors, Caterina Meloni finds that “investor’s demands, regulatory pressure and customer demands drive the growing importance of the gender dimension,” but “advancing gender equality in the workplace is not a linear process.” It can be slower than foreseen.
Rachel Matheson points out that gender is the “glaring omission” from the certifications, codes of conduct, and non-profit partnerships happening in the sustainable seafood movement.
Aazani Mujahid, in her presentation, says that women in coastal communities involved in food production should be given opportunities to become entrepreneurs, start up their own SMEs, and expand their small-scale businesses through selling both online and offline.
Kyoko Kusakabe, in her article, argues that a range of critical issues confront women in small-scale fisheries: under-recognition of women’s contributions; diversity of women’s involvement; the intersectional disadvantage of certain groups of women; and the lack of participation in fishworkers organizations and in decisionmaking.
During a virtual ceremony on 19 November 2021, the FAO Director-General, QU Dongyu, presented the Margarita Lizarraga Medal to Margaret Nakato of the Katosi Women Development Trust in Uganda, whom he praised for her work in organising women in fishing communities to work together. Nakato, in her acceptance speech, argued that the award would inspire the women she works with to continue to support food security and eradication of poverty.
The Profile column by Sivaja Nair looks at how Margaret Nakato, Executive Director of the Katosi Women Development Trust( KWDT), became a community leader in Uganda, and how her work in organizing women in small-scale fisheries in Uganda has received international recognition.
The current issue of Yemaya also spotlights ICSF’s Archives/Digital library, which contains collections of more than three decades, built up since ICSF’s Documentation Centre was set up in Chennai in 1999 with the twin objectives of gathering all kinds of information pertinent to small-scale fisheries and making it available to all stakeholders in an easy and rapid-access format.
The Milestones column by Aakanksha Agarwal looks at the recently published The World Inequality Report 2022 and focuses on one key concept – gender pay gap. The article says that a cursory reading provides a comprehensive understanding of where societies stand in terms of gender inequality at work, with the relative overall shares of labour income accruing to women and men standing out as an essential indicator.
Vishakha Gupta, in the Yemaya Recommends section, points out that the book, The Island of Sea Women by Lisa see, argues: “Every woman who enters the sea, carries a coffin on her back. In this undersea world we tow the burdens of a hard life”.
The current issue of Yemaya also carries the ever-popular cartoon strip, “Yemaya Mama”(“Mama’s view of Women’s Day!”).
Yemaya No. 65 can be accessed at:
https://demo2.icsf.net/yemaya-articles.php?id=9111
For more, please visit: demo2.icsf.net