The international organization for women in the seafood industry, or WSI, has called for greater efforts in favor of gender equality and female empowerment in the seafood sector, with a decade left to meet the United Nations’ Sustainable development goals (SDGs).
There has been huge amounts of talk, and some concrete action, in making progress towards SDG 14 — “life below water” — but practically none on SDG five, which focuses on gender equality.
WSI surveys show “not much has been initiated, and even less achieved” towards this end. “If the seafood industry were a country, it would be one of the most gender unequal in the world.”
Women’s roles in the seafood sector too often remain “invisible” and underpaid, or excluded entirely through law, tradition, or habit, said WSI.
“Women meet impediments to accessing inputs such as financial capital, bank loans, new technology and immaterial capital such as training,” it added. “Stereotypes and social norms prevent women from getting some jobs, such as fishers, high profile, and well-paid jobs. Did you know that women occupy 90% of all jobs in the labor-intensive seafood processing industry, but less than 10% of corporate board members and 1% of CEOs. They are even grossly discriminated against when it comes to speaking at conferences.”
WSI’s most recent sector survey found 55% of male industry leaders consider the problem of gender inequality solved, while 85% agreed that they don’t pay attention to it.
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