All along West Africa’s coastline, women play a vital role in the fisheries sector as processors, traders and distributors.
But they face many challenges – like job insecurity, a lack of finance, availability of fish and child care – and they’re also vulnerable to shocks, like the COVID pandemic.
Simplistic assessments by government and nongovernmental organisations will often praise their resilience in facing these challenges. But this masks the dangers inherent in some of their coping strategies, as we’ve shown in a recent study documenting their experiences in West Africa during COVID.
Women are adept at coping because they have to be. Compared with men, women carry a disproportionate burden of ensuring food is on the table for their families. This is because they’re the ones at home whilst the men are at sea. Women will therefore often diversify their income sources to support their families.
Their ability to cope or adapt in times of adversity should not absolve states or governments of the responsibility to address the sources of their hardship.
Although there is an awareness by West African governments of the need for policies that benefit both men and women, countries across the region are failing at addressing their root challenges.
The main challenge is that women find themselves excluded from policy making and their contributions are largely undervalued by government and financial institutions compared to men who are counted and supported due to their contributions as fishers. Yet women are big contributors to the sector.
As the direct contact with the end-users, women are at the top of the value chain. The women traders pre-finance fishing activities, are the owners of boats, and purchase outboard engines, food for the crew or fuel for fishing trips. Though often invisible to the casual observer, women are the power behind fishing enterprises and the settlements along rich fishing grounds.