Gender and aquaculture: sharing the benefits equitably



Market expansion and increased production
in some areas have been accompanied by the
introduction of new technologies. In general,
interventions such as new high yielding
species and methods of fish rearing have
tended to favor men over women (AIT, 2000;
Barman, 2001; Brugere et al., 2001; Kusakabe
and Kelkar, 2001; Kibria and Mowla, 2006;
Sullivan, 2006; Okali and Holvoet, 2007).
Nevertheless, there are notable exceptions
from gender sensitive projects (Kibria and
Mowla, 2006; Bhujel et al., 2008; Kripa and
Surendranathan, 2008) that have increased
both benefits to women and their capacity
to make decisions. In Bangladesh, nearly a
quarter of women farmers practicing rice-
fish culture were noted to have been able to
make decisions on the utilization of income
from fish sales independently, to the benefit
of their household (Barman et al., 2011).

Well-being is closely linked to vulnerability.
Shocks which can affect well-being and
increase vulnerability include price shocks
in fish and input markets (seed, feed and
fertilizer), climate change, natural disasters,
war and conflict, sudden illness and births,
marriage and deaths (which may demand
considerable resources). We lack information
on how these kinds of events can affect the
well-being of men and women in aquaculture
communities.

National-level well-being studies indicate that
people’s motivation for choosing particular
employment options is not based on
economic (income) factors alone. In Zambia,
farmers establish fish ponds for a host of
reasons: to provide food to hired labor; to
meet needs of funerals and weddings; to
buy school uniforms from fish income; to
diversify income and food sources; to secure
land tenure claims; to appear “modern”;
and even to evade witchcraft (Crewe and
Harrison, 1998). However, project managers
often do not assess these as signs of
success since they do not meet the goals
of income improvement in strict economic
terms (Crewe and Harrison, 1998). In the
case of HIV AIDS-affected female-headed
households in Malawi, integrated agriculture-
aquaculture intervention was found to be
highly effective not only in improving their
food and nutrition security situation and
augmenting income from the sale of surplus
fish over consumption, but also in creating
an employment opportunity that suited their
fragile health conditions (CGIAR, 2007).

To what extent are women’s and men’s
understanding of well-being in fish farming
communities based on comparison of their
situation with their own past or with that
of neighboring fishing, farming, herding
or urban communities? We still do not
know much about how men’s and women’s
assessment of well-being affects their
livelihood strategies and income generation.
We also need more analysis of the gendered
nature of access to resources in aquaculture
and the overall effect this has on well-being
and livelihoods.

Theme 3: Identities and

Networks

Social networks can be critical to the survival
of both individuals and households. Networks
can also exact costs as they may require
individuals to meet various obligations.
Membership to formal organizations —
for instance, aquaculture associations or
cooperatives — is more prevalent among
men than women, but poor men may also be
excluded.

There are several case studies of women’s
struggles for resource access rights and
fishworkers’ rights (Nayak, 2008; Munoz,
2008). There is an assumption that if women
act collectively or join together to access
credit or share ponds, the benefits are
greater. The propensity for and benefits
of collective action could be analyzed
more carefully with a better understanding
of the gendered nature of networks and
identities. For example, there is evidence
from Ghana that attempts to encourage



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