Gender barriers in aquaculture and fisheries

“We should have been born as men, and maybe we would be mighty men” ― Kartini, 1900

Kartini was an Indonesian female hero who fought for women’s emancipation. Her writings were progressive and convinced readers of the pain and injustice of living in a patriarchal society that made women second-class citizens.

A century later, there is still a long way to go for women to have equal rights, access to resources, and freedom of participation in all fields. Women, particularly those in marginalised communities, still struggle for equality in everything from government policies to the household level, where traditional cultures are often rooted in family practices that treat women as subordinate to men.

AIC Backgrounder (No.3/2020): ‘Gender barriers in aquaculture and fisheries’

This AIC Backgrounder explains the struggles experienced by women’s groups when dealing with gender-biased policies, with a focus on the fisheries and aquaculture sectors in South Sulawesi, based on the assumption that women play vital roles in both but are still undervalued and unacknowledged in comparison with their male counterparts.

You can read or download the full AIC Backgrounder via the link below. It contains four main sections:

• challenging the common perception that fisheries and aquacultures are male-dominated sectors
• shedding light on the women working in the seaweed value chain in South Sulawesi (the focus of the AIC’s PAIR Program)
• highlighting gender-biased policy and regulations in the seaweed sectors
• looking at government strategies to date for overcoming gender barriers and achieving gender equality for truly sustainable aquaculture and fisheries sectors.

Image: Coastal women working in in Kalibaru, North Jakarta. Photo by Fadhilah Trya Wulandari.

AIC Backgrounder (No.3/2020): ‘Gender barriers in aquaculture and fisheries’