From catch to consumer: Empowering, counting and hearing women in fisheries
Experts to gather at 7th Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Conference
11 October | Bangkok, Thailand: Women make up half the global labor force in fisheries and aquaculture, supporting a dynamic global economic sector that is also crucial to food security and nutrition. Yet, the gender dimension receives scarce attention. How does this lack of awareness of women’s contributions affect the sector’s performance? How can women’s roles and rights be secured for better outcomes for all?
Over 120 experts, researchers and practitioners from more than 25 countries will discuss strategies to enhance gender inclusiveness and equality in the sector at the 7th Global Conference on Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries in Bangkok on 18–21 October 2018.
The event will be opened by Dr. Eden Woon, President, Asian Institute of Technology, with opening remarks also by Mr. Bunchong Chumnongsittathum, Deputy Director of Inland Aquaculture Research and Development Division, Dept. of Fisheries, Thailand. The keynote speech ‘The Gender Agenda – turning #MeToo into #WeToo in Aquaculture and Fisheries’ will be given by Dr. Darian McBain, Global Director for Sustainable Development, Thai Union.
With a theme of ‘expanding the horizons’, the triennial conference will explore case studies from around the world to find ways to create a sustainable and socially-just fishing industry from catch to consumer. Specifically, the conference will address three questions:
- How can women’s contributions be better valued, and their rights secured to create social, material and environment benefits for all?
- How can researchers better account for women in their investigations and when developing innovations?
- How can women’s voices be better heard in policy and management decisions?
The conference program includes:
- Holly Hapke, Research Development Director, University of California Irvine, Marilyn Porter, Professor Emeritus, Memorial University of Newfoundland, and Kyoko Kusakabe, Professor, Asian Institute of Technology, presenting a special workshop on how an intersectional approach can be applied to research on gender in aquaculture and fisheries.
- Janine Pierce, School of Management, University of South Australia, and Aquaculture without Frontiers, running a special workshop on how photovoice enables participants to tell their own stories.
- Nalini Nayak and Cornelie Quist, International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF), will articulate feminist visions of fisheries by sharing stories from women involved with ICSF.
- Cynthia McDougall, Steven Cole and Afrina Choudhury from WorldFish, presenting on how gender transformative approaches can lead to shifts in inequitable gender norms, attitudes and behaviors.
- Editrudith Lukanga, Executive Director, Environmental Management and Economic Development Organization, Tanzania, and Kafayat Adetoun Fakoya, Department of Fisheries, Lagos State University, Nigeria, presenting on the role of women fishworker organizations in implementing and monitoring the small-scale fisheries guidelines.
More than 100 papers and posters will be presented during the conference sessions, which look at gender issues related to gender assessments, gender-disaggregated statistics, the seafood industry, governance, climate change, the sustainable development goals, research methods, and learning exchanges.
The conference is organized by the Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Section of the Asian Fisheries Society, the Asian Institute of Technology and the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific. It is sponsored by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, WorldFish, The Crawford Fund, Plan International, USAID Oceans and Fisheries, Thailand Convention and Exhibitions Bureau and the Commission on Gender and Geography, and has 17 partners and supporters from Asia, Australia and beyond.
Media contact: Danika Kleiber, danika.kleiber@jcu.edu.au