Dried fish is considered a ‘hidden’ sub-sector within small-scale fisheries, and is particularly important in Asia and Africa. Women make up a significant portion of the workforce in this sub-sector. A new framework may reveal a thick description of gender relations.

A recent paper: “Homestead pond polyculture can improve access to nutritious small fish” published in the journal Food Security1 investigates an aquaculture production system in Bangladesh which is tailored towards improving nutrition and is accessible to and can be managed by women. In Bangladesh, and many parts of rural south Asia, women’s movements outside the homestead...

Dr. Mudnakudu C. Nandeesha (1957-2012), who instigated many women/gender in aquaculture and fisheries initiatives, passed away on 27 December 2012. On the 4th anniversary of his passing, we pause to remember him and acknowledge his contributions on many fronts, including on gender awareness and action. Dr Nandeeshabegan his work in aquaculture research and development in Karnataka...

Women may be numerous on the factory floors of top seafood producers but, at the top of the companies, their numbers are small. Marie-Christine Monfort, a seafood industry insider herself, conducted a follow-up survey to track changes since she authored an earlier report for FAO (see our previous post). The recent study found that the Read more about Still few women leaders in 100 top seafood companies...

A new report from the CGIAR Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS) research program picks out some early lessons from the floodplains of Bangladesh and Zambia where the gender transformative approach is being tested in the field. The approach, which the AAS program seeks to apply, tries to go beyond simple gender approaches and checklists that usually...

On 27 December 2012, we lost Dr M.C. Nandeesha, who brought awareness to the importance of women in Asian and global fisheries, and who initiated the first substantive activities to address gender inequality to the work and the considerations of the Asian Fisheries Society. Beginning with the 1990 Women in Fisheries in India Workshop, held...

A new CGIAR report, “Bangladesh small and medium-scale aquaculture value chain development: Past trends, current status and likely future directions” by Niaz Ahmed Apu reviews a wealth of recent information and and also endeavours to do justice to available knowledge on the contributions and opportunities for women in the value chains. Gendered knowledge is still Read more about Bangladesh aquaculture value chain analysis...

What Works for Women: Proven approaches for empowering women smallholders and achieving food security This book has been produced by a group of nine international development agencies, including some of the biggest welfare NGOs. It distills their experiences from their efforts to promote gender equality and working with women smallholders and rural women over many...

Gender research is still sparse for gender and aquaculture, fisheries and the coasts. Gender studies are a little further advanced in agriculture and natural resource management. Very useful resource materials can be found from the work of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), one of the CGIAR Centers. Here are 5 links to IFPRI ...

Rigorous studies on the effects of introduced fish pond and vegetable technologies in Bangladesh show that “..women’s assets increase more relative to men’s when technologies are disseminated through women’s groups”, indicating that the gendered outcomes of new technologies depend on how they are introduced. This and related studies are reported in papers in the latest...