Generally speaking, there are two categories of factors influencing the role and status2 of women in small-scale fisheries or “fisherwomen” for short: group factors and individual factors (Anbarasan, 1985). The group factors include: economy and technology, family's economic position and wealth, socio-cultural and traditional values, and social and political involvements. Individual factors, on the other hand, include age, marital status, educational level, and employment status.
Table 5 Distribution of experienced labour force aged 10 years and over by occupation and sex, Peninsular Malaysia, 1957, 1970, 1980
| (Percentage) | |||||||||
| Occupation | Males | Females | Difference (males - females) | ||||||
| 1957 | 1970 | 1980 | 1957 | 1970 | 1980 | 1957 | 1970 | 1980 | |
Professional technical and related workers | 2.9 | 4.5 | 6.2 | 3.5 | 5.2 | 8.3 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 2.1 |
| Administrative and managerial workers | 1.5 | 1.0 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 1.1 | |
| Clerical and related workers | 3.6 | 5.3 | 6.7 | 0.9 | 3.9 | 10.9 | 2.7 | 1.4 | 4.2 |
| Sales workers | 10.3 | 10.3 | 10.5 | 3.4 | 4.9 | 7.1 | 6.9 | 5.4 | 3.4 |
| Service workers | 9.1 | 8.1 | 8.8 | 7.3 | 8.6 | 8.6 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 0.2 |
Agricultural and forestry workers, fishermen and hunters | 50.2 | 43.9 | 30.8 | 76.5 | 50.0 | 38.0 | 26.3 | 6.1 | 7.2 |
Production and related workers, transport equipment operators and labourers | 22.1 | 23.9 | 29.8 | 7.8 | 11.0 | 18.6 | 14.3 | 12.9 | 11.2 |
| Occupations undefined | 0.3 | 3.0 | 5.8 | 0.4 | 8.2 | 8.2 | 0.1 | 5.2 | 2.4 |
| Total | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |||
| Dissimilarity index | 27.1 | 16.6 | 15.9 | ||||||
Sources: Population census reports, 1957, 1970 and 1980, Kuala Lumpur
3.1 Group factors
Economy and Technology
The levels of economic and technological development of a particular fishing village exert substantial influence on the role and status of women. If the village economy is predominantly a subsistence economy, women certainly play an important role to provide for the family's sustenance. Although the fish caught are largely for home consumption, the surplus are normally bartered for other household necessities. Usually it is the women who participate actively in the barter trading, exchanging fish with other basic food and other household items for the family's needs. Since women are active in the barter economy, their status vis-a-vis other household members are enhanced, but only within the family. Lately, however, the status of women has been adversely affected by the development of the market or monetized economy. Family needs become more demanding and extend beyond the basic essentials that could be obtained through exchange of fish, while work are being equated with paid or wage employment. Since women could not participate in wage employment because of their low educational attainment and other socio-cultural constraints, the role and status of women are somewhat diminished. Earning incomes for the family is thus seen as arising from the work of men alone though women contribute significantly to the family's finances through their participation in the informal non-wage sector.
Another recent innovation which has adversely affected the role and status of fisherwomen was the introduction of the auction system. In small traditional fishing villages in India, for example, women fish traders has been rendered redundant when auctions were introduced (Anbarasan, 1985). Fisherwomen, because of their lower purchasing power, are not able to outbid male fish traders who seemed to dominate the buying of fish at auctions. Moreover, with increased demand for fish in the urban areas, it is again the male fish traders who are able to serve urban markets. Women traders find themselves unable to compete with the male traders since the costs of marketing fish in distant urban market are usually high. The women's marketing operations would be invariably confined to local markets in neighbouring villages. However, since the high commercial-valued and good quality fish have been sent out to urban markets, only poorer quality fish of lower commercial value is available for selling by the women traders. Owing to non-profitability and non-viability of such fish trade business, most fisherwomen had to give up fish marketing, thereby further eroding their economic status within the family (Anbarasan, 1985).
Fisherwomen in India had also been affected by the advancement of labour-saving technologies in the fisheries sector. A case in point is the introduction of machine-made nylon nets. Prior to this, net-making had been traditionally monopolized by the fisherwomen. However, with the advent of mechanized net-making, a substantial number of women net-makers were displaced since their existing skills in net-making have now become redundant. To keep up with the mechanized technology, women have had to acquire and learn new mechanical skills which could only be obtained through training. Unfortunately, training opportunities for acquiring the new skills have been discriminatory against fisherwomen because it was generally believed that women are “slower” than men in acquiring new skills. The high illiteracy rate and low educational attainment among fisherwomen only serve to accentuate the reluctance of training institutions to take in fisherwomen trainees.
In the Malaysian context, the development of highly productive capital-intensive fishing methods like trawling and purseining has also had an adverse economic impact on fisherwomen. The new fishing methods have pushed up the volume of catches landed which could no longer be handled by women fish traders. Instead, fish marketing and distribution are now being handled by big traders, consignment/buying agents and wholesalers who have direct dealings with the fisherwomen and boatowners. This is especially true in the prawn trade where contract marketing, consignments etc. have more or less completely wiped out small-time women prawn traders. Today, the only link women have with the prawn business is as wage labour in prawn processing factories doing less satisfying unskilled jobs such as sorting, peeling and cleaning. To make matter worse, the women workers are paid low wages, and have to work for long hours under deplorable conditions.
To sum up, the structural transformation of the fisheries sector from subsistence to market economy and the accompanying rapid technological development have had a negative impact on the role and status of fisherwomen in the family as well as in the fishing community. It appears, therefore, fisherwomen would have to engage themselves in new income-earning opportunities to prevent their economic role and status from further erosion.
Religion, Socio-Cultural and Traditional Values
As in most traditional communities, the lives of fisherfolk are governed by a set of socio-cultural values and norms. Hence, factors like religious beliefs and rationalization, cultural norms, behavioral norms, myths, perceptions and moral values exert a strong influence on the fisherfolk's social as well as economic lives.
The small-scale fishing communities in Malaysia are predominantly Malays with Islam as the main religion.
In consonant with the religious and cultural expectations among the predominantly Malay small-scale fishing communities, the heads of households are usually males. A FAO study conducted on small-scale fishing communities in Besut, Terengganu revealed that only 7.8% of the fishing households surveyed were found to have female heads of household.3 The predominance of male household heads in a rural economy like the small-scale fisheries is not unusual since in most families the main income earner is a male. In a typically traditional fishing community, the economic participation of women is negligible although this is rapidly changing. The norm is for women to devote all their time to housework and child-care while working outside the home is considered to be essentially a male job as espoused by the Islamic faith and Malay traditional custom. Moreover, the fishing households, in common with other traditional Malay households, are heavily biased towards paternalism, hence the prevalence of male superiority. Even if women worked outside their homes, their income was regarded as merely supplementing the male income since men are viewed as the major “breadwinners” of the households. Rightly or wrongly, therefore, religion and traditional cultural values coupled with the natural concern women feel for the welfare of their children have relegated their status to the most economically disadvantaged positions within the family and the community.
Socio-cultural values and norms also exert considerable influence on the fisherwomen's role in decision-making. Generally, there are two types of decision-making in the family: relating to home management and relating to occupation and production (Anbarasan, 1985). Fisherwomen play a significant role as home managers and exercise an important influence over the control and management of the household budget. Firth (1946) in his classical study on Malay fishermen in Kelantan noted that women often act as bankers and financial managers to their husbands. It is customary for the fishermen to surrender their incomes or daily earnings to their wives, holding back only a small amount of money for their pocket expenses. Thus, spending and saving decisions are left entirely to the women. As far as savings and credit are concerned, women decide on how much and how to save. During lean fishing seasons or if borrowings are needed for certain purposes, the responsibility of raising the loan or credit and its repayments rests with the women.
Fisherwomen, however, do not appear to play decisive roles in matters pertaining to family planning, number of children desired, education of their children and general economic and social improvements of their families. Nor are women consulted on decisions regarding occupation and production. Men make the decisions as to the type of boat and gear to be bought, investment in new nets, gear or engine, purchase of spare parts for the motor and expenditures for boat and gear maintenance. Even though men make the decisions, it is then up to the women to raise the loans required from the village moneylenders, “towkays” (middlemen) or other informal credit sources.
Cultural norms and tradition also prohibit women from participating in decision-making at the village and community-level which remained very much the domain of men. Socially, it is the man who assumes the role of contact point between the household and the outside community. For example, the decision whether the household should participate in any community programme like “gotong royong” (communal labour) and “kenduri” (feasts) rests entirely with the man. Most government programs such as training and extension services or other socio-economic projects involving the distribution and allocation of government resources like licenses, subsidies, credits, grants etc. are usually channelled through the male members of the households.
Norms pertaining to family and marriage also determine the status of women in small-scale fishing communities. In general, married women are assigned higher social status than widows and divorcees, while childless women are considered inferior and “incomplete”. Women got married early due to parental and social pressures, thus marrying between the ages of 14 and 17 is not uncommon. The common form of marriage is arranged marriage, although love marriages do take place occassionally. The Islamic faith allows the men to marry more than one woman, but the “second wife” is usually socially ostracised by the other women. Once married, a woman is expected to surrender her independence, become subservient to her husband and play a subsidiary role in the family. All these, however, are gradually changing with development and modernization of the fishing community.
Family's Economic Position and Wealth
To a large extent, the role and status of fisherwomen depend on their families' economic position and wealth. Understandably, women from economically better-off families enjoy higher status than their counterparts from poor families. Wives of “towkays” or middlemen are usually assigned high status because of their husbands' strong economic standing in the village economy. It is not uncommon for wives of “towkays” to help out in the daily management of their husbands' economic pursuits. Their involvements, however, are confined to light tasks like handling money and supervising hired labour. They rarely engage in tedious manual tasks like unloading, sorting, cleaning and transporting. This further enhances their status vis-a-vis other women in the village.
The status of women also varies according to their husbands' functions in the fishing boat. Generally, higher status is assigned to wives of “towkays” (skippers) as compared to wives of “anak-anak” (ordinary crewmen). Wives of boatowners, by virtue of their husbands' ownership of the productive assets (bout and gear) also enjoy higher status than women from fishing non-owner households. In subsistence fishing, once the catch is brough in, it is the wife of the owner who decides on the distribution of shares of fish to the crew, and she is also responsible for settling any dispute which may arise over the distribution of the shares of fish.
A fisherwoman's status will be significantly enhanced if she married into a wealthy family. Wealth, in a typical traditional village, is measured by the family's ownership of any productive capital assets like land, plantations, shops and large fishing boats. Although these assets are not necessarily own by the husband, the fisherwoman enjoys a better status than other fisherwomen who married into less wealthy or poor families. Fisherwomen from poor families have to help earn or augment the family income and do not lead such leisurely lives as their counterparts from well-to-do families. In fact, fisherwomen in poor households contribute immensely to supplement their family's income by engaging in laborious income-earning activities. In general, fisherwomen who have to undertake tasks that entail hard labour are assigned a low status in the village compared to their counterparts whose involvement in the economic activities calls only for the handling of money and supervision of the hired workers.
Political and Social Involvement
The political and social involvement of women, particularly in decision-making and leadership roles, has been very limited or even negligible. Active participation in politics and community organizations are generally regarded as male domain. Leadership in political parties, rural institutions or community organization is commonly associated with men in line with the religious and cultural norms. Hence, political parties like UMNO, PAS etc. and institutions like Syarikat Kerjasama (Cooperative Societies), Persatuan Nelayan (Fishermen's Associations), Jawatankuasa Kerja Kampung (Village Working Committee) etc are always dominated by men. The leadership of such organizations is exclusively male, while in terms of council or committee members, men always outnumber women. However, if the project is specifically a women-oriented project, then only is the leader a woman.
Women who exhibit leadership potential usually find themselves confronted with the problem of balancing their multi-faceted roles in the home and in the organization they are supposed to lead. The perception that a woman's first responsibility is to her home acts as an obstacle to promote her leadership and management capabilities. Furthermore, a woman community leader in a male-dominated Muslim Society is often eyed with discomfort by her male relatives, neighbours and her husband's friends if she is married. This is aggravated by the fact that Islam does not encourage women to be leaders if there are capable men around to provide the leadership. In brief, the myth of men's superiority over women, religious rationalization, cultural norms, tradition and the burden of household chores are some of the major constraints to a greater participation and involvement of women in political and community organizations.
3.2 Individual Factors
Age
Generally, a fisherwoman's status increased correspondingly with her age; hence, the older the fisherwoman the higher is her status at home and in the community. An older fisherwoman is well-respected and accorded certain politeness by the whole community, such as being spoken to first upon meeting, being consulted in social events like marriage and feasts, being visited by neighbours and friends when she falls ill, and being given assistance by many when she is in need. Younger women always sought her advice and guidance and her presence in social gatherings is considered auspicious. This is especially true if the woman belongs to a wealthy family.
Marital Status
The marital status of a woman is an important determinant of her individual status. In general, a married woman with children, especially sons, is accorded a higher status than other women in the family. The fact that she is able to produce children proves her child-bearing ability, and hence her “completeness” as a woman. On the other hand, a childless woman is considered “futile” and is looked down upon by the other women. There is always a heavy pressure on her to bear a child lest her husband should take another wife. A childless woman's status in her family is only assured if and when she gives birth to a child.
A widow or divorcee, especially if she is young, is accorded lower status in the community and is always eyed with suspicion by the married women. A single or unmarried woman is restricted to the confines of her home and seldom leaves the house unaccompanied. She is denied of any freedom of expression nor opinion and has to obey her parents or her elder brothers whole-heartedly. If both her parents have to work outside the homes, the responsibilities of cooking, washing, tidying, cleaning and taking care of the young ones automatically fall on the single unmarried woman. Undertaking such responsibilities would also act as “training grounds” for the unmarried woman to perform her role as wife and mother upon marriage. This traditional role of unmarried women is rapidly changing as more and more young women from fishing villages migrate to towns and cities to find employment in garments and textile industries, electronics factories, and in the domestic and service sectors.
Education
It is widely recognized that fisherwomen, like their counterparts in other sectors of the rural economy, are generally less educated than men, while high illiteracy rate amongst women is not uncommon. The FAO study (1982) revealed that illiteracy rate among women in the survey area was as high as 37.1% as compared to 23.3% among men. It was also revealed that more than three-quarter of the women who went to school had only up to primary education. Female literacy level improves considerably with age, meaning that younger women in the fishing villages are generally better educated than their mothers or grandmothers.
Education has important implications on the socio-economic status and potentials of fisherwomen. Within the family, educated employed women enjoy higher status by virtue of their contributions to the families earnings. At the community level, educated women command a certain degree of respect in the eyes of the village headman, community leaders and the society at large. In any village or community project, the services of educated women are preferred and their ideas and views are solicited. Educated women are often elected to be leaders of any community project which is heavily women-oriented. To put it simply, education, combined with other related factors like employment, skills, articulateness, awareness etc., has indeed enhanced the status of women in the family and the community.
Employment Status
The individual status of fisherwomen is highly dependent on their economic roles and contributions. This is reflected in their employment status which can be categorised into unpaid family labour, self-employed and employed. Owing to their wage-earning capacities, employed women enjoy higher status than their counterparts who are self-employed or working as unpaid family labour. An employed woman plays an important role in family decision-making and enjoys greater financial independence than an unemployed woman. In a subsistence economic framework, the unpaid tasks that fisherwomen perform such as processing, preservation, fish farming, rearing livestock and growing vegetables and fruits are indeed “economically productive” and have an impact on the total production of the fisheries/agricultural sector. Unfortunately, such meaningful contributions by the fisherwomen as unpaid family labour are not given due recognition, and certainly does not help the women attain a high status in the family and the community.
Among employed women, those working as waged labour in processing factories, fisheries-related industries and plantations are assigned lower status than women salary-earners such as school teachers, nurses, clerks and other white-collar jobs. Self-employed women who are engaged in fish marketing, petty business, vending of fruits, vegetables and sweets are also accorded low status in the village society. It is important to realize, however, that fisherwomen take up jobs - whether as hired labour, salary earner or self-employed - not to improve their individual status but out of necessity. Women from poor families simply have to work to boost the families earnings. Of late, lack of employment and economic opportunities in the fishing villages has resulted in substantial out-migration of young women to towns and cities. For the majority of these young women from the fishing communities, their low educational attainment has rendered them unqualified for the white-collar jobs in government and commerce. As a result, the majority landed themselves in assembly-line jobs in textiles, garments, electronics factories, and food processing industries. The new employment opportunities provided by these factories and industries, however, have enabled young women from the fishing communities to upgrade their status from unpaid family workers or self-employed to paid employment in the modern urban sector.
To conclude, the status of fisherwomen is thus determined by a host of interrelated factors touching on every aspect and dimension of a woman's life. All these factors interact with each other to finally ascribe the women a definite status in the family as well as in the community.
