Women's role in fishing communities: the case of M'Bour in Senegal
by
Oumoukhairy Ndiaye,
Fish technologist
Introduction
In Senegal, artisanal fisheries contributes a great deal to food security and therefore plays a very important role in the economy. In fact, fishing comes first in Senegal economy. Women play a leading role in this sector, even though the importance of their contribution is often not well recognised.
Macro-economic aspects
Senegal has 700kms of coast on the Atlantic Ocean. The fisheries resources potential is estimated to be 430,000 tons and fishing provides 250,000 jobs of which 90% in artisanal fisheries. Women are very active in fish processing and marketing. In 1992, they were 6,000 involved in processing and 9,000 in marketing. In the far South of Thiès region, M'bour, with a 65km coastline, represents 25% of artisanal fisheries landings and about one thousand women are involved in fishing activities. The area benefits from favorable hydrologic conditions. It is the area on Senegal coastline which is the most full of fish and fishing is a permanent activity. Other factors such as the motorization since the 50s, the support of the State, easy navigation and fishermen's dynamism justify fisheries prosperity in M'bour. The fishing gears used are: purse seine, bottom net, beach seine, case, and even the line.
Women's activities in Mbour fishing community
Women do not play a leading role in fish production. At most they fund production means. However, they control the processing sector.
Numerous processing methods are used in M'bour. All methods involve drying:
- Fermentation with the Guedj (for average or big size species) and Yeet (for gastropod molluscs);
- Salting (Tambadiang) for small size species;
- Braising (Ketiah) for sardinella;
- Smoking (Metorah) for fat fish.
For the Tambadiang, Guedj and Yeet, women use men's workforce. Women processors employ a team of women huskers to help remove the scaly skin from the braised fish and grinders of the salt which will be used to sprinkle the fish.
Fresh fish marketing is another activity of women. As most of the fresh fish is intended for factories, inland regions and artisanal processing, M'Bour women are very active in fish trade and in the retailing of fisheries products through many intermediaries. For all of them, fishmongers, retailers and intermediaries, the work starts as soon as the fish is landed. The fish is sold in the market of M'bour, in Dakar and in surrounding markets.
Women's groups
Women are organized in associations according to their activity. The oldest association is "Mbotaye" where women get together on the basis of kinship, affinity or field of activity. They hayed developed a system of mutual savings bank, the "tontine". Tontines play an important role in controlling working capital.
But since 1986 new forms of associations have appeared, of which the Economic Interest Group (GIE) strongly recommended by the State. Depending on the type of activity, certain GIE have organised themselves into federations like, for instance, the National Federation of Women's Promotion Groups and the National Group of Senegalese Artisanal Fishermen. Within these organisations women generally have important responsibilities.
Once established, women professional associations are often supported by development assistance organizations and institutions. The main organisations providing a financial support are:
- the fisheries local administration;
- the community development office,
- the artisanal fisheries development project on Petite Côte;
- the artisanal fisheries assistance, experimentation and popularization centre;
- the research centre for the development of intermediary technologies in fisheries.
Incomes and their use
In addition to the variation of production costs, the non existence of a proper accountancy makes it difficult to determine a fixed income for women in the fishing community of M'Bour.
Except for huskers and grinders whose income is very low, women's annual income in other fishing activities varies between 500,000 and 2,000,000FCFA. This income is particularly high among women organised in GIEs. Anyway, 80% of the income is spent in priority on food. Other expenses are contributions to "tontines", clothing expenses, beauty care, ceremonies expenses, and child care.
Socio-professional relationships in the M'bour fishing community
Women's involvement in fishing activities, though recent, has brought a change in their relationships with men. The income they earn from their activities gives M'Bour women a relative financial autonomy. Sometimes a woman is the owner of a fishing unit that she manages including all its crew. In that case, she only depends on men when it comes to products needed for artisanal processing.
With factory workers, the relationships are often those of employee-employer. Generally, these relationships are based on competition and can create disputes.
Constraints and perspectives
Despite the important social role women play in the community, they face problems which hinder the development of their activities.
Although the GE appears an organization which can facilitate access to credit, there are no supervision, sensibilization and training structures in the fishing community of M'Bour. Moreover, the limited number of processing areas hinders fisheries development as well as the promotion of women's activities. The lack of warehouses limits processing capacity and is a problem during winter time. The precariousness of processing means affects the quality of fishery products. In addition, the lack of transportation means does not make distribution easy. Other difficulties are the complex credit granting conditions.
In order to face these problems, it is necessary for women to get together to establish additional infrastructures to expand the processing areas, train women in the use of techniques which guarantee quality products. The financing system should be improved and the interest rate lowered in order to make access to credit easier. The training of trainers is also essential because the skills of the trainers need to be reinforced. Finally, appropriate investments are required to improve the working environment.
CONCLUSION
Women's involvement in fisheries acitivities in M'bour can be strengthened by taking into consideration the suggestions above. As women's involvement in production is poor, measures should be taken to develop their management skill and improve processing and distribution techniques. This would ensure women's autonomy and responsibility in decision-making processes.
