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Gender is important because men and women often perform different tasks within fish value chains, and have different assets, skills, experience, knowledge and decision-making roles. However, the invisibility of women’s roles in official fisheries and aquaculture statistics, coupled with the negative impacts of gender-blind policies, leave women facing discrimination and marginalization within the sector. Modern small-scale fisheries using improved technologies (such as motor engines, modern navigation and communication equipment, and processing and cold storage facilities) and meeting international food safety standards can produce high-quality, high-value products for export markets. However, these new technologies have targeted male fishers, while much less attention has been given to increasing women’s access to productivity-enhancing innovations in capture fisheries (where women predominate), in order to improve the overall productivity and quality of products in small-scale processing and marketing. (Read more on this in FAO's publication: Good practice policies to eliminate gender inequalities in fish value chains)

Cold storage offers business opportunities for women in terms of investment into the cold chain activities and, in some situations, cold storage is important in terms of providing steady access to raw material for women traders and processors who sell and process frozen fish.  Non gender bias policies and implementation processes are required to give equal access to productive resources (cold store technology), credit, skills and knowledge, and market access so that both men and women are able to perform optimally in terms of producing and selling quality, food safe products and minimize food loss and waste (FLW).