Food loss is a gender issue
Although one worker in two in fisheries and aquaculture is a woman, women are invisible in the industry and their work unrecognized and under-estimated.
A woman sells smoked fish at a market in Cote d’Ivoire. ©FAO/Sia Kambou
Both gender and food loss issues are well studied, but the link between them has often been overlooked. In Africa’s fisheries value chains in particular, gender relations are a primary factor in the social and economic context that shapes their functioning. They influence labour division, roles, and responsibilities and create disparities and inequalities in access to and control over resources, services, knowledge, and technologies. Gender therefore affects the value chain's overall efficiency and, consequently, food losses.
Experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently met with representatives from the African Women Fish Processors and Traders Network (AWFISHNET), the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and WorldFish for a virtual dialogue on further understanding the link between food loss and gender equality in African fisheries value chains.
In his opening remarks, Manuel Barange, Director of the FAO Fisheries Division, said that tackling gender inequality and its relationship with food loss in small-scale African fish value chains is “a development priority. It requires a multi-stakeholder approach, involving small-scale value chain actors, development partners, and all those who can make a difference".
He also urged participants to adopt a gender lens in analyzing the economic, social and environmental impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in fishery and aquaculture value-chains and said, “it is fundamental that such gender lenses become an integral part of ‘the new normal’ imposed by COVID-19".