International Women’s Day | Fishing for gender equality in a COVID-19 world
Women are often underrepresented in official statistics, potentially undermining their access to social protection programmes or resulting in their marginalization in decision-making processes (SOMFI 2020).
This year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) falls at a time where women across the globe are being disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fisheries and aquaculture sectors have been particularly affected by the crisis. Although the data are limited, a significant amount of the workforce in these sectors is comprised of women. Most women carry out non-vessel based activities, including gleaning, processing and marketing, but the number of women in leadership positions is low.
The women in these sectors have had to bear the brunt of the economic impacts of COVID-19 and are further exposed to the virus in their essential roles. In addition to their employment commitments, the majority of women have taken up a disproportionate amount of domestic work and unpaid care. This is rolling back the progress that has been made towards gender equality and economic security for women.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the essential role of women in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors has been downplayed. However, women have been findings ways to uplift each other for years.
For example, Morocco has established structured landing sites (called “points de débarquement aménagés” or “PDAs”) in order to improve both the working and social conditions of small-scale fishers. These PDAs provide a space for fishers, where they can store fishing equipment, conduct meetings, sell fish products and use the space for their personal needs.