This essay is based on the field enquires of the author in Kiribati, Maldives and Southwest India. The author points out that the greater role that Kiribati fisherwomen have in fishing and fish processing creates greater potential for self-reliant development in artisanal fisheries when compared with the women in the other two communities, whose roles in the sector and community are more circumscribed. She looks at the overall contribution that Kiribati fisherwomen make to the fisheries sector as well as within the household, in the context of changing markets from subsistence to cash economies. She also outlines the traditional fishing and fish processing techniques that they use.