This article explores the changing roles of women and the deterioration of their livelihoods caused by globalization, especially in the export-oriented Nile Perch fisheries of Lak Victoria, Tanzania. There might be significant reduction of women working in this sector caused by the entry of wholesale merchants with the technological and capital capability of delivering the processing standards required for international trade against whom women entrepreneurs have to compete. While women are employed in the processing sector, they tend to be absorbed in low status and poorly paid work, often related to reproductive labour, such as laundry, sweeping and cleaning. In contrast, men occupy highly paid jobs involving procurement, quality control, engineering, supervision and so on. Often women’s work is informal with long and irregular working hours that preclude family commitments.