The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) has released the latest edition of Yemaya, its newsletter on gender and fisheries.
Yemaya No. 58, dated December 2018, features articles from Kenya, Mexico, India, and an analytical article on gender inequalities in the seafood industry. The editorial comment calls for gender mainstreaming throughout the fisheries sector. The article on Kenya by Irene Ojuok and Philemon Bwanawoy throws light on the new initiatives developing in the context of declining resources in Kenya. Women are entering in new roles along the value chain and they no longer have to engage in jaboya, thanks to new income-generating projects.
Carmen Pedroza Gutierrez, in her article, narrates the experience of Alejandra and Maria Elena from Mexico’s Lake Chapala and examines how women fishers are excluded from the support net of social security measures or benefits and how vulnerable their life is without any legal recognition. The article from India by Holly Hapke looks at how the mechanization in fishing and retrieving catch using mechanical propulsion led to greater centralization of fish landings and the impact on women fish traders. The centralization of landings has created competition from men fish traders too.
Marie Christine Monfort, in her article on a survey among male and female seafood professionals to elicit their view about the situation of women in the fishing industry, argue that situations of inequality have been reported from all parts of the world, with the exception of Scandinavia. The seafood professionals from this region rank Denmark, Iceland and Norway as the top countries closest to gender equality.
In her review of the Cambodian film, “Give Woman a Fish”, Kyoko Kusakabe describes the challenges women fishers face in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake. The lake provides 60% of Cambodia’s annual fish catch and is the source of livelihood for 1.5 mn people. The film describes how a successful project supported by a women’s group to upgrade their fish processing techniques, introduced savings and helped to diversify livelihoods.
A profile of Sonia Medina Matarrita, a fisherwoman from Isla Venado, Costa Rica, by Vivienne Solis Rivers narrates the story of how under Sonia’s leadership, the Venado Island fishers association got involved in the implementation of responsible fishing in the Marine Responsible Fishing Area of the island.
The Milestones column features a declaration on the urgent need to guarantee the social protection and safety of workers (women and men) in the sector. The declaration calls our attention to provide professional dignity to fishers’ activity so that it can be considered “decent work”, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO) definition. The declaration states that it is necessary to improve the working conditions of women within the sector, to fight against the informality and precariousness of women’s work segregation, both horizontally and vertically, and to address the wage gap and barriers that hinder the reconciliation of work, family and personal life.
The What’s New, Webby? column presents the details of a new women-in-fisheries project which examines how women contribute to the survival of both fishing families and the fishing industry.
The current issue of Yemaya also carries the ever-popular cartoon strip, “Yemaya Mama”.
Yemaya No. 58, dated December 2018, can be accessed at:
https://icsf.net/en/yemaya/article/EN/58.html?limitstart=0
For more, please visit icsf.net
2018 ICSF