The workshop aimed to build on the first Women in Fisheries Workshop, facilitated by Masifundise and supported by ICSF in April 2008 in Simonstown . At this women-only workshop, 35 women leaders came together to analyze the new draft small-scale fisheries policy proposals through a ‘gendered lens’. The drafting of the new policy emerged from a lengthy ten-year process of struggle for women and men from small-scale fishing communities. Following the election of the first democratic government in South Africa in 1994, new fisheries policy and legislation were developed. While purporting to facilitate transformation in the industry and to promote equitable access to marine resources, the policy regime favoured large and medium commercial enterprises, and failed to accommodate traditional, small-scale fishing communities
