Fishing businesses, women's entrepreneurship, and the performance of femininity

Abstract

Although recent work has examined how masculinities are performed through fishing work at sea, less research has focused on how femininities are performed in the gendered fisheries context. By focusing on a particular group of women in fisheries – the women entrepreneur – this study examines the performances of femininities in their entrepreneurialism. It explores whether women entrepreneurs can perform gender differently and, by effect, subvert the gender order in the fisheries context. I draw on Schippers' (2002, 2007) concepts of ‘gender hegemony’, ‘gender maneuvering’ and three forms of femininities: ‘hegemonic femininity’, ‘pariah femininity’ and ‘alternative femininity’. My research found that women's performances of femininities are multiple and versatile as women adapted their gender performances to varying situated, relational and spatial contexts. All women entrepreneurs performed a type of hegemonic femininity that supported, confirmed and upheld hegemonic masculinity. Yet, through their entrepreneurial work in male-dominated fishing spaces, women also performed a form of pariah femininity which incorporated many features of hegemonic masculinity – such as getting dirty and displaying strength. In food spaces, on the other hand, women performed a type of ‘alternative femininity’, predicated on being sociable, skilled in cooking and being service minded, which was not predicated on their subordination to that of masculinity. The wider significance of these findings is that women fisheries entrepreneurs maneuver their gender by adopting versatility in their gender performances. This versatility allows them to simultaneously be ‘good’ female partners of fisher-men and tough fish workers, whilst also carving out a space for themselves in food entrepreneurship which was more liberating, enjoyable and self-fulfilling.