Gender and small-scale fisheries: Contribution to livelihood and local economies

Abstract

Paramount comprehension of gender roles in fisheries is essential to value the often-concealed role that women play in fisheries and households. We examine the women’s contribution to household income and livelihood security using the qualitative data collected through random sampling from 58 fishers – 24 women and 34 men – in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh, India. Mann-Whitney U test and Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) was applied to check the significant difference between two groups – men and women – based on 24 variables under three categories namely socio-personal, socio-economic and socio-psychological. Results of these test revealed that age, annual income, and decision-making behavior were significantly (P < 0.05) higher for women compared to men. The eigen value 1.20 showed the percentage of variance; the proportion of discriminating ability were statistically significant (Wilks’s lambda =0.455, Chi-square = 35.09, P < 0.05) between men and women in a given function. Data of the present study shows that, there is disparity existing between the men and women respondents that could be addressed through suitable policy interventions. Further, the study calls for a gender wise quantification on the different roles played by men and women, because it has a profound implication for better fisheries management, livelihood and development policies