Abstract
Collective action is recognized as a key element to successfully implementing sustainable fisheries. Nevertheless, gender equality, as an essential component in such actions, is often missing. In fisheries, women’s contributions are regularly invisible and remain unrepresented in statistics. In this paper, we examine the current status of women in Mexican fisheries based on governmental reports and programs, as well as five case studies from small-scale fishing communities. In practice, the government’s attempts at increasing participation and leadership of women in fisheries have been varied. This article documents how women’s roles are changing when collective actions are implemented to increase fisheries sustainability. Women as cooperative leaders, collaborative decision-makers, and entrepreneurs have become active promoters of good practices, including (1) fishery and ecosystem restoration, (2) environmental monitoring, and (3) marine conservation. Through these actions, women are also empowered in different ways. They have acquired resources (e.g., knowledge, opportunities) and decision-making power, facilitating project developments (e.g., research, cooperatives) that promote fisheries sustainability. Here, we highlight elements that contribute toward empowering women in small-scale fisheries in these five contexts, with applicability elsewhere. These elements include access to role models, such as female scientists leading environmental monitoring; the support of civil society organizations; and a willingness, by men and women, to learn and change the status quo.
Highlights
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations emphasizes in their Voluntary Guidelines for Small-Scale Fisheries (FAO 2015) that gender equality
Women and men are equal in the eyes of the law Guarantees equal opportunities in policies, programs, projects, and instruments Orders that any planning for the national development and public federal administration has to be based on equality of rights between women and men Establishes that in the programming, budgeting, approval, exercise, control, and evaluation of federal income and public expenditures the administration of resources is carried out with accountability and gender equality, among other criteria Guarantees a life with equal opportunities and without violence for women
We will examine the impact of Comunidad y Biodiversidad (COBI)’s actions aimed at increasing the roles and participation of women in conservation and sustainable fisheries through the lens of empowerment developed by Kabeer (1999), and how this supported collective action and gender equality
Summary
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations emphasizes in their Voluntary Guidelines for Small-Scale Fisheries (FAO 2015) that gender equality. The low number of recognized female roles and contributions is one factor driving the exclusion of women in fisheries management decision-making processes It is the focus on women and gender equality that is missing, and a stronger focus on knowledge, vision, fairness, governance gender balance, and creative solutions to addressing marine environmental issues through collective action initiatives. There are general policies in Mexico to promote women’s empowerment and to achieve gender equality in the daily life of the country (Table 1) These policies were a cross-cutting strategy of the National Development Plan 2013–2018 (Gobierno de la Republica 2013), which reflected the implementation of gender mainstreaming strategies proposed by the United Nations (UN) at the 1995 Beijing Women’s Conference. This is an issue that needs to be systematically assessed in the context of Mexican fisheries
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