SDG 5: Gender Equality

This guide provides an overview of the unique roles and contributions women make in the wild-caught fisheries sector. The guide also explains how persistent gender inequalities limit women’s economic empowerment, and increased risks of gender-based violence negatively impact the potential of women to thrive and contribute towards strong economies.

This brief helps facilitators use, reflect on, and adapt gender-inclusive strategies in their work with communities.

How are enterprises and NGOs in rural Kenya addressing poor people’s needs for energy that helps them earn a living? This paper looks at what new solar start-ups are doing to promote productive energy use in the fishing, agriculture and service sectors. It asks what specific productive energy needs the projects are targeting — such as cold storage for fish caught in Lake Victoria — and how they address the various barriers that prevent communities from fulfilling those needs. The six case studies include microgrids, irrigation pumps and multi-service energy hubs.

This training material is a facilitator guide for peer to peer learning on better management practices for post-harvest handling and trading of fresh fish.

El diseño de la guía práctica para la elaboración de proyectos tiene como objetivo el fortalecimiento de capacidades de las comunidades pesqueras. Esta herramienta propicia la autogestión de proyectos de conservación y pesca sostenible. A su vez se busca fomentar la corresponsabilidad en el manejo y gestión de recursos económicos en las comunidades para que éstos sean dirigidos a la resiliencia y la sostenibilidad, así como a la transferencia del conocimiento.

This report provides a baseline analysis of women’s economic empowerment in the fisheries sector in the blue economy of the Indian Ocean rim region. The report focuses on the 22 Member States of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and includes both marine and inland fisheries and aquaculture sectors.

The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) were adopted by member countries of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and were officially approved as an international instrument in June 2014. Tis document is only a summation of the contents of the Guidelines.

The contributions of women to fisheries are often invisible, ignored, and unrecognized even though they represent 47% of the global fisheries workforce, especially in pre- and post-production activities. Poor data systems lead to incorrect assumptions about the gender division of labor in fisheries. This causes the role of women in fisheries to be overlooked. To evaluate the contribution of women in the value chain, a participatory methodology was implemented in three small-scale, fisheries in Mexico: California spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus) fishery from the northern Mexican Pacific, penshell (Atrina maura) fishery from the Gulf of California, and Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) fishery from the Mesoamerican Reef region.

Este manual sistematiza las fases del programa de liderazgo comunitario a lo largo de dos generaciones (2013-2019). El tejido social y la preservación del medio ambiente son factores indivisibles si se quiere trabajar en aras de la sostenibilidad. De este modo, quienes lideran han vivido momentos clave de crecimiento personal, que se han plasmado en el desarrollo de iniciativas comunitarias basadas en el bien común, la inclusión, la diversidad y la igualdad de género

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.

Taking into account the economic importance of this sector for small-scale producers, as well as its high degree of vulnerability, the aim of this report is to give an overview of the current state of social protection and challenges facing small-scale fishers and fish farmers in Latin America and the Caribbean. It analyses the social protection needs of this population segment, the main social protection programs in the region, and proposes a roadmap with public policy recommendations to promote adequate social protection.

Marine Tenure and Small-scale Fisheries: A Sourcebook of Good Practices and Emerging Themes (Sourcebook) draws on findings from scholarly research, policy documents, development projects, and publications by development practitioners, researchers, and nongovernmental organizations to explore good practices and emerging themes in marine tenure and small-scale fisheries.

The Monterey Framework is a collectively agreed-upon definition of socially responsible seafood with input and backing from over two-dozen environmental and human rights organizations and voluntary commitments from an equal number of seafood businesses.

This handbook is designed to give practical guidance on improving gender and social inclusion in coastal fisheries and aquaculture for staff working in fisheries agencies in Pacific Island countries and territories. It focuses on the responsibilities of Pacific Island governments to help promote sustainable development outcomes for all people relying on coastal fisheries and aquaculture for their livelihoods.

Summary of recommendations for the revision of Ghana’s Fisheries Act

This report examines traditional management and tenure arrangements in the clam fishery of the Volta river estuary and provides recommendations for ensuring the sustainability of the clam fishery, which is critical for local livelihoods and food security.

The Monterey Framework is a collectively agreed-upon definition of socially responsible seafood with input and backing from over two-dozen environmental and human rights organizations and voluntary commitments from an equal number of seafood businesses.

Women play crucial roles in small-scale fisheries, yet their contributions are largely invisible, often ignored and unrecognized. This study conducted household and focus group surveys to examine the role of indigenous Fijian (iTaukei) women in SSF, documenting fishing practices and contributions to household food security and income.

This document, Towards Gender-Equitable Small-Scale Fisheries – A handbook In support of the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (henceforth the “handbook”), was developed to support gender-equitable small-scale fisheries by enhancing the understanding of their gender dimensions, with a focus on the specific role and conditions of women in the small-scale fisheries sector.

This document, Legislating for Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries – A guide and considerations for implementing aspects of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication in National Legislation, is a tool for States to strengthen their fisheries legislation in order to establish conditions for inclusive and sustainable small-scale fisheries development, taking into account the interrelatedness of social, economic and environmental sustainability, while focusing on marginalized groups.

Este libro da cuenta de los retos que pescadores y pescadoras de México y Cuba afrontan frente al cambio climático: el cambio en sus artes de pesca, el conocimiento que tienen sobre los cambios que han sufrido los ecosistemas y el clima –desde la perspectiva de varias generaciones atrás en contraste con la generación actual, así como los cambios climáticos locales que son periódicos, como “El Niño”-, de las formas de organización social, de la participación de las pescadoras en la ciencia ciudadana y también, de los cambios que como científicos y científicas hacemos a nuestros marcos teóricos y a las bases de datos para el análisis de especies y capturas. En fin, cada vez es más evidente que la multidisciplina es una necesidad creciente para entender los problemas complejos, y la relación entre cambio climático, pescadores-pescadoras y pesquerías no es la excepción.