Declining Participation of Women in Kerala’s Fisheries Sector: A Case Study from Chellanam Village

The fisheries sector contributes significantly to the livelihood of more than one lakh fisher families in Kerala. A gender-based analysis reveals that a significant number of women are engaged in the secondary sector of marine fisheries for both subsistence and additional income generation. Women actively participate in small-scale and artisanal fisheries particularly through post-harvest activities such as fish processing, peeling, and marketing. However, over the decades, there has been a gradual decline in the participation of women labourers in the sector. The specific objective of the present study is to identify the factors that contribute to this progressive decline of women labour as well as to explore the future opportunities for gender mainstreaming. Data was collected through individual interviews with 33 randomly selected fisher women from the fishing village of Chellanam using semi-structured interview schedule. A SWOT analysis was conducted to identify socio-economic factors affecting women’s representation and employment prospects in the sector. The findings suggest that although the resources were limited in earlier periods also, the older age group (now above 50) made maximum use of the available fishery resources which they marketed or traditionally processed and provided financial support to the family, and participation among younger women has declined. The major socio-economic factors that significantly contributed to the gradual decline of young women workforce in this sector were identified as the educational and economic progress of the fishing community, changes in the perspective of social status, lack of interest, lower wages, drudgery, lack of financial assistance for setting up and running businesses and inadequate technical assistance. In addition to the primary factors, marketing issues, changes in food safety regimes, personal health issues, poor access to landing centres and climate-related changes were identified as secondary factors. The study further highlights the strengths within the communities and explores future opportunities through gender main-streaming.