Themes
Promoting women's participation in fisheries management
| Women have traditionally been marginalised within the male-dominated fishing sector in Uganda. However, women play a critical role in poverty reduction within households and in natural resource management, and therefore must be targeted for support for effective poverty reduction within fisheries communities. Empowerment through access to decision-making and fishing boat licences are two mechanisms through which the livelihoods of women in fisheries communities have been improved. |
Creating enabling policies and laws for women
Women have traditionally benefited less than men from access to capture fisheries. It is not culturally acceptable in most places in Uganda for women to fish in the open water and men are far more likely to own boats than women. Increasing access to, and benefits from, the fishery to women is essential for tackling intra-household poverty, as women are generally responsible for feeding the family and are more likely to use increased income on family needs.
Women in lake dependent communities have traditionally had a limited voice on how the resources are managed. With over-fishing on the lakes of Uganda, the Department of Fisheries Resources (DFR) has been keen to involve women in the sustainable management of lake resources. Reforms have created a legal requirement for community involvement in resource management, through the creation of BMUs and LMOs, and ensure that women are able to participate in this process. This has potential for reducing the poverty of women and their households in fishing communities.
Key components to promote the role of women in fisheries through the ILM approach include:
- Creating enabling policies and laws for women: Providing a policy and legal framework for the increased participation of women in managing and accessing fisheries resources provides a solid basis for gender-equity.
- Increasing representation of women on decision-making bodies: Women are particularly vulnerable to the social poverty of powerlessness and voicelessness. ILM addressed this issue by lobbying for legal allocations of places for women in key decision-making structures of management institutions.
- Increasing access to fisheries through fishing boat licensing: Women can own a boat and a licence, and hire boat crew. Increasing the number of women who benefit from boat licences requires awareness raising, empowerment and access to savings and credit.
- Improving capacities and confidence: Awareness raising and capacity building of women is important to ensure that they are aware of their legal rights and have the confidence to participate in decision-making.
- Improving governance for gender equity: Systems of transparency and good governance both support the participation of women and ensure that women are legally empowered to bring the institutions and processes to account.
| Click here for full chapter | Click here for full report |
