March 8, 2019 — International Women’s Day, on 8 March, has become the day of the year to highlight what women do and review progress. Some workplaces have joined in celebrating this day, featuring heartening commitments to gender equality. But it is also frequent to see in the workplace the omission, forgetfulness, or ignorance of what this day commemorates: the international day of women’s rights. We are living in a historic moment where the fact that women still participate in society and in the labour market on an unequal footing with men is more topical than ever. The seafood sector, in which at least 100 million women participate but wield little authority, is, like other male-dominated industry sectors, a fertile environment for reform.

Seeking to achieve gender equality and to set up a gender agenda that recognizes and empowers women in the seafood industry, many institutions and organizations in the fishing and aquaculture sector globally have organized. While this is an important step, we still need the participation of all relevant seafood actors for real change. Today, we want to call attention and ask the seafood community, private as well as public, to engage more actively in achieving true gender equality.

Where are the women?

The seafood industry is clearly women intensive but male-dominated. Female workers are consistently over-represented in low-skilled, low-paid, low-valued positions, while men dominate the power positions. Women account for more than 15 percent of all those directly engaged in the fisheries primary sector, with the percentage exceeding 20 percent in inland-water fisheries; they dominate in the labor-intensive processing industry, representing 85 percent to 90 percent of the total workforce worldwide, play a crucial role in aquaculture, with some 30 percent in salmon farming in Chile, 50 percent in Zambia, and 72 percent in Asia. By contrast, the other end of the value chain is the realm of men, with 99 percent of CEOs, 90 percent of board members and leaders of professional organizations being men.

Participation and visibility

So far, those who have been supporting and working for the visibility of women in this industry and the improvement of their working conditions have been organizations (NGOs and associations) and some trade unions. Among them, the following stand out for example: Women In Seafood Australasia (WISA) which works to build the capacity of women to achieve impact in the development and growth of the seafood industry; the Fisherwomen’s Group of Saga City (Japan), which seeks to process value-added seaweed products, is separated from the local cooperative because women in mainstream cooperatives have low status, whereas women in their own groups and businesses have prospered in farming and creating and marketing new value added products; and the Central Fish Processors Association in Barbados, which represents mainly women processors of flying fish, has succeeded in securing a dedicated working area in the market to make members’ jobs more efficient.

On the research front, the Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Section of the Asian Fisheries Society held every second year a global conference. The “Expanding our Horizons” conference held in October 2018, showcased new and better research methods that empower women, how new technologies can boost women’s productivity, such as tubular nets for seaweed production in Zanzibar, and growing action by women’s groups.

In recent years, female professionals are being made even more visible in the seafood media, although often still confined to the section “women in seafood” or “woman of the month.” Initiatives that increase the visibility of women showcasing the diversity and the importance of the role that they play in the industry deserve to be underlined, celebrated, and replicated in workplaces! And this is happening. For the first time in 2019, gender discussions will feature in worldwide seafood shows (Seafood Expo North America in Boston, Massachusetts in March 2019, and Seafood Expo Global Brussels, Belgium in May 2019).

In an effort to bring together stakeholders, the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries held a worldwide congress in November 2018 for and about women in fisheries. The highlight of this event – attended by 200 professionals- was the signature by several countries and organizations of a strongly engaged document, “The Santiago de Compostella declaration for Equal Opportunities in the Fisheries and Aquaculture Sectors,” which included 11 detailed recommendations. Aiming to install a gender agenda for the seafood stakeholders, this event is intended to be held every year: Morocco, signatory of this declaration, has announced to host the second worldwide Women in Fisheries congress in 2020.

Recently, large private companies are claiming their commitment to gender equality by highlighting the existence of their women’s networks. In June 2018, Nueva Pescanova group, Europe’s largest fishing and fish processing company, created WIP (Women in Pescanova) to boost the visibility of women, improve working conditions, integration and promotion practices, and support female talent. The Salmon Industry Association of Chile (SalmonChile) has created a working group with the objective of increasing the participation of women in the industry, aiming at gender equity and advancing in the management and identification of gaps. Women in Fisheries is a group of women from Ireland, formed in 2018, to provide a voice and a forum for women from all sectors of their industry.

Read the full opinion piece at Seafood Source