WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • SEPTEMBER 2013 15 (CONTINUED ON PAGE 14) levels and reduced salinity. Farmers are aware of the changes and ongoing research is being targeted at involving the whole family unit in finding solutions for mitigation and adaptation, both in fish farming and non-farming activities, such as making batik. More women tend to work in fish processing and trade than in other parts of the fish supply chain and changes in these parts of the supply chain, of minor and major magnitude, bring about gendered change. In Japan’s oyster industry, young and elderly local women and elderly men have long supplied most of the labor for oyster shucking and this has kept small family farms viable, especially in the main farming area around the Seto Inland Sea. But the industry is now undergoing many changes. Kumi Soejima’s prizewinning case study in Oku town, Okayama Prefecture showed how the small change of allowing enterprises to bring in young Chinese women had far reaching positive and negative impacts. Many local young women and elderly people lost the jobs that gave them a sense of purpose. The oyster businesses tended to take different pathways. Some stagnated when they stayed with tradition and others grew and diversified their oyster products. Some women in oyster-farming families, once freed from the shucking labor, became more active and entrepreneurial in family enterprises. Among the massive changes in the Japanese oyster industry, the gender changes are significant, complex but little studied and remedial action to assist those affected, especially the elderly, are not happening. Major aquaculture developments such as shrimp farming also generate major post-harvest processing enterprises. Mohammad Nuruzzaman examined the social justice issues and rights of 50,000 workers (80 percent of them women) in 90 shrimp and prawn processing factories in Bangladesh. The processing sector has been subjected to local and international protests over labor and human rights issues. To overcome these problems and spurred by EU and US trade sanctions, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) partnered with the Bangladesh government and export companies in developing manuals, training on labor laws and their implementation, assessing compliance and finding out more about conditions of workers. Although progress is being made, much more is needed. Many top executives are not yet on board and much of the processing is done by contract labor because product flow is not constant. Men continue to fare better than women in the workplace. New trade unions show modest promise of redressing female and male workers’ injustices in fish processing workplaces. However, the export sector is under pressure to keep costs low to remain profitable and so existing pressures on the labor force will continue and likely escalate. However, different parties see women’s labor conditions in different lights and, to illustrate this, Nuruzzaman presented three viewpoints — the patriarchal, the feminist and the neutral views (see table at right). Each of these views has a degree of truth but each also misses key points. A Great Diversity of Gender Assets and Roles To illustrate the great heterogeneity of spaces, assets and roles in aquaculture, presentations from India, Malaysia, Philippines, and Nepal explored these, particularly for women. The Indian oyster (Crassostrea madrasensis) seems to have good potential for culture based on natural spatfall. A project in the coastal community of Moothakunnam in Ernakulam District, Kerala, by Femeena Hassan and colleagues worked with women’s Self Help Groups (SHG) to test socio-technical extension. The district has a high ratio of women to men but many women are not involved in the economy directly. The SHG’s were trained in rack and string (ren) culture farming, the techniques and importance of depuration and hygienic post-harvest processing, including value-added and long-life products. The enterprises were profitable but, as they become more successful, will women still be able to retain control? At GAF3, Ramchandran reported that success with women’s culture of mussels in Kerala resulted in the takeover of many sites by men and women found that their rights were not protected. In Malaysia, Zumilah Zainallaluddin and her colleagues explored wives’ and husbands’ perceptions of their roles and responsibilities in pond and cage aquaculture enterprises in Kuala Besut, Terengganu, Malaysia. Spouses tended to carry the same views on who did what at home, but held different views with respect to aquaculture roles. Up to 22 percent of women reported contributions to cage and pond culture activities but only one husband (out of 51) recognized his wife’s work in the cage culture activities and none recognized the women’s contributions in pond culture. Sunila Rai reported on polyculture of carp and small indigeneous species (SIS) taken up by women farmers involved in projects, predominantly of the Tharu ethnic group from the foothills of the Himalayas. The SIS (14 percent of production) were grown mainly for household consumption because of their high vitamin A and iron levels and the six species of carp for sale. Biotechnical problems had to be solved early in the project in Chitwan and Kailali districts. Impact studies found that farmers consumed nearly half their production, making their fish consumption about twice the national average. In addition Patriarchs’ View • Jobs have been created • Status of workers has escalated both in the family and in society • Thousands of other people are still unemployed • The workers can enjoy their spending • The workers take part in decision making in their families Feminist’s View • Women experience strong discrimination • Women are deprived of rights & benefits • Gender opportunities are unequal • Violence is happening against women at work Neutral View • Women’s practical gender needs are being met • Good work space is created • The understanding of strategic gender needs is increasing Source: Md. Nuruzzaman
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