Inclusive development from a gender perspective in small scale fisheries

- Millions of women engage in small scale fisheries sector; but invisible.
- Social exclusion occurs without accommodating and valuing women's contribution.
- Gendered discrimination takes different forms in small scale fisheries.
- Women empowerment and gender responsive policies are demanding.
- Meaningful gendered analysis is critical for inclusive development in marginalized communities.

Gender inequality and discrimination challenges the social economic and environmental sustainability of the global small-scale fisheries sector critically in achieving inclusive development. The absence of a gender-aware perspective in fisheries research is often justified from the premise that fisheries are a male-dominated sector. Although, millions of women are engaged in small-scale fisheries their work has been systematically discounted and devalued. This paper reviews the gender literature on small-scale fisheries to elaborate on the gender discrimination on; labor division, accessibility, and power relations, which hinder the sustainability and development process in marginalized communities. Ironically, women often contribute to such discriminatory processes in access and control of resources and decision making thus directly affecting on household and community wellbeing. The paper concludes that gender sensitive research can help to ensure that the conditions for achieving the sustainable development goals are met especially in the context of expected global stress on fisheries from climate change and development processes.