Women in fish farming and gender perspectives

Gender justice has come to light in context of participation of both man and women in developmental activities in social, economical and political spheres. Statistics shows that farm women’s working hours in the field amounts to 2250 hours per year while work at home amounts to 1,664 hours per year. An FAO survey reveals that 42% of women in 82 developing countries are engaged in farming in all sectors. In fish farming, women are actively involved in production and other important activities like catching, cleaning, processing, peeling, drying, fish marketing etc. Besides women play significant role in fish culture activities like pond excavation, feeding, making feed-mix, cleaning ponds and guarding the ponds during day time. Women self help groups (WSHG) and co-operatives must be developed for successful operation and popularization of fishery activities. NGO’s should take up various programmes focusing on gender based issues in aquaculture involving women in diverse activities. Key words: Women, fishery activities, gender.