2012 06-22 ngf mekong afs and naca

Cambodia. Photo: Heng Ponley, Kaing Khim MERYL J WILLIAMS @ Mekong Network for Gender in Fisheries 13th Annual Meeting Nong Khai, Thailand 22 June 2012 REFLECTIONS ON GENDER IN AQUACULTURE AND FISHERIES

Outline NACA and AFS gender activities  Some factual background Reflections on the gender and fisheries timeline  Some personal views and observations

NACA gender actionNetwork of Aquaculture Centres in Asia- Pacific 2012 NACA Council decision* 2010 Sustaining aquaculture by developing human capacity and enhancing opportunities for women – chapter in Global Conference on Aquaculture (with FAO, proceedings published 2012)***http://www.enaca.org/modules/news/article.php?article_id=19 38**http://genderaquafish.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/2012-fao- naca-gca-procs-expert-panel-6-3-chapter-titles.pdf

Putting Gender on the Programme of theNetwork of Aquaculture Centres in Asia NACA vision, core activities suggest that gender should be included  NACA is an inter-governmental body – obligations to address gender equity  Women and men are important in sustainable rural aquaculture  Gender is an important dimension of all core activities (capacity building, R&d, policy guidelines, fish health and genetics)

What could NACA do? Systematically integrate gender into partnership activities Stimulate partners to undertake gender and aquaculture R&D Generate and disseminate new evidence on gender and aquaculture for policy and practice Mainstream gender in the Secretariat culture  This will include developing staff capacity on gender and getting gender expertise on board

AFS gender action Asian Fisheries Society gender action was inspired by the 1994 Cambodia and 1996 Mekong seminars, and the 1995, 1998 and 2001 WIF photo competitions (supported by PADEK) Dr M.C. Nandeesha was the instigator Photo: MRC “Catch and Culture” newsletter 1996: Participants at the: Seminar on the Role of Women in Fisheries in Indo-China Countries , Phnom Penh, 6-8 March 1996.

Five symposia on women/gender1998: Asian WIF (Chiang Mai)2001: Global WIF (Kaohsiung)2004: Global GAF (Penang)2007: 2nd Global GAF (Kochi)2011: 3rd Global GAF (Shanghai)

More AFS gender action Website http://genderaquafish.org/  GAF symposia materials  Glossary of terms  Posts on  Research resources  New reports, studies  News, events Facebook page  Alerts to posts  Additional links, interactions, notices Google Group  News items, alerts  Options for discussion EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO JOIN AND CONTRIBUTE!

Influence and impacts Reach to experts globally is growing Networks, organizations, researchers use the social media outlets Slowly improving the quality of research papers (peer review) First to break the news of high HIV/AIDS rates in fishing communities (2001 symposium)

Milestones on gender and fisheriesREFLECTING . . . . . . . .

Convention on Elimination of Discrimination 1975-9 Against Women 1975- -1982 NACA starts as a project 1980-4 -1984 Asian Fisheries Soc. formed 1985-9 Rio Conference 1992- 1990-4 -1990 NACA created as an IGOCode of Conduct for Responsible Fish. 1995- -1996 Seminar on Indochina WIF 1995-9 Beijing (CEDAW+20) 1995- -1998 Asian WIF -2000 Mekong NGF formed Millennium Development Goals 2000- 2000-4 -2001 Global WIF -2004 Global GAF 2005-9 -2007 GAF2 -2010 Global Conf. on AquacultureFAO State of Food and Agric. (women) 2011- 2010-4 -2011 GAF3; FAO Special Workshop Rio+20 Conference 2012- -2012 NACA adopts gender statement CCRF+20 2015- 2015-9 -2013 GAF4 CEDAW+40 2015- GENDER, FISHERIES EVENTS GENDER AND FISHERIES EVENTS

Reflections on the timeline1. Attention to gender in aquaculture and fisheries goes up and down over time2. Gender ≠ women!3. Gender-sensitive actions are complex in concept and practice

Convention on Elimination of Discrimination 1975-9 Against Women 1975- -1982 NACA starts as a project 1980-4 -1984 Asian Fisheries Soc. formed -1987 FAO Women in Aquaculture conf. 1985-9 -1986 ALCOM project starts Rio Conference 1992- 1990-4 -1990 NACA created as an IGOCode of Conduct for Responsible Fish. 1995- -1996 Seminar on Indochina WIF 1995-9 Beijing (CEDAW+20) 1995- -1998 Asian WIF -2000 Mekong NGF formed Millennium Development Goals 2000- 2000-4 -2001 Global WIF -2004 Global GAF 2005-9 -2007 GAF2 -2010 Global Conf. on AquacultureFAO State of Food and Agric. (women) 2011- 2010-4 -2011 GAF3; FAO Special Workshop Rio+20 Conference 2012- -2012 NACA adopts gender statement CCRF+20 2015- 2015-9 -2013 GAF4 CEDAW+40 2015- GENDER, FISHERIES EVENTS GENDER AND FISHERIES EVENTS

Interest in gender - up and downTracing gender interpretations (1980s and 1990s)  HQ (FAO, donors)  Simple principles/tools vs inherent complexities  Data for development vs feminist knowledge  Lip service only to new approaches, policies Regional project (ALCOM)  Demands for project impact vs HQ/donor requirements  Collection of gendered data “safe” Pilot field projects  Enrolling women as the “simple” solution proves ineffective for all parties Gender is not just women; men’s gender identities need changing  Feminists often resist involving men too  Men with organizational power often think only women can work on “gender” issues  Nothing changes, the attempts wither away

Convention on Elimination of Discrimination 1975-9 Against Women 1975- -1982 NACA starts as a project 1980-4 -1984 Asian Fisheries Soc. formed -1987 FAO Women in Aquaculture conf. 1985-9 -1986 ALCOM project starts Rio Conference 1992- 1990-4 -1990 NACA created as an IGOCode of Conduct for Responsible Fish. 1995- -1996 Seminar on Indochina WIF 1995-9 Beijing (CEDAW+20) 1995- -1998 Asian WIF -2000 Mekong NGF formed Millennium Development Goals 2000- 2000-4 -2001 Global WIF -2004 Global GAF 2005-9 -2007 GAF2 -2010 Global Conf. on AquacultureFAO State of Food and Agric. (women) 2011- 2010-4 -2011 GAF3; FAO Special Workshop Rio+20 Conference 2012- -2012 NACA adopts gender statement CCRF+20 2015- 2015-9 -2013 GAF4 CEDAW+40 2015- GENDER, FISHERIES EVENTS GENDER AND FISHERIES EVENTS

Interest in gender – up and down  When interest is down . . .  Funding dries up  Experts become disheartened (especially if their advice was not used), and  They go to other fields, e.g., climate change  Gender and fisheries/aquaculture does not progress  When interest is up . . .  Leaders are not ready and don’t know what to do  The search for (too) simple approaches starts again?  How can we break the cycle?

Gender ≠ Women Typical “solutions” are  Involving women in the activities and developing women-only projects  Collecting gendered data, undertaking gender analysis – but not acting on the findings The problems with the “solutions”  More activities for women may just create greater burdens, e.g., if gender relations are unchanged  Focusing only on women ignores men’s gender identities that are important elements  Gender-sensitive practices require changes in power relations between parties – difficult!

Towards gender-sensitive practices  Households are differentiated, not unitary  Look at  fisheries as a system, and  aquaculture as a household economic production activity  Gender studies are not based on a single discipline  Need better conceptual frameworks  Strong social science is needed  Other social variables such as class, race, religion, age define and condition gender relations  Aquaculture and fisheries experts need Gender 101 education! [Based on the Guest Editorial from the GAF3 Special Issue]

Convention on Elimination of Discrimination 1975-9 Against Women 1975- -1982 NACA starts as a project 1980-4 -1984 Asian Fisheries Soc. formed 1985-9 Rio Conference 1992- 1990-4 -1990 NACA created as an IGOCode of Conduct for Responsible Fish. 1995- -1996 Seminar on Indochina WIF 1995-9 Beijing (CEDAW+20) 1995- -1998 Asian WIF -2000 Mekong NGF formed Millennium Development Goals 2000- 2000-4 -2001 Global WIF -2004 Global GAF 2005-9 -2007 GAF2 -2010 Global Conf. on AquacultureFAO State of Food and Agric. (women) 2011- -2011 GAF3; FAO Special Workshop 2010-4 Rio+20 Conference 2012- -2012 NACA adopts gender statement -2013 GAF4 CCRF+20 2015- 2015-9 - FOCUS ON BREAKING THE CYCLE CEDAW+40 2015- GENDER, FISHERIES EVENTS GENDER AND FISHERIES EVENTS

2012 06-22 ngf mekong afs and naca

by Genderaquafish on Jun 26, 2012

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2012 06-22 ngf mekong afs and naca Presentation Transcript