IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i23p13001-d686736.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing and Advancing Gender Equity in Lake Malawi’s Small-Scale Fisheries Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Elin Torell

    (Coastal Resources Center, University of Rhode Island, 220 South Ferry Road, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA)

  • Chikondi Manyungwa-Pasani

    (Department of Fisheries, Lilongwe P.O. Box 593, Malawi)

  • Danielle Bilecki

    (Coastal Resources Center, University of Rhode Island, 220 South Ferry Road, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA)

  • Innocent Gumulira

    (Monkey-Bay Fisheries Research Station, Monkey Bay, Mangochi P.O Box 27, Malawi)

  • Gordon Yiwombe

    (Salima Agriculture Development Division, Private Bag 1, Salima, Malawi)

Abstract

Women play important, but often invisible, roles in Lake Malawi’s small-scale fisheries sector. This paper augments previous research by exploring the productive and reproductive roles that men and women have in fishing communities and how this shapes women’s access and control over fisheries resources. Contributing to advancing the understanding of how to strengthen women’s roles in the fisheries sector, this paper reports on a qualitative assessment conducted in seven Malawian lakeshore districts. Data collected via focus group discussions, which included gendered resource mapping exercises, revealed belief systems and gender norms that shape men’s and women’s access to and control over lacustrine resources. While both men and women have access to lake and land resources, their roles differ. Men dominate fishing resources whereas women dominate resources that are tied to household management. While all value chain nodes are open to men, women tend to be concentrated in lower-value processing and trading activities. Social norms and values shape people’s access and control over communal resources. It is noteworthy that women who earn an income from the fisheries value chain have more access to savings and credit and have more equal household bargaining power.

Suggested Citation

  • Elin Torell & Chikondi Manyungwa-Pasani & Danielle Bilecki & Innocent Gumulira & Gordon Yiwombe, 2021. "Assessing and Advancing Gender Equity in Lake Malawi’s Small-Scale Fisheries Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-17, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:23:p:13001-:d:686736
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/23/13001/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/23/13001/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chiwaula, L. & Jamu, D. & Chaweza, R. & Nagoli, J., 2012. "The Structure and margins of the Lake Chilwa fisheries in Malawi: a value chain analysis," Monographs, The WorldFish Center, number 39912, April.
    2. Torell, Elin C. & Jamu, Daniel M. & Kanyerere, Geoffrey Z. & Chiwaula, Levison & Nagoli, Joseph & Kambewa, Patrick & Brooks, Alan & Freeman, Peter, 2020. "Assessing the economic impacts of post-harvest fisheries losses in Malawi," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    3. Elizabeth Asiedu & Isaac Kalonda-Kanyama & Leonce Ndikumana & Akwasi Nti-Addae, 2013. "Access to Credit by Firms in Sub-Saharan Africa: How Relevant Is Gender?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(3), pages 293-297, May.
    4. Lawless, Sarah & Cohen, Philippa J. & Mangubhai, Sangeeta & Kleiber, Danika & Morrison, Tiffany H., 2021. "Gender equality is diluted in commitments made to small-scale fisheries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wedson Phiri & Moses Limuwa & Joseph Dzanja, 2022. "Are Fish Markets in Central Malawi Profitable and Efficient? Performance of Diploxatodon spp. (Ndunduma) Markets in Salima and Lilongwe Districts," Businesses, MDPI, vol. 2(2), pages 1-13, May.
    2. Nkhoswe, James & Bader, Sumeya & Nyauchi, Elizabeth & Lemma, Yordanos & Ong’ondo, Geoffrey & Geremew, Akewake, 2023. "Sustainability of the Sub-Saharan African Capture Fisheries and Aquaculture Value Chains: A Review of the Roles and Challenges of Youths and Women in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Zambia," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(12), pages 1643-1674, December.
    3. Shusen Qi & Steven Ongena & Hua Cheng, 2022. "Working with women, do men get all the credit?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1427-1447, December.
    4. Dileni Gunewardena & Abdoulaye Seck, 2020. "Heterogeneity in entrepreneurship in developing countries: Risk, credit, and migration and the entrepreneurial propensity of youth and women," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 713-725, August.
    5. Simplice Asongu & Enowbi Batuo & Vanessa Tchamyou, 2015. "Bundling Governance: Finance versus Institutions in Private Investment Promotion," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 15/051, African Governance and Development Institute..
    6. Olayinka Oyekola & Sofia Johan & Rilwan Sakariyahu & Oluwatoyin Esther Dosumu & Shima Amini, 2023. "Political institutions, financial liberalisation, and access to finance: firm-level empirical evidence," Discussion Papers 2307, University of Exeter, Department of Economics.
    7. Pham, Tho & Talavera, Oleksandr, 2018. "Discrimination, Social Capital, and Financial Constraints: The Case of Viet Nam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 228-242.
    8. Simplice A. Asongu & Joseph Nnanna & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2020. "Finance, Institutions and Private Investment in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 20/080, African Governance and Development Institute..
    9. Amon Simba & Mahdi Tajeddin & Léo-Paul Dana & Domingo E. Ribeiro Soriano, 2024. "Deconstructing involuntary financial exclusion: a focus on African SMEs," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 285-305, January.
    10. Chen, Xiao & Huang, Bihong & Ye, Dezhu, 2019. "The Gender Gap in Peer-to-Peer Lending: Evidence from the People’s Republic of China," ADBI Working Papers 977, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    11. Brixiová, Zuzana & Kangoye, Thierry & Said, Mona, 2020. "Training, human capital, and gender gaps in entrepreneurial performance," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 367-380.
    12. Brixiová, Zuzana & Kangoye, Thierry, 2016. "Gender and constraints to entrepreneurship in Africa: New evidence from Swaziland," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 5(C), pages 1-8.
    13. Osei-Tutu, Francis & Weill, Laurent, 2022. "Bank efficiency and access to credit: International evidence," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(3).
    14. Dengjun Zhang, 2022. "Capacity utilization under credit constraints: A firm‐level study of Latin American manufacturing," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 1367-1386, January.
    15. Ferdinando Giglio, 2020. "Access to Credit and Women Entrepreneurs: A Systematic Literature Review," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(4), pages 312-335.
    16. Bertrand, Jérémie & Burietz, Aurore & Perrin, Caroline, 2022. "Just the two of us, we can(’t) make it if we try: Owner-CEO gender and discouragement," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    17. Addison, Tony & Singhal, Saurabh & Tarp, Finn, 2013. "Aid to Africa: The Changing Context," WIDER Working Paper Series 144, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    18. Chen, Xiao & Huang, Bihong & Ye, Dezhu, 2020. "Gender gap in peer-to-peer lending: Evidence from China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    19. Uchenna R. Efobi & Belmondo V. Tanankem & Simplice A. Asongu & Ibukun Beecroft, 2016. "Exploring Multidimensional Financial Inclusion and Manufacturing Firms Performance in a Developing Country: The Case of Nigeria," Research Africa Network Working Papers 16/043, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    20. Mishra, Aswini Kumar & Bhardwaj, Vedant, 2022. "Financial access and household’s borrowing: Policy perspectives of an emerging economy," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 44(5), pages 981-999.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:23:p:13001-:d:686736. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.