{"id":101309,"date":"2023-03-15T17:28:11","date_gmt":"2023-03-15T11:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/?post_type=yemaya&p=101309"},"modified":"2023-03-15T17:28:11","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T11:58:11","slug":"building-solidarity","status":"publish","type":"yemaya","link":"https:\/\/www.icsf.net\/yemaya\/building-solidarity\/","title":{"rendered":"Building solidarity"},"content":{"rendered":"
Proceedings of a workshop held in Chennai, India, aimed at understanding challenges, finding solutions, and building solidarity among women in fisheries<\/strong><\/p>\n By Nivedita Sridhar<\/strong> (icsf@icsf.net), Programme Officer, ICSF, Chennai, India<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Women constitute 56 percent of the fisher population in India and yet they are often voiceless. To address the invisibility and underrepresentation of women in fisheries, a workshop was held in Chennai, India, from 8 to 10 April 2022. Titled \u2018The National workshop on SSF Guidelines and Women in Fisheries, India\u2019, the workshop was part of a process of collective action that had, just before the COVID 19 lockdown period, witnessed the creation of a Women in Fisheries Platform.<\/p>\n The workshop participants were mainly fish vendors but also in attendance were women from the harvesting sector, who are among the most marginalised sections in the fisheries. Women in harvesting were represented by shellfish gatherers from Palghar, Maharashtra; the \u2018tiger widows\u2019 of Sundarbans, West Bengal; active woman fishers from West Bengal and seaweed collectors from Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu. The workshop was an attempt to build alliances between the two groups of women in fisheries \u2013 harvesters and vendors.<\/p>\n The workshop commenced with participants sharing their experiences on the impact of the pandemic. Two aspects were highlighted: first, the difficulties that women experienced in trying to reach markets despite possessing fish to sell, and in Kerala, the entry of men who had lost their jobs during the lockdown into fish vending spaces. Second, the reappearance of varieties of fish not seen for a long time, as mechanised fishing was put on hold during the lockdown. In addition, participants also talked about the adverse impact of the pandemic on children\u2019s education; the problems caused by coastal erosion; and the loss of coastal lands and habitation spaces due to climate impacts and harbour development.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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