Gender audit in coastal and marine fishing sector of India

Fisher women constitute 47% of the total adult coastal and marine fishing populations India. They share major contribution in fishing of their families either directly or indirectly, especially in post-harvest and land based activities including marketing. Fisher women activities amount high in the share of economic contribution to coastal fishing in India. The work performance of fisher women in fishing related activities are unrecognised or under recognised. Gender biased discrimination such as access to resources, control over family; consumption pattern and freedom for domestic expenditure are prevalent in their family and community. GII in fisheries is 0.618, which is comparatively higher than that of National average (0.563). Inadequate recognition of fisher women’s contribution in fisheries shall hamper sustainable development process. A gender audit assesses the extent to which gender equality is effectively institutionalised in the policies, programmes, schemes and in the corresponding budgets. This book discusses the methods of analyzing gender gaps in fisheries sector and requisite gender mainstream activities for fisher women empowerment.