Role of women in European Union fisheries.
Supervisors: Thomas HG Ezard (Univ Soton), Katia Frangoudes (Univ. Bretagne Occ.)
Women represent half of the total labor involved in the aquatic value chain, yet women’s role in fisheries remains invisible. This thesis analyzes the gender and socio-economic trends in European fisheries employment to provide the foundation for future changes necessary to reach gender equitability in the industry. This study is limited by the lack of standardized gender disaggregated employment data reporting procedures in the fisheries value chain. However, despite the sparse available data, the analysis has concluded the following:

  • Women are less frequently employed in marine fisheries (both small-scale and industrial) than men;
  • Employed women in the European fisheries prefer to work in the small-scale fisheries, where a significant part of labor is unpaid;
  • Employed by fisheries, men are more often unpaid than women, possibly due to the lack of recorded data from the non-vessel-based jobs;
  • Among the unpaid women’s labor, no preference has been shown between the small scale and industrial fisheries;
  • The landed values attributed to women’s work in fisheries correspond with the number of women employed in fisheries (both paid and unpaid)
  • Consideing the socio-economics of women’s participation in fisheries has shown that the Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI) does not have a detectable relationship with women’s employment.
  • Nevertheless, a separate analysis of the education levels of the employees – one of the factors of the GGGI – has demonstrated that people of both genders with low and medium education are more likely to work in fisheries than the ones with high levels of education.

This thesis has demonstrated the need for urgent systematized data collection that would address the gender balance in fisheries employment along the entire value chain. Such statistical evidence is required to support future decision-making, creating more equitable job opportunities.