Women sustain small-scale fishing but remain excluded from decision-making

The FAO warned about the invisibility and gender inequalities in Latin America's fishing sector.

A report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) highlighted that along the coasts of Latin America and the Caribbean there is a recurring paradox, which is that women sustain a large part of the fishing industry with their hands, since they are the ones who clean, fillet, pack and prepare the fish that reaches people's tables. But their work does not translate into greater weight in the spaces where decisions are made to bring to light a reality and its contradictions that statistics often conceal.

The FAO organized a meeting within the framework of the International Year of the Woman Farmer and as a follow-up to the 19th Meeting of the Commission on Small-Scale, Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture. It brought together experts, academics and women from the sector to bring to light a reality, and its contradictions, that statistics conceal. 

According to FAO data, women account for 24% of the total workforce in the fishing sector and, of that percentage, 62% are employed in the processing of fish products.

Claudia Brito, Policy Officer and Gender Expert at the FAO, stated that “Women in small-scale fishing are ecosystem managers, guardians of local knowledge and drivers of community economies.” 

Statistics and obstacles

Among the most pressing obstacles identified at the meeting were the lack of sex-disaggregated records in the fishing sector, limited access to formal markets, the absence of women in governance spaces and the overload of domestic and care work that restricts their participation. Ten years after the adoption of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries, the gaps persist.

Along these lines, Javier Villanueva, Senior Fisheries and Aquaculture Officer at the FAO, stated that data must be disaggregated by sex in order to formulate policies that truly transform the conditions of women in the sector, and that the first step toward this is to make them visible in the records. 

The Blue Transformation initiative

This initiative, promoted by the FAO, seeks to foster more productive, sustainable, resilient and inclusive aquatic food systems. To that end, the organization insists that the empowerment of rural women is a key factor.

Through the Blue Transformation, technical assistance will be requested from the FAO to reduce gender inequalities by improving activity records, strengthening capacities and fostering women's leadership in the sector.

All of these initiatives seek to gain momentum during the International Year of the Woman Farmer and through the commitment to promote the inclusion and visibility of women fishers, fish farmers and workers throughout the entire value chain of aquatic food systems.

The aim is to take advantage of this global framework to promote public policies that guarantee women's rights, economic empowerment and effective participation in decision-making in the sector, especially under the strategic approach of the Blue Transformation.

At the same time, the aim is to reduce gender inequalities by strengthening activity records and consolidating regional networks, such as the Regional Network of Women in Fisheries, and for the recognition of their work to contribute directly to food security and to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the region.

Fishing as an activity

According to the FAO report, inland fishing, while representing an economic and cultural pillar for local communities, faces critical challenges due to limited data collection capacity and scarce access to monitoring mechanisms, making greater technical and institutional support urgent.

In addition, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing was identified as a persistent threat to the sustainability of resources and artisanal livelihoods, and the strengthening of traceability and of monitoring, control and surveillance systems through innovative technologies was recommended.

The FAO report also highlighted the need to recognize and formalize the predominant role of women throughout the entire value chain in order to reduce gender inequalities, proposing the strengthening of their activity records and their economic empowerment.

To this end, a 2025-2026 Work Plan was approved, focused on technical seminars, the study of native species of the Amazon and the mobilization of strategic resources to ensure the implementation of these regional priorities. For the FAO, 2026 is an opportunity to highlight the contribution of women in the sector and to mobilize partnerships and investments that close structural gaps.

Guillermo Whpei

President of Fundación para la Democracia