Human capacity
development (HCD) was a major thrust of the 2000 Bangkok Declaration and
Strategy, but gender was not addressed. The Food and Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO) Strategic Framework for Human Capacity Development
(HCD) emphasized building human capacity in a coherent fashion at four levels
in individuals, organizations, sectors/networks and in the overall enabling
environment. Although strategic HCD in aquaculture has not received attention,
substantial HCD has occurred in aquaculture education and training. Aquaculture
departments in universities, aquaculture research institutes, networks and
professional societies all include training as central activities.
Women are active participants in aquaculture supply chains, but a dearth of
gender-disaggregated information hampers accurate understanding of their
contribution. Research results and FAO National Aquaculture Sector Overview
(NASO) fact sheets show that female participation rates vary by type and
scale of enterprise and country. Women are frequently active in hatcheries
and dominate fish processing plant labourers. Womens work in small-scale
aquaculture frequently is unrecognized, under or unpaid. Most aquaculture
development projects are not gender sensitive, and aquaculture success stories
often do not report gender dimensions; projects can fail if their designs do not
include gender.
Lacking gender-disaggregated data on participation rates and trends in
education, we conducted a preliminary survey of aquaculture tertiary institutes
in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. The percentage of female graduates
in aquaculture increased considerably over the last four decades, from zero or
low numbers in the 1970s to recent rates of around 3060 percent; rates vary
both by country and within countries. No data are available to track whether
female graduates are entering successful careers in aquaculture.
To accelerate HCD to meet the needs of aquaculture growth, commodity and
theme priorities for HCD must be established. Educational institutions should
cooperate and harmonize work programmes and overcome language barriers.
Aquaculture education needs the best students and should help prepare them
for rewarding careers. More social science content is needed in aquaculture
curricula to groom graduates for management and leadership roles. The gender
balance in aquaculture faculty could be improved by recruiting and retaining
more women.
Gender should be put firmly on the policy agenda and built into normative
instruments, old and new, complemented by the collection of gender-disaggregated
data for aquaculture supply chains. Women should be empowered through
gender equity in access to financial, natural, training and market resources.
Women in aquaculture should not be stereotyped as small-scale and poor.
Women are often hampered by systemic barriers such as lack of legal rights.
Women should be encouraged to build their management, leadership and
entrepreneural skills. In circumstances where rural men have migrated for
work, small-scale aquaculture has proven a suitable livelihood option to reduce
the pressure on women. Because postharvest processing and fish trade are
feminized occupations, gender equity deserves special attention in fair trade
and fish certification schemes. HCD and gender are receiving more attention in
rehabilitation efforts to assist survivors from disease and natural disasters.
Presented in the Aquaculture 2010 conference proceedings, published in 2012 by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA)
July 2012
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