Gender baselines in fisheries and aquaculture value chains in India: A systematic review

Abstract

The lack of authentic data and information is often quoted as a reason for the formulation of policies and programs that are not completely in tune with the on-the-ground realities. Another factor could also be the dispersed nature of availability of information. This has also been pertinent to the discourse on gender in fisheries and aquaculture. Though it is now acknowledged the women play important roles in fisheries and aquaculture value chains, the continuing invisibility is partly due to lack of systematic collection of data and information that can further be used for policy formulation and programme implementation. This study is an attempt to collate information available in India on this important area. Systematic review approach was adopted for the study and the results were filtered based on the availability of the literature on each topic. The collected literature included research papers, published peer-reviewed articles, proceedings on seminars and symposia and other grey literature. The basic work for India was done as a part of the NACA - USAID Project ‘Thematic Studies on Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam’. Though the Project was based on the four lower Mekong countries, India coordinated the work and a similar exercise carried out for India too. The study was furthered through collaboration and information sharing with WorldFish, Malaysia.