Fishing for Equity and Inclusion: Women’s Socioeconomic Factors in Kenyan Fisheries

Aug 29, 2022 | Margaret Gatonye
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Seeing Loreta sort and dry her Omena sardines at the shores of Lake Victoria in Western Kenya, one may dismiss this small, middle-aged woman as an ordinary fishmonger struggling to earn a living.

Yet Loreta does more than sell raw fish. Every morning, she walks seven miles to Sori, the nearest fish landing site to her village, to buy fresh fish and then carry it to sell in the nearby market. She also works with other women in her village, empowering them to start small businesses of their own by training and mentoring them. 

For decades, women in Kenya have made important contributions to the governance of the fisheries sector which often go unrecognized. These unacknowledged contributions of women such as Loreta, particularly in policy, have directly affected marginalized communities whose livelihoods depend on fisheries resources.

In addition to production, processing, and trading roles within fisheries, women’s labor also supports the sector through the roles women play as mothers, housewives, caregivers, cooks, and cleaners. This support has generally been ignored or considered to be an everyday occurrence that does not register formally as “labor,” and thus goes unquantified.

Look deeper, however, and one can readily see how women do count in Kenya’s fisheries and communities.