Fishing activities by gender and reproductive stage in Isla Arena, Campeche, Mexico

Abstract

The following paper analyzes the impact of reproductive stage on gendered mediated productive activities, and access to fishing resources in 62 artisanal fishing households from Isla Arena, Campeche, Mexico. Male activities were independent of reproductive stage. Women with children and adolescents stayed within the household to process subsistence and commercial fish provided by other family members. Women without children or those with adult siblings did go out fishing in the sea and the estuary. In spite of their access to commercial fisheries, these women still did not have control of the catch, suggesting that childrearing is not the reason why women do not have direct access to this resource. Public policy aimed at women in small-scale fishery households should highlight the domestic domain in the case of women with children and bolster estuary subsistence fisheries where women can manage the catch independently.