Exploring the Hidden Contributions of Women in Fisheries

Roughly half of those working in fisheries and aquaculture worldwide are women - depending on how you measure it. Yet women's contributions in this sector have long been largely invisible, according to associate professor at the Department of Social Anthropology (UiB), Iselin Åsedotter Strønen.

“There are many more roles than just being out at sea. Women’s work has been systematically rendered invisible,” she says.

Strønen has extensive fieldwork experience from Brazil, Venezuela, and Angola, and is currently conducting fieldwork among women in the fisheries sector in Galicia, Spain. Her research focuses on gender and fisheries policy, climate change, and the gendered division of labor in the sector.

“Galicia is the most important fishing region in Spain, and Spain is the EU’s most important fishing nation. Women here have long traditions tied to fisheries and aquaculture - but they are still fighting for proper recognition for what they do,” she explains.

Different kinds of work

Åsedotter Strønen explains that the work women do in the fisheries sector has historically not been recognized as formal labor.

Typical examples of this “invisible” women’s work includes mending nets, baiting hooks, transporting fish between boats, ports, and markets, small-scale sales, bookkeeping, or harvesting shellfish and mussels.

“Often, women have performed unpaid labor for male relatives, even serving as crew on family-owned boats. Or they’ve done poorly paid part-time work that has not been seen as an occupational role, but rather as an extension of domestic duties. In addition, women in fishing communities have often carried the full responsibility for the household, care work, and social relations in the local community, since their husbands have been away at sea. In essence, one could say that men’s paid and visible work at sea has been entirely dependent on women’s invisible and underpaid labor on land.”

She says there are many actors now trying to address this, by making women's roles more visible and by challenging the cultural and symbolic associations between fisheries and masculinity.

“Still, research shows that women’s marginalization in the sector is an ongoing issue on a global scale,” Strønen says.

The importance of visibility

“Why is it important to recognize the work of women?”

“Fundamentally, it’s about gender equality. It’s about making both men’s and women’s contributions - whether paid or unpaid - visible. What is not seen, is not acknowledged. And what is not acknowledged, is excluded from rights and legal frameworks. And we clearly see that despite speeches and well-meaning policy documents, women in the sector have poorer social and economic conditions than men, and they are far less involved in shaping fisheries policy and management,” she says.

Åsedotter Strønen emphasizes that the fisheries sector is crucial for the future, both in terms of sustainable food systems and ocean governance.

“At a higher level, it is important that all actors who contribute to the fisheries sector and care for marine ecosystems have a seat at the table. Women hold enormous knowledge in their respective fields, whether it’s harvesting shellfish in tidal zones in Spain or catching crabs in Brazilian mangroves. They are closely connected to nature and ecosystems. This is crucial in light of environmental degradation and climate change,” she says.

From Latin America to Spain

Iselin Åsedotter Strønen has worked in a number of countries. She has long focused on the relationship between the state and civil society, often in areas affected by poverty and marginalization.

She learned Spanish and, as a master's student, traveled to Venezuela to study grassroots organizing among Chávez-supporting groups in the capital’s impoverished neighborhoods. In her doctoral dissertation, she examined how Venezuela’s role as an oil state has shaped political and social dynamics.

“I lived and worked with local communities for several years. But as the situation in Venezuela became increasingly unstable and too risky for fieldwork, I turned my attention to new questions,” she says.

She later participated in a project on Equinor’s operations in Brazil, studying how offshore oil development affected coastal communities north of Rio de Janeiro. It was during this time that she truly became interested in the role of women in fisheries.

“The people I worked with were women, women of color, poor, and living in rural coastal areas—in practice, they were marginalized in four different ways. There was very little research on how gender and politics intersect in the making and governance of fisheries policy. That’s what I wanted to explore further,” she explains.

Coming full circle

In recent years, her focus has shifted from Latin America to Europe. In 2022, she began ethnographic fieldwork in Galicia.

“It felt like coming full circle when I started working on fisheries. My early career plan was actually to become a marine biologist, and I’m a hobby diver and water lover. It felt meaningful to spend more time by the ocean, working with fisheries-related issues,” she says.

Since 2022, Strønen has traveled back and forth between Norway and Spain as often as possible.

“I’ve built networks, conducted fieldwork, and developed a new research field. When you start researching in a new location, you really have to start from scratch. And to a large extent, I did that. I changed my topic, continent, and country,” she says.

“What does that actually entail?”

“You need to become part of the local community, get to know people and their everyday lives, do participant observation, build a network, understand political institutions, and develop a grasp of the region’s history, politics, ecology, and social and cultural life. At the same time, you need to read extensively across the research literature to gain a comparative foundation. That combination of depth and breadth of knowledge is the anthropological ideal.”

New conflicts at sea

In addition to focusing on women in fisheries, she is also following another ongoing case: a conflict around planned offshore wind developments along the Spanish, and especially the northwestern coast.

“Spain is positioning itself to become a major offshore wind power player. But many coastal fishers and other local actors fear that coexistence between small-scale fisheries and large offshore wind farms will be difficult, as the installations will occupy so much space. There has also been massive wind development on land in Galicia over the years, and many feel they have paid the price for the so-called green transition without receiving much in return. I’m trying to understand the different dimensions of this conflict locally, and how it can be seen in light of the global push for offshore wind.”

Still not enough knowledge

Her main focus, however, remains on women and gender in the fisheries sector, and she notes that there has been political will in Spain to address the issue.

“The government has actively supported the creation of a national network for women in the fisheries sector. This organization has achieved some important gains when it comes to social rights, and the topic has received increased visibility,” she says.

Still, she finds it striking how large and fundamental the differences between men and women in the industry remain - even though this has been discussed for many years.

She is interested in understanding why that is, and believes anthropology is well suited to explore these questions.

“We still don’t know enough about how different political and legal frameworks shape fisheries policy-making, and how gender inequalities are addressed - or not - by different actors. For anthropologists, politics and law are not just formal processes, but also informal, complex social and cultural ones that intersect and overlap. Social interpretations of gender and fisheries in different contexts are therefore vital to analyze,” she says.

“Norway is also a fishing nation. Do we face similar issues here?”

“Generally speaking, women’s contributions to fisheries are poorly understood and largely invisible in Norway as well. In fishing communities, people have always known who does what, but that doesn’t mean women receive the same social and public recognition as men.”