The Fisherman's Wife

Vulnerabilities and Strategies in the Local Economy; The Case of Lake Victoria, Kenya

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2222693
AutoresCarolyne Lwenya (Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute), Ernest Yongo (Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute)
Año2012
Volumen37
Número3
Páginas566-573
Fecha de publicación2012-03-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSigns: Journal of Women in Culture and Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0097-9740 • E-ISSN: 1545-6943
EditorialUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/662703
OpenAlexW2178215972
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas9
Referencias citadas4

The fisherman’s wife occupies a central place in the fishing sector of Lake Victoria. She dominates the onshore postharvest activities that complement offshore fishing, which in turn is dominated by men. This article is focused on fishwives’ economic activities, together with their coping strategies and their vulnerabilities. Our source of information is the field notes we compiled from interviews with women. The fishery is open access, and the fishwife is faced with competition in her trade from women within her own community, women at local landings, and from those who are now joining the fish trade. While in the past the fishwife walked all the way to the hinterland markets to sell her commodities, today her trade is done right on the shoreline, and outsiders are involved in a more attenuated marketing chain. With their influence now threatened by outsiders, the wives have formed strong social networks with fish suppliers in order to be supplied with enough fish. The fishwife may exert influence as a creditor to male producers to improve her productive assets, but the outsider fish trader seems to have more economic power and is also able to use transactional sex relations to acquire fish. In conclusion, there is an interesting power play between the fishwife and the outsider woman in terms of access to fish and income

Business · Creditor · Debt · Fishery · Fishing · Political science · Power (physics) · Wife · Aquatic Ecosystems and Biodiversity · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences