‘Man can’t give birth, woman can't fish’: gender dynamics in the small-scale fisheries of Bangladesh

Abstract

Going beyond the myths prevalent in the socio-cultural embeddedness of rural Bangladesh, this article examines the diverse visible and invisible roles of fisherwomen in small-scale fisheries. This research considered two ethnic groups situated in two different ecosystems: the floodplain freshwater ecosystem is represented by new-entrant Muslim fishers ‘Maimal’ and the coastal ecosystem is represented by caste-based Hindu fishers ‘Jaladas’. From the basic ontological worldview of human dignity, moral individualism, and the social recognition of women’s rights, we argue that fisherwomen’s roles need to be recognized, focused, and valued to develop a horizontal understanding that is a prerequisite to the process of democratization, and the proper functioning of a just society. In the rural societies, a host of attributes, such as the deep-rooted socio-cultural constructions of the motherly myth, extreme tolerance, family teaching, religious antagonism, poverty, lack of education, internalization of a subordinate position, lack of supportive institutions, and fear of loss of societal patronage, profoundly undermine the capacity of women to aspire and raise their voice. Fisherwomen are accrued an inferior social position although they perform unique roles in the areas of childcare, household upkeep, livelihoods, and psycho-social support for the seafaring fishers. Conducive to the ecotone of marine fisheries, this article also portrays how a rigid patriarchal form of society is seasonally transformed to matrifocality when fishermen are away for fishing for half the year.

‘El hombre no puede parir, la mujer no puede pescar’: la dinámica de género en la pesca de pequeña escala en Bangladesh

Yendo más allá de los mitos dominantes en el arraigo sociocultural del Bangladesh rural, este artículo analiza los diversos roles visibles e invisibles de las mujeres pescadoras en la pesca artesanal. Esta investigación consideró a dos grupos étnicos situados en dos ecosistemas diferentes: el ecosistema de llanura de inundación fluvial está representado por pescadoras musulmanas ‘Maimal’ recién arribadas, y el ecosistema costero está representado por pescadoras hindúes ‘Jaladas’ con sistemas de castas. Desde una mirada mundial ontológica básica de la dignidad humana, el individualismo moral y el reconocimiento social de los derechos de las mujeres, sostenemos que los roles de las pescadoras deben ser reconocidos, enfocados y valorados para desarrollar un entendimiento horizontal, que es un prerrequisito para el proceso de democratización, y para el funcionamiento apropiado de una sociedad justa. En las sociedades rurales, una serie de atributos, tales como las construcciones socioculturales profundamente arraigadas del mito maternal, la tolerancia extrema, la enseñanza familiar, el antagonismo religioso, la pobreza, la falta de educación, la posición subordinada internalizada, la falta de instituciones de apoyo y el miedo a la pérdida del patrocinio social, socavan profundamente la capacidad de las mujeres a tener aspiraciones y a levantar sus voces. A las mujeres pescadoras se les otorga una posición social inferior, aunque juegan roles únicos en áreas de cuidado infantil, mantenimiento del hogar, sustento y apoyo psicosocial para los pescadores en el mar. Considerando el ecotono de la pesca marina, este artículo también describe cómo una forma patriarcal rígida de sociedad es transformada estacionalmente a la matrifocalidad cuando los pescadores se han ido a pescar durante medio año.

‘男人无法生孩子, 女人不能捕鱼’: 孟加拉小规模渔业中的性别动态

本文超越镶嵌在孟加拉农村社会文化中的流行神话故事，检视女性渔夫在小规模渔业中的可见及不可见角色。本研究考量分别位于不同生态系统的两大族裔团体：新进入的穆斯林渔民‘迈莫’（Maimal）代表了洪泛平原淡水生态系统，以种姓制度为基础的印度渔民‘加拉达’（Jaladas）则代表了沿海生态系统。从人类尊严的基本实在论世界观、道德个人主义以及女性权利的社会认可而言，我们主张，女性渔民的角色必须被承认、关注并受到重视，以发展做为民主化进程与公平社会适当运作前提的水平式理解。在农村社会中的许多特徵，诸如对于母性神话根深蒂固的社会文化建构、极度的容忍、家庭教育、信仰的对立、贫穷、缺乏教育、从属位置的内化、缺乏支持性机构，以及对于失去社会恩庇关係的恐惧，皆深刻地削弱了女性想望并发声的能力。儘管女性对航海渔业从业者在儿童照护、家庭照料、生计与心理—社会支持的领域中扮演了特殊的角色，女性渔民却获得了次等的社会位置。有助于海洋渔业的交错带，本文亦描绘出严密的父权社会形式，如何在男性出海捕鱼的半年间，季节性地转换成为母主制度。

Keywords::

• small-scale fishery
• fisherwomen
• matrifocality
• rituals
• livelihoods
• Bangladesh

Palabras claves::

• pesca artesanal
• mujeres pescadoras
• matrifocalidad
• rituales
• modos de sustento
• Bangladesh

关键词:::

• 小规模渔业
• 女性渔民
• 母主制度
• 仪式
• 生计
• 孟加拉

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to fishers of the study villages, especially to the fisherwomen, who passionately shared their views and life stories with us. Cordial thanks to the anonymous referees for their critical insights and thought-provoking suggestions. Thanks to Avril Maddrell for her cooperation, suggestions, and delivery of some articles to the corresponding author. Thanks to Biswajit Talapatra (COMMUNICA Designers, Anderkilla, Chittagong, Bangladesh) who provided artistic touch to Figure 2.

Notes

^1. Bengali women are known to have a wide variety of metaphorization (such as water, motherland, nature, cradle, river, and deities) in literary works, popular beliefs, and culture. Especially Hindu religious scripts personify woman as a creative and dynamic cosmic energy (‘Shakti’), represented through goddesses such as ‘Durga’, ‘Kali’, ‘Laxmi’, ‘Sarwasati’, and so on in wider Bengal. Again, interestingly, she comprises left part of male Lord Shiva. Such mythological personification in religious scripts is indicative of partial patriarchy. In the Bengali society, she is still regarded for unconditional care, protection, mysteriousness, elusiveness, natural beauty, and never-ending love. Women, with son, are generally viewed as lucky and a repository of power. Again, women who fail to exercise natural function of child-birth transmute their personal, social, and religious power. In general, they are born to serve.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Apurba Krishna Deb

Dr Apurba Krishna Deb graduated from the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), University of Manitoba (UM), Canada. Currently, he works in the Climate Change and Environmental Protection Division-Western region, Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship, Government of Manitoba, Canada. Dr Deb specializes in the areas of artisanal fisheries, fishing communities, livelihood, coping, gender mainstreaming, indigenous knowledge, environmental policy, participatory research, and project management. Dr Deb managed development projects with nonprofits, Department for International Development, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and Canadian International Development Agency.

C. Emdad Haque

Dr C. Emdad Haque is Professor at NRI, UM, Canada and was a visiting Fulbright research fellow at Arizona State University, USA, in 2008. Dr Haque was the founding President of the Canadian Risk and Hazards Network. His recent books included Hazards in a Fickle Environment (1998), Mitigation of Natural Hazards and Disasters (2005), and Disaster Risk and Vulnerability: Mitigation through Mobilizing Communities and Partnerships (2012).

Shirley Thompson

Dr Shirley Thompson is an Associate Professor at NRI, UM. As a principal, co-principal and co-investigator of grants, Dr Thompson has received over $3 million funds, including national grants from CIHR and SSHRC. She was elected as the co-president of the Environmental Studies Association in Canada for the last five years. She has a focus on sustainable livelihoods, gender in development and eco-health in First Nation and developing countries.