The state of women’s empowerment in fisheries in rural Bicol, the Philippines

ABSTRACT

This study examined the state of women’s empowerment in fishing communities in the Bicol Region, the Philippines. Using the Alkire-Foster (AF) methodology, the results revealed that the ability to participate in making decisions related to productive resources (e.g. boat, fishing gear, fish processing equipment) and having access to and control over such resources were the key factors that contribute to women’s disempowerment in the study area. Furthermore, women were found to be in a less favourable position due to lower levels of formal education, large household size, limited sources for livelihood diversification, patriarchal norms shaping household headship, and meagre share in household income. On a positive note, control over household income and leadership in the community emerged as sources of women’s empowerment. Drawing on these findings, efforts to empower women should focus on providing them more access to formal and informal education, social infrastructure, microfinance services, and labour-saving technologies.

KEYWORDS:

• Alkire-Foster (AF) methodology
• small-scale fisheries sector
• women's empowerment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Data availability statement

The participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.