Unveiling gendered realities in Myanmar’s small-scale aquaculture: Opportunities for change
Abstract
The article discusses the potential of focusing on gender dynamics and relations in improving fish consumption, increasing income, and reducing expenditure on the purchase of fish products by rural people in Myanmar with aquatic resources. In addition to gender inequalities, the pandemic and the security situation in Myanmar since 2021 have affected the lives and livelihoods of people in rural communities. As a result of these impacts, people are struggling to recover and improve their lives. We conducted a gender study to explore how gender norms and relations influence the ability of people to participate in and benefit from aquaculture activities. We interviewed 24 women and men from two different communities in Ayeyarwady and analysed their interview transcripts using QSR’s Nvivo12 software. Key findings include that access to productive resources varies across households, with less marked differences within households as they believe that their families' common resources are accessible to all. When necessary, women and men can take on each other’s tasks. However, we found that women participate more in productive tasks when their spouses do not earn an income for various reasons, such as alcoholism and gambling addiction. To achieve the desired sustainable changes and results, we have made several recommendations for future programmes in this context.
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