By Ana Lucia Londono

The reality for women in the Blue Economy is undeniable: their crucial contributions are frequently overshadowed at best; unnoticed at their worst.  

This reality brings forth a number of pertinent questions, most notable: How can development agencies, governments, private sector, and civil society organization mainstream gender into the Blue Economy seascape? And secondly, what does success look like?  

For women across the Pacific and beyond, the ocean acts as a life-support system – providing food, resources, and jobs. Women are crucial contributors to the fisheries sector through harvesting and processing procedures, aquaculture, and seaweed farming. In many coastal communities, women comprise up to 50 percent of the workforce in small-scale fisheries and are often involved in post-harvest activities, which constitute up to 90 percent of the workforce in some regions.

As explained by Ms. Yasmin Rasheed, Assistant Resident Representative, UNDP Maldives, women are also essential to the care economy that enables other Blue Economy-related activities like marine transportation or fishing. Women also often bring traditional knowledge and unique perspectives and skills to marine resource management and community resilience.  

So where is the deserved recognition, one may ask?  

Change happens slowly until it happens fast, and while steady progress is being made in increasing women’s representation and recognition in the Blue Economy space, we still have a long way to go.  

Women and girls remain disproportionally affected by the impacts and consequences of climate change and its repercussion in ocean resource use. For instance, increased salinity levels in ground waters caused by saltwater intrusion was found to be directly correlated to serious health issues such as hypertension, and kidney diseases. A study in Bangladesh found that women in affected areas faced higher rates of these health issues due to their greater reliance on contaminated water for household tasks.  

However, despite their significant contributions and differential burden-sharing conditions, women and girls are frequently underrepresented in decision-making processes, and face barriers to accessing resources and opportunities.  

According to the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report (2022), women hold only 27 percent of managerial positions globally and progress in closing the gender gap in the political sphere remains slow, with women holding just 26 percent of parliamentary seats and 22 percent of ministerial positions worldwide. This can also be applied to the Blue Economy and associated sectors, where women also continue to be underrepresented.  

According to the International Maritime Organization, women constitute a minor portion of the maritime industry's workforce, representing just 2 percent of seafarers globally and 20 percent of shore-based positions. Hence, there is a clear need to mainstream gender in ocean-related policy dialogues to achieve sustainable and inclusive solutions across all sectors of the Blue Economy.  

But what does it mean to mainstream gender in the Blue Economy?  

It involves ensuring that women and girls have equal access to education, training, decision-making processes, and financial resources with regards to Blue Economy-related activities. It sees the inclusion of gender-specific statistics and indicators in national statistics to enable greater visibility in decision-making processes. Think of what could be done to accelerate progress towards equality in the Blue Economy if improvements were made in the collection and use of gender disaggregated data in relation to women in small-scale fisheries, aquaculture, and the informal sector.  

Mainstreaming gender in the Blue Economy also means promoting women's leadership in marine governance and encouraging gender-sensitive and informed policies and practices. Only with such an enabling environment can financing be mobilized towards truly inclusive and gender-sensitive Blue Economy investments.