Southeast Asia: Fewer fish, ageing fishers

Declining incomes and ageing villages mean that women are likely to be the mainstay of families and communities in the small-scale fisheries in Southeast Asia. In the last few decades, attention on and analysis of women in fisheries and aquaculture have changed tremendously, especially in Southeast Asia. In the 1990s, just talking about women’s role in fisheries was considered to be new. Later on, women in the fisheries network emerged with the leadership of the Mekong River Commission, and Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries symposiums started to be organized. However, the discussion was mainly around gender division of labour.