Women in Fisheries in Turkey

At least one out of every 30 fishers is a woman, in Turkey.

While women play a very important role in fishing, they face serious structural problems due to gender discriminations in the sector, like the perception of fishing as a “male profession” in society.

Common problems of women fishers in Turkey

• Since women fishers can not own a boat(due to gender discrimination in the family structures), they cannot appear in the official records and cannot become partners in fishing cooperatives. Therefore, the labor of women fishers at sea goes unnoticed and cannot be recorded.
• Women fishers cannot be organized or represented in the cooperatives, and cannot take part in decision-making mechanisms. As a result, the presence and decisions of women fishers are not reflected in fishery policies.
• Most of the time, they work in the lowest positions and in these positions are low paid and/or informal, temporary and/or part-time.
• They are still struggling to access resources vital to economic recovery, such as capitals, loans or educational opportunities.
• Social norms that oblige women to their local regions and prevent them from participating in traditional men’s activities also make it more difficult for women to do their jobs. Household and childcare responsibilities restrict women fishers by tying them home and limiting their possibilities to diversify and improve their livelihoods.
• Since social security is given priority to men in fishers’ families, women fishers cannot benefit from social security.