Women, capitals and fishing lives: exploring gendered dynamics in the Llŷn peninsula small-scale fishery (Wales, UK)

Abstract

Many researchers have noted the under-representation of women within fisheries policy and academic research. Fishing men – in commonly being the registered fisher and most often performing the visible tasks of fishing – have been the primary focus of fishing statistics as well as the subject of more in-depth qualitative analyses. Recent work focusing on fishing men in small-scale fisheries has drawn on Bourdieusian notions of capital(s) to examine how capital is accrued and exchanged as fishers seek to (re)position within their fishing network. This paper develops this framework by examining the role and position(s) of women in the development and transformation of capital(s). Drawing on in-depth qualitative research with fishing families in a case study of the Llŷn peninsula, Wales (UK), the paper explores how the gendering of particular fishing places and practices, as well as discursive downplaying of women’s actual involvement in fishing, limit the extent to which women are able to accrue and exhibit capital. We find that women’s everyday, often ‘hidden’, activities are central to facilitating capital development and circulation within the fishing family businesses. Whilst we note that fishing remains a masculinised activity – particularly those aspects performed at sea – we examine how the position of women in the industry has changed over time and how this might have significant ramifications for the future of fishing in this area.