Gender mainstreaming as a strategy for poverty reduction in small-scale community fisheries: a case study of Nandoni Dam, Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

Small-scale community fisheries contribute significantly to food security and livelihoods of people in communities that are endowed with the resources. The fisheries sector negotiate cultural practices for it conduct. The cultural practices in many ways are found to be gender bias in favour of men. This study sets out to assess the basis of gender discrimination in the management of the fishery sector of the Nandoni dam and to examine the role played by patriarchy in the management of the small-scale community fisheries of the dam. It analyzes the role of gender in the fisheries sector by focusing on the fishing experiences of three communities; Budeli, Manini and Dididi located around the Nandoni dam, Vhembe district of Limpopo Province (formerly, Northern Province) of South Africa, with a view to identifying the source of gender discrimination in the fisheries. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods/approaches of data collection was used to carry out the study in order to identify the people who are managing the fisheries sector and examine how they are chosen to manage the sector; to also examine the recognition and inclusion of gender in the selection process of the managers; examine the criteria used in the allocation of the fishing rights to the individuals and observe the gender equity in the allocation of the fishing rights; and finally propose gender mainstreaming strategies to be adopted by men and women to alleviate poverty in the fishing communities. Qualitative methods were used to analyze how men and women access the fisheries, as well as to highlight certain traditional aspects and life experiences of the women and men. The data were collected through interviews and focus group discussions. Quantitative methods were used to present key demographic and socio-economic characteristic of the respondents. The social construction of gender was used as the theoretical framework to discuss the findings of the study. The key findings are·that the Nandoni dam community fisheries are managed through the local authorities. The local authorities consist of the community chiefs and their ruling council who form the management. They assumed the managerial position as chiefs of the communities as part of their structural roles through traditional norms and practices. They are not selected or appointed; rather they become community chiefs on the grounds that they are born into the royal family (ancestral right), thus qualifying them to chieftaincy positions and to assume the status of managers of the fishery sector of the dam. Furthermore, the discrimination in the management of the fisheries does not only mark women but also men with no royal ties. The right to fish in the dam is an indigenous right and is not supposed to be restricted to male or female fishers.