Emerging research underscores the key role of women in artisanal fisheries governance and sustainability across Chile and Peru. As regulatory reforms and international agendas promote gender equality, the sector faces growing pressure to better integrate women’s contributions to improve productivity, climate resilience, and equitable resource management.
Artisanal fisheries in Chile and Peru confront escalating climate challenges and ecosystem pressures amid longstanding structural gender imbalances. A recent joint study by UNDP under the Humboldt II project, co-financed by GEF, confirms women’s essential yet largely invisible roles across value chains—from shell removal, filleting, processing, administration, marketing, to environmental education and community care tasks. Despite this, official statistics in Peru register women’s participation at only 3%, a figure widely considered underestimated due to the narrow focus on extractive activities that neglect women’s broader contributions. Chile has begun normative reforms, exemplified by laws 21.370 and 21.709, aimed at advancing gender equity and mandating balanced representation in artisanal fisheries governance structures. Nonetheless, gaps remain in access to productive resources, training, decision-making spaces, infrastructure, and dignified work conditions. Evidence from international cases indicates that systems including women in governance perform better socially and ecologically, with improved decision-making and benefit distribution.
The study offers a roadmap advancing gender-focused governance strengthening, improved fishery infrastructure, enhanced measurement and recognition of women’s roles, and mainstreaming equality in management. Failure to close these gender gaps undermines productivity, innovation, climate adaptability, and social cohesion, threatening sector sustainability. The inclusion of women is not a peripheral issue but foundational to the resilience and sustainability of artisanal fisheries in this Pacific coastal region. Parallel national strategies, such as Spain’s 2021-2027 Gender Equality Plan and FAO-supported regional frameworks emphasizing equal participation and coastal community leadership, reflect a growing recognition across Latin America and beyond. Addressing historic exclusion of women in fishing, including on vessels and in formal governance, will influence the future of artisanal fisheries governance, ecosystem preservation, and community livelihoods in Chile, Peru, and the wider region.
