Tides Of Resilience: Social Impact Journalism On Women Fisherfolk In India
Mohanraj T P, Research Scholar, GLC Ernakulam
Dr. Lekshmi G R, Assistant Professor, GLC Ernakulam
Dr. Anoop K K, Assistant Professor, FFM KUFOS
ABSTRACT
Women Fisherfolk in India play a critical role in the fisheries value chain from pre-harvest activities to processing, marketing, and community support yet their contributions remain largely invisible in policy, media, and formal recognition. Social impact journalism that highlights these gendered experiences not only amplifies marginalized voices but also documents resilience strategies, coping responses, and collective actions of women in fishery-based livelihoods. This paper synthesizes academic research, media reporting, and journalistic projects to explore how storytelling influences social awareness, policy discourse, and community empowerment among Indian women fisherfolk.
Introduction
Women play crucial yet often overlooked roles in India’s fisheries sector, particularly in postharvest activities such as fish processing, drying, gutting, packaging, and marketing, which are essential to the industry’s supply chain but frequently undervalued and underpaid. In many coastal communities, women are responsible for tasks ranging from sorting and preserving fish to selling products in local markets, and in some regions they even engage in net mending, shellfish collection, and other supplementary activities that contribute to household and community livelihoods. Despite accounting for nearly half of the workforce in fisheries and aquaculture when post-harvest work is included, women’s contributions receive significantly less recognition than those of men, who dominate actual capture fishing and hold most official fisherfolk identity cards and associated benefits such as welfare support and access to credit. This gendered division of labor reflects deep-rooted patriarchal norms that relegate women’s work to informal and low-status categories, limiting their economic mobility and access to resources, training, and decision-making platforms.
