Gendered Economies of the Blue Anthropocene (Joint Seminar hosted by CIESAS)

The first talk by  Dr. María L. Cruz-Torres, who is an Associate Professor in the School of Transborder Studies at Arizona State University, will be on Blue Economies in the Anthropocene: Women, Fisheries, and Informal Work in Mexico. 

Despite decades of work by development agencies, NGO’s, governments, and scholars to highlight or make visible the multiple roles of women in fisheries, most of women’s work still goes unnoticed, often does not show up in government statistics, and it is not recognized or attributed any social value. In Mexico, the lack of attention to the role of women in fisheries has produced a blurry picture of the real dynamics and the current issues facing fishing-dependent communities there. Moreover, the many environmental and economic challenges facing coastal communities in Mexico suggests that women’s labor has become increasingly important for household survival in the region. Also, fishing activities are not only connected to broader social and economic issues; they are also embedded in the regional and local cultures. Drawing from long-term anthropological ethnographic fieldwork, and framed within a Feminist Political Ecology Approach, this presentation discusses the manner in which women in Northwestern Mexico were able to craft and sustain a long-term livelihood as shrimp traders despite the many challenges they face. Lastly, this presentation argues that because fisheries development policies are not gender neutral, special efforts should be undertaken to recognize and acknowledge women’s experiences and their contribution to the sustainable management and conservation of fisheries systems.

The second talk by Estefany Rendón Medina, who is currently based at CIESAS-Pacífico Sur is on the subject of (in Spanish with multi-lingual transcription): El camarón da, el camarón quita: Experiencias de trabajo de mujeres obreras en las plantas congeladoras de Lerma, Campeche" (Shrimp gives (you life/sustenance), shrimp takes (life) away: work experiences of female workers in the freezing plants of Lerma, Campeche).  

Estefany's ethnographic research analyses the work experiences of thirteen women who work in the freezing plants of Ocean Snack in Lerma, Campeche, Mexico. Estefany describes their life cycles, precarious labor dynamics and the use of their bodies in a neoliberal context. Based on their accounts, she focuses on six major interrelated topics:

• The study of women in the labor market and in the manufacturing and fishing industries
• The shrimp industry in Lerma, its current crisis, and how the crisis is affecting all workers in the industry
• The operation of the freezing plants and the sexual division of labor in the processing areas
• The dynamics at work and labor precariousness, with management's  surveillance and discipline techniques as well as with the relations of competition and solidarity among coworkers
• Work spaces, the smell of seafood, the use of women's bodies in the workspace and the effects of embodied work techniques on women's physical health
• Women workers' life cycles and labor experiences to show the articulation of productive and reproductive work and the meanings of having an economic income.