International Women’s Day 2022- GAF

Getting to the Core Principles of Gender and Fisheries

8 March 2022

The Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Section of the Asian Fisheries Society (GAFS), celebrates International Women’s Day 2022 by releasing its Core Principles statement. The GAFS Core Principles are based on the formal Objectives in our By Laws, and our own and others’ experiences working in gender equality. The Principles have been drafted, discussed and put through open consultation among GAFS members and other interested experts.

“The Principles cover how we do our R&D, the enabling environment for gender equality, what gender equality looks like in fisheries governance and how to ensure the rights of women and gender minorities,” said Danika Kleiber, Membership Committee Coordinator for GAFS who led the drafting and consultation. “We work in a challenging field and developing the Core Principles helped us to stand back and think about how our work can best make a difference in people’s lives. We also look at emerging knowledge and data gaps, such as the role of gender minorities.”

According to the GAFS Chair, Meryl Williams, “each year the Section and our members are making more representations to global consultations and working actively in their organisations and countries. We decided to develop the Core Principles to guide our members when they represent GAFS in meetings, conferences, projects and in advising on policy.”

“The Core Principles offer guidance of a practical nature, such as paying attention to women’s work in the whole value chain, the importance of data collection and women’s representation and collective action,” said Nikita Gopal, the Vice-Chair of GAFS. “We look forward to working with our many partners who share our objectives and approaches.”


Gender in Aquaculture and Fisheries Section, Asian Fisheries Society (GAFS): GAFS is the world’s first section in a mainstream fisheries professional society to be solely devoted to gender equality objective. Within the Asian Fisheries Society (AFS), and through a long series of professional workshops, symposia, conferences and other events, GAFS roots started in India in 1990. In 2016 GAFS was approved to become a formal Section and it was launched in 2017. https://www.genderaquafish.org/