TY - JOUR
T1 - "Ocean Optimism" and Resilience
T2 - Learning from women's responses to disruptions caused by COVID-19 to small-scale fisheries in the Gulf of Guinea
AU - Okafor-Yarwood, Ifeshinachi Marybenedette
AU - Berg, Sayra van den
AU - Collins, Yolanda Ariadne
AU - Sefa-Nyarko, Clement
PY - 2022/6/22
Y1 - 2022/6/22
N2 - This study examines the response of women to disruptions caused by COVID-19 in small-scale fisheries (SSF) in the Gulf of Guinea (GOG). It interrogates the concept of resilience and its potential for mitigating women’s vulnerability in times of adversity. We define resilience as the ability to thrive amidst shocks, stresses, and unforeseen disruptions. Drawing on a focus group discussion, in-depth interviews with key informants from Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria, and a literature review, we highlight how COVID-19 disruptions on seafood demand, distribution, labour and production acutely affected women and heightened their pre-existing vulnerabilities. Women responded by deploying both negative and positive coping strategies. We argue that the concept of resilience often romanticises women navigating adversity as having ‘supernatural’ abilities to endure disruptions and takes attention away from the sources of their adversity and from the governments’ concomitant failures to address them. Our analysis shows reasons for “ocean optimism” while also cautioning against simplistic resilience assessments when discussing the hidden dangers of select coping strategies, including the adoption of digital solutions and livelihood diversification, which are often constructed along highly gendered lines with unevenly distributed benefits.
AB - This study examines the response of women to disruptions caused by COVID-19 in small-scale fisheries (SSF) in the Gulf of Guinea (GOG). It interrogates the concept of resilience and its potential for mitigating women’s vulnerability in times of adversity. We define resilience as the ability to thrive amidst shocks, stresses, and unforeseen disruptions. Drawing on a focus group discussion, in-depth interviews with key informants from Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria, and a literature review, we highlight how COVID-19 disruptions on seafood demand, distribution, labour and production acutely affected women and heightened their pre-existing vulnerabilities. Women responded by deploying both negative and positive coping strategies. We argue that the concept of resilience often romanticises women navigating adversity as having ‘supernatural’ abilities to endure disruptions and takes attention away from the sources of their adversity and from the governments’ concomitant failures to address them. Our analysis shows reasons for “ocean optimism” while also cautioning against simplistic resilience assessments when discussing the hidden dangers of select coping strategies, including the adoption of digital solutions and livelihood diversification, which are often constructed along highly gendered lines with unevenly distributed benefits.
KW - "Ocean Optimism"
KW - Resilience
KW - Covid-19
KW - Livelihood diversification
KW - gender
KW - women
KW - small-scale
KW - fisheries
KW - Gulf of Guinea
U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2022.862780
DO - 10.3389/fmars.2022.862780
M3 - Article
SN - 2296-7745
VL - 9
SP - 1
EP - 16
JO - Frontiers in Marine Science
JF - Frontiers in Marine Science
IS - 862780
ER -
