A member of Kawanga Beach Village Committee (BVC) in Nkhata Bay, Susan Maluwa, has expressed concern that scarcity of fish is causing women involved in fish trading to be victimised by fishermen who demand sexual favours in exchange for fish sales.
Maluwa made the revelation Wednesday when journalists from various media houses who are undergoing a four-day Media Fisheries Training organised by PACT-Malawi interacted with Kawanga BVC members in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Fukamalaza in Nkhata Bay.
“Business has slowed down significantly because we no longer have fish in abundance while demand for the commodity is rising. This is negatively affecting the livelihoods of many women in fish business.
“In some instances, women who refuse sexual advances by fishermen in exchange for priority access to fish catch are heavily affected as they struggle to purchase fish since they are often denied, resulting in some women quitting the business,” Maluwa said.
Maluwa said a lot of women who face such forms of abuse do not report the incidents due to lack of knowledge on where to report.
Principal Fisheries Officer responsible for research in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Climate Change, Salim M’balaka, highlighted that the Department of Fisheries views “sex for fish” as a form of Gender-Based Violence.
“As a department, we have set out to tackle the problem by partnering with the Ministry of Health to bring in awareness campaigns to sensitize communities on the dangers of this practice and ensure that people are protected,” M’balaka said.
M’balaka emphasized that while efforts are being made to address sex-for-fish, there are several challenges that need to be addressed, one of which is the economic vulnerability faced by women in their pursuit to securing fish for sustenance of their livelihoods.
The Malawi Gender Equality Act of 2013 prohibits sexual harassment with a penalty of about $1,000 and a five-year jail term.
In 2017, government approved a revised version of the National Fisheries and Aquaculture Policy to help mitigate some of the gender issues affecting the fishing sector.
Reported by George Mponda
