INTRODUCTION
Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is a fundamental promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and it is clearly recognised not only as a separate goal (SDG 5) but also as a prerequisite for the realisation of all the sustainable development goals1. In fisheries and the wider blue economy, the aim can be met only through a two-pronged strategy that entails gender integration in institutional processes and at the same time, providing women with specific assistance to overcome their vulnerabilities and meet their livelihood needs 2. Still, the global data indicates that the role of women in the fishery sector is often not recognised and hence their contribution remains invisible especially in the post-harvest and in the informal market segments of the value chain.
In light of this, Kerala is a paradoxical case. The state has come to be associated with such things as progressive social indicator and welfare governance but women’s work in the fisheries industry continue to be systematically pushed to the periphery. It has been estimated by various researchers that women account for about 70-80% of the complete labour force and post-harvest fisheries tasks like selling, processing, peeling, drying, and other shore activities in Kerala, but most of them are unregistered and, therefore, not counted in the official statistics3. Despite their central role in sustaining fish markets, household incomes, and coastal food security, women’s labour is rarely recognised as formal work within fisheries governance frameworks.4
The disconnect between women’s economic contribution and institution recognition has serious implication5. Limited recognition restricts access to welfare schemes, institutional credit, safe infrastructure, and social protection, reinforcing cycles of vulnerability and exclusion even in a welfare-advanced state like Kerala. Existing research has extensively documented these outcomes, but far less attention has been paid to the institutional and government design failure that reproduce such exclusion. This paper argues that without embedding gender equality into the core architecture of fisheries governance, through recognition, automatic inclusion, and enforceable standards, the SDG commitment to gender equality cannot be meaningfully realised within Kerala’s blue economy.
WOMEN IN KERALA’S BLUE ECONOMY: EVIDENCE FROM EXISTING LITERA-TURE
The literatures of this study draw primarily from three inter-related frames of work including academic research on gender and fisheries livelihoods, Kerala-specific pragmatic studies on post-harvest fisheries and informal labour, and policy-oriented assessment of fisheries governance and welfare delivery.
Academic studies on gender and fisheries consistently establish that women play a central role in post-harvest and related segments of the fisheries value chain. Research by Rejula et.al5, Sunitha12, Vipin Kumar et al13., D’Souza15, and Sajna et al6. documents women’s wide-ranging engagement in fish vending, processing, peeling, drying and related coastal occupations, while highlighting the informal and insecure nature of this work. These studies provide critical understandings into women’s occupational roles, income contribution, and the structural vulnerabilities arising from informality and lack of institutional recognition.
Kerala-specific empirical literatures further deepen this understanding by mapping the diversity of women’s livelihood beyond conventional post-harvest activities. Studies conducted by the Kerla Institute of Local Administration7 and sectoral reports such as the GAF India Report8 details women’s participation in seaweed farming, coir and shell-craft production, and small-scale coastal food enterprises. This body of literature is particularly important in demonstrating that women’s work in the fisheries sector extends well beyond fish vending, yet remains inadequately reflected in official registries and governance frameworks.
A third strand of literatures examines the institutional and governance dimensions of fisheries development in Kerala. Studies by Salim and Geetha9, along with evaluations of welfare boards and registry systems, show that fisheries institutions remain largely oriented towards capture fisheries and male fishermen. This institutional difference brings result which leads to systematic exclusion of women from worker’s registration, social security schemes, and formal welfare mechanisms. Where these were been mentioned in the reports given by the World Bank19 and UN agencies20 , where they have analysed on how these gaps for the recognition and fragmented welfare delivery has contributed to persistent exclusion of women from insurance, pensions, disaster compensation, and access to institutional credit.
The literature also includes infrastructure-focused studies that highlight gender-blind planning in fisheries development. Research by Nair and Prabhakaran10 and thematic assessments by FAO3 document how harbours, lending centres, and fish markets are designed without accounting for women’s need related to sanitation, safety, chid care, and hygienic processing spaces. These studies link inadequate infrastructure to increased occupational risk, health concerns, and reduced productivity for women workers.
Policy documents and programme evaluations such as CMFRI socio-economic surveys4, Matsyafed status paper23, and Kerala-specific welfare scheme evaluation reports have suggested the existing gaps in the implementation of fisheries governance systems. This has been a consistent pattern through these various sources. Despite Kerala having a thick policy landscape for fisheries and social protection, women’s exclusion still continues as a result of fragmented registration systems, scheme-based welfare delivery, and lack of enforceable gender-responsive standards.
When looking at the reviewed literatures together, it can be concluded that women in Kerala’s blue economy are not marginalized due to lack of proper policies, but due to institutional design and government failures. This understanding lays the conceptual groundwork for the current research which focuses on the latter rather than welfare expansion.
RESEARCH GAP
While existing studies effectively document women’s marginalisation in fisheries, much of the literature remains descriptive, focusing on livelihood challenges without sufficiently engaging with governance mechanisms that produce exclusion. There is limited analysis of how fragmented worker registries, scheme-based welfare delivery, and gender-neutral institutional design collectively undermine women’s access to rights and protections.
This paper addresses this gap by adopting a governance-centric analytical framework that links worker recognition to access and further to finance, infrastructure, and social protection. It conceptualises inclusion in the blue economy as contingent upon formal recognition within state systems rather than mere availability of welfare schemes. Based on this framework, the paper proposes four interlinked reforms that operate across identification, finance, infrastructure and social security
MATERIALS AND METHODS
This study employs a qualitative policy and institutional analysis to examine gendered exclusion in Kerala’s blue economy. This analysis is based exclusively on secondary materials that reflect both policy design and implementation outcomes within the state’s fisheries governance framework. These materials include peer reviewed academic literature on gender, fisheries, informal labour, and coastal livelihood, as well as government policy documents, programme evaluation reports, and institutional records relevant to women’s participation in fisheries and allied coastal activities in Kerala. Academic sources reviewed include studies by Rejula et al.5 , Sunitha11, Vipin Kumar et.al.12 13, D’ Souza14 and Sajna et al., which provides detailed insight into women’s occupational roles, informality, and exclusion from formal recognition system. In addition, policy and institutional materials such as Kerala Fishermen Welfare Scheme Evaluation Report15, FAO fisheries16 and gender reports published between 2020 and 2024, CMFRI socio economic surveys, Matsyafed status papers, and analytical report by the World Bank and United Nation agencies were examined. Official documentation and operational guidelines from the Fisheries Information Management System, local self-government institutions, Kudumbashree Missions, the Society for Assistance to Fisherwomen, the Kerala Institute of Local Administration and the Harbour Engineering Department were also reviewed to understand administrative process and implementation practises.
The study also follows a thematic institutional analytical approach that is widely used in governance and public policy research to examine how institutional arrangements shape access, inclusion, and exclusion. The reviewed materials were analysed to identify recurring patterns related to worker recognition and registration, access to finance and working capital, infrastructure planning and design, and the delivery of social protection benefits. The analysis does not treat these problems as separate challenges but rather emphasises their relation and cumulative impact, focusing primarily on how administrative procedures, eligibility criteria, and infrastructure norms together put women in the informal and post-harvest coastal sector at a disadvantage. The method used opens up the possibility of an integrated grasp of the situation whereby various institutional gaps are reinforcing one another and leading to continuous exclusion even when welfare-oriented policies are in place.
Building on this analysis, the reform proposals presented in the study were developed through an iterative synthesis of empirical evidence and existing institutional practise in Kerala. The study intentionally avoids recommending new schemes or parallel structure and instead identifies opportunity for institution strengthening and redesign within the existing system such as the Fisheries Information Management System, Matsyafed, welfare boards, and local self-government institutions. Each reform was evaluated for its administrative feasibility within Kerala’s current government framework, its consistency with existing policy directions including the Kerala Gender Budget and National Blue Economy strategies, and the extent to which it is supported by Kerala specific empirical evidence. This method ensures that the suggested reforms are aligned in context, supported by prevailing research and capable of being implemented within current institutional and fiscal frameworks.
TOWARDS GENDER INCLUSIVE BLUE ECONOMY GOVERNANCE IN KERALA
A. Gender-Inclusive Upgrading of the FIMS Worker Registry
Kerala has the Fisheries Information Management System (FIMS) functioning as the official digital registry of fish workers. However, the existing structure of FIMS mainly includes traditional fishing activities, which results in systematic exclusion of women engaged in post-harvest and allied coastal occupations17 Error! Bookmark not defined. Currently, the FIMS portal provides registration for inland fishermen, marine fishermen, allied workers, pensioners and Aadhar-seeded categories, but these categories do not adequately represent the full range of women’s occupations such as fish vending, fish peeling and processing, drying, seaweed farming, coir and shell-craft production, coastal food enterprises and aqua-tourism serviceError! Bookmark not defined. Error! Bookmark not defined..
Studies have indicated that women account for nearly 70-80 % of the total post-harvest operations in fisheries of India but still remain mostly unrecognized in the preceding databases and social security systems4. In cases where registries lack specific categories for this job, female workers are either absent or only partially documented, resulting in their reduced access to welfare schemes, insurance, pensions, and livelihood security measures18 19.
Thus, rather than creating a new registry, the first and most important reform should be a gender-inclusive upgrading and reshaping of the current FIMS system. This reform must begin with a thorough identification of all individuals presently included in FIMS followed by a comprehensive survey-based incorporation of the women workers in the entire marine value chain who have been excluded, as recommended in gender- inclusive framework3 Error! Bookmark not defined..The process should involve joint efforts of the Fisheries Department, Local Self-Government institutions, Matsyafed, the Society for Assistance to Fisherwomen (SAF)20, Kudumbashree networks and coastal cooperatives, reflecting multi-stakeholder approaches advocated in coastal livelihood studies21.
Once women workers are formally considered and registered, they automatically gain access to welfare schemes, insurance, pensions, disaster compensation, skill development programmes and institutional credit facilities, echoing global findings on the value of digital identity systems for women’s welfare access19. A gender-responsive FIMS with disaggregated data, occupation-specific categories and vulnerability markers would ensure more accurate policy targeting. Transforming FIMS from a fisherman-centric system into an inclusive blue-economy worker registry would be a foundational step in strengthening rights, recognition and long-term social protection for Kerala’s coastal womenError! Bookmark not defined.
B. Community Revolving Capital Fund for Coastal Women
The Matsyafed Status Paper22 indicates that women in Kerala’s blue economy frequently depend on informal money lenders for their daily capital needs, this aligns with empirical evidence showing that women fish vendors, who dominate post-harvest activities, consistently face skewed access to formal financing service and credit5. Women participating in fish vending, processing, peeling, drying and other micro-business along the cost requires small and frequent loan for purchasing fish, raw material, ice, packaging and transport service, yet formal banking procedures, high collateral requirement and restricted access to institutional finance leave them with no alternate but to approach local money lenders charging high interest rates5 .This dependence on informal credit channels create a cycle of debt and income instability, significantly limiting the growth and sustainability of women’s livelihood.
To solve this long-standing problem of women’s financial exclusion, this paper proposes a government-backed Community Revolving Capital Fund for women working in Kerala’s blue economy. Evidence from Kerala and other part of India shows that community-managed revolving funds are one of the most effective ways to support women in micro-enterprises because they provide quick, collateral- free loans, reduce dependence on money lenders, and help women maintain steady working capital5 22. In Kerala, similar group-based lending models used by Kudumbashree have already shown high repayment rates and strong financial discipline, proving that women’s collective can successfully manage shared capital. Building on this proven experience, the revolving fund for coastal women can be created through SHG’s, Kudumbashree units, Matsyafed-supported groups, and SAF- linked enterprises. When women borrow and repay within the group the same capital keeps circulating ensuring continuous access to small daily loans for buying fish ice packaging material and transport. Linking this fund with the upgraded FIMS registry will also ensure accurate identification of beneficiaries and transparent delivery of support. Together, these features make the model practical, low-cost, and immediately workable, and existing evidence strongly supports that it can break the cycle of debt and improve daily income stability for women in Kerala’s blue economy.
C. Statutory Gender-Responsive Infrastructure Standard in the Blue Economy
Although Kerala has implemented multiple fisheries and coastal infrastructure schemes through PMMSY, LSGIs, Matsyafed, and Harbour Engineering, none of these programmes include mandatory gender- responsive design standards. As a result, even newly constructed or renovated harbours, lading centres, and market often lack safe and functional women’s toilets, drinking water points, proper lighting, hygiene processing areas, secure vending spaces, resting sheds, or childcare cornersError! Bookmark not defined. Error! Bookmark not defined. 5 . Infrastructure planning under PMMSY and other programmes continue to prioritise technical and engineering criteria, while women’s specific needs are treated as optional add-ons23. The reform proposed here does not create new schemes but instead introduces legally mandatory gender-responsible infrastructure standards across all fisheries and coastal development project in Kerala. This approach is new, practical, and immediately implementable because it used the existing administrative and funding systems, inserting mandatory standards int Harbour Engineering design checklists, LSGI project DPRs, Fisheries Department technical evaluations, and Matsyafed market renovation guidelines. Legislation ensures that no facility can be built or renovated without including essential features such as separate functional toilets, well-lit safe vending areas, childcare spaces wherever more than 50 women work, and hygienic processing surfaces, standards that existing schemes allow but do not enforce. Kerala-specific studies show that when such infrastructure improvements are implemented, women’s productivityError! Bookmark not defined., income, and working hours improve significantly5 Error! Bookmark not defined..Moreover, the reform addresses the root cause of poor maintenance and accountability by instituting recurring gender audits conducted by LSGIs, Kudumbashree, SAF, and the Fisheries Department, ensuring that facilities remain functional, safe, clean, and operational over time. This reform aligns with the Kerala’s Gender Budget (2024-25)24 and NITI Aayog’s Blue Economy frameworks, which recommend compulsory gender infrastructure norms, but which have not yet been translated into binding rules. By making gender-sensitive infrastructure, but which have not yet been translated into binding rules. By making gender-sensitive infrastructure a statutory requirement, the reform fills a critical governance gap, ensuring uniform standards, enforceability, and safer, dignifies, and productive workspaces for women in Kerala’s blue economy.
D. Linking Worker Registration with Universal Social Protection for Coastal Women
Despite Kerala having multiple social protection schemes for fisherwomen, such as insurance, pensions, maternity assistance and seasonal relief, evidence shows that a large proportion of women engaged in fish vending, processing, peeling, drying, seaweed farming and allied coastal livelihoods remain excluded from these benefits due to informal work status, lack of recognition, fragmented institutional databases25 and procedural barriers14. Studies steadily establish that the non- eligibility of women for welfare schemes is not a result of absence of social protection policies, but rather due to inadequate worker identification and the necessity to reapply across different divisions, resulting in a great number of exclusion errors even in welfare state such as Kerala.
The reform has come up with a way to fix the structural gap by mandating the automatic-integration of universal social security coverage with the upgraded FIMS worker registry3 that is inclusive and hence, registration is to be the only eligibility criteria for gaining access to basic social protection26. Women workers after bring registered will get automatically eligible for health insurance, accident and life coverage, maternity benefits, disability support, seasonal livelihood assistance and old-age pensions through a single-window digital mechanism27, which means that there will be no need for multiple applications and departmental clearance28. Research done in Kerala proves that when access to welfare benefits is linked to the formal recognition of the worker, the coverage improves a lot and the delivery of benefits gets faster and fairer12. This reform by digitally bringing together the Fisheries Department, Welfare Boards, Social Justice Department, Local Self-Government Institutions, Matsyafed, and SAF not only addresses the root cause of exclusion directly, but also cuts down on bureaucratic delays23 and thus, Kerala’s social protection framework is transformed from a fragmented, scheme-based model into a universal, right-bases system for women in the blue economy20
DISCUSSION
Our work reveals that systematic exclusion of women in Kerala’s blue economy is profoundly linked across areas of recognition, finance, infrastructure and social protection5. The scrutiny reveals that shortages in one area boost weaknesses in others, thus forming a loop that restricts economic stability and empowerment3. To illustrate, partial recognition of workers means less access to formal financial support which consequently will limit investment in productive activities thus making the reliance on informal credit sources stronger29.
The gender-inclusive upgrading of FIMS, as proposed, is seen as a critical point10. Women’s formal recognition in different post-harvest and allied occupations will help policy intervention become more accurately targeted, and entitlement programs will finally reach the intended beneficiaries16.
Other similar initiatives such as, India’s e-Shram and Odisha’s Mission Shakti, also provide evidence that when informal workers are systematically registered, exclusion errors decrease, benefit targeting improves, and program implementation becomes more efficient30. The proposal is for FIMS to be made more inclusive to women across the post-harvest and allied sectors by FIMS that would serve as a foundational tool for multidimensional interventions such as financial inclusion, welfare access, and capacity building3.
The findings show that financial help for women must go beyond giving loans because social and community support is equally important27. A community-manages revolving capital fund does more than provide money because it builds collective responsibility, trust, and peer-support, which are key for sustainable microfinance22. Our study highlights that linking thus fund with formal worker registration will strengthen access and empowers women to invest in their livelihood while reducing dependence on informal money lenders30.
The presence of adequate infrastructure is a major factor besides the well-being and participation of women.10 It is not only about having the facilities but also their quality, safety, and maintenance that directly affect productivity, working hours, and health. Our study indicates that enforcing gender-responsive standards and having multiple stakeholders conduct regular monitoring can transform hazardous and uninviting work environments into secure and fruitful ones. Research also asserts that gender-sensitive infrastructure leads to better health of women and their participation in fisheries and economy3.
Connecting the worker’s registration with universal-social protection can solve the problem of lack of coverage and also can cut costs. Research has shown that the most successful social protection systems are the ones which consider worker identification as the basic for automatic eligibility, thus, the bureaucratic delays are minimized, and women are not excluded12. Digital integration facilities real-time monitoring and feedback which guarantees that the right persons receive the benefits and also instils accountability among the departments24.
The inferred coordination of reforms in recognition, finance, infrastructure, and social protection is, therefore, not only within kerala’s current system, but also crucial for the empowerment of women. Besides, the research highlights women’s confidence building, local governance support, and community networks utilizations as equally important aspects. These integrated approaches can not only develop the livelihood and mitigate the deprivations but also provide a model for inclusive governance in global blue economies.
CONCLUSION
Our study indicates that systematic barriers continue to constrain women’s full participation kerala’s blue economy. Women’s exclusion is not only about lack of welfare or scheme but stems from gap in recognition, access to finance, safe and hygienic infrastructure and streamlined social protection. The evidence shows that addressing these challenges require coordinated, context-specific reforms rather than isolated interventions. The proposed reforms of upgrading the FIMS worker registry to be gender-inclusive, establishing a community managed revolving capital fund, implementing mandatory gender-responsive infrastructure standards, and linking worker registration with universal social protections are practical, evidence-based, and feasible within Kerala’s existing governance structures. Empirical evidence has been gathered and backed by various researchers31 and studies32 3, to support the assertion that the formal recognition of employees plus the financial and infrastructural support provided from the outside will immediately and directly lead to increased productivity, better workplace safety and economic resilience. The installation of digital technology and the participation of various stakeholder agencies in the process will also contribute to better monitoring, enforcement, and responsiveness, thereby ensuring that no worker who is entitled to the benefits is left out. In short, this research has proved that the women’s sustainable empowerment in the fisheries and allied coastal sector can be achieved through a combination of institutional redesign, community participation, and policy enforcement coverage. The reforms, by creating an inclusive system that appreciates women’s contributions, provide a replicable model for blue economy governance that is equitable, efficient, and, moreover, resilient.
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Footnotes
1. V. Esquivel, Power and the Sustainable Development Goals, 20 Gender & Development 9 (2016).
2. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Towards Gender-Equitable Small-Scale Fisheries Governance (FAO, 2020).
3. Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Marine Fisheries Census 2016–2017: Kerala Report (ICAR–CMFRI, 2019).
4. A Rejula, A Ashaletha, G Suresh, N Gopal & P Mohanty, ‘Gendered Informality and Institutional Exclusion in Post-Harvest Fisheries in Kerala’ (2023) 78 Economic & Political Weekly 45.
5. Global Alliance for Fisheries India (GAF India), Women in Coastal Value Chains: India Report (GAF India 2022).
6. Sajna K., Asha K. & Anoop V., “Gendered Dimensions of Post-Harvest Fisheries Work in Kerala: Informality, Livelihoods and Exclusion”, Journal of Coastal Development (2023).
7. Kerala Institute of Local Administration, Women and Coastal Livelihoods in Kerala (KILA, Thiruvananthapuram, 2013).
8. Gender at Work Foundation India, Women in Fisheries and Allied Coastal Livelihoods in Kerala (GAF India Report, 2022).
9. Salim M and Geetha P S, Gender Dimensions of Fisheries Livelihoods and Welfare Access in Kerala (Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram 2013).
10. Nair K R and Prabhakaran P, Gender, Workspaces and Occupational Risks in Kerala’s Fisheries Sector (Kerala Institute of Labour Studies, Thiruvananthapuram 2022).
11. Sunitha M., Gender Dimensions of Marine Fisheries in India, Economic and Political Weekly, 2019.
12. Vipin Kumar V., Ramesh T., Shaji K., Women in Fisheries Value Chains in Kerala, Journal of Rural Development, 2017.
13. Vipin Kumar V., Ramesh T., Shaji K., Women in Fisheries Value Chains in Kerala: A Decadal Review, Journal of Rural Development, 2020.
14. D’Souza L., Gender, Labour and Informality in Indian Fisheries, Economic and Political Weekly, 2020.
15. Kerala Government, Kerala Fishermen Welfare Scheme Evaluation Report, Kerala Institute of Local Administration, 2023.
16. Food and Agriculture Organization, Fisheries and Gender Reports, FAO, 2020–2024.
17. Food and Agriculture Organization, Gender and Fisheries Report, FAO, 2022.
18. World Bank, Women in Fisheries: Access to Social Protection, World Bank, 2021.
19. UN Women, Gender Equality in Fisheries and Coastal Livelihoods, UN Women, 2019.
20. Society for Assistance to Fisherwomen (SAF), Annual Report 2023, SAF, 2023.
21. Kudumbashree, Annual Report on Women’s Self-Help Groups, Kudumbashree, 2022.
22. Matsyafed, Status Paper on Fisheries and Coastal Women Workers, 2024.
23. World Bank, Blue Economy and Gender Inclusion Report, 2025.
24. Kerala, Gender Budget 2024-25, Finance Department, Government of Kerala.
25. Kerala Fisherwomen Welfare Scheme Evaluation Report, 2023, Government of Kerala.
26. Aswathy S & Kalpana K, ‘Social Protection and Informal Workers in Kerala’ (2018) 53(12) Economic and Political Weekly.
27. Government of Kerala, Kerala Fisherwomen Welfare Scheme Evaluation Report (Department of Fisheries 2023).
28. Government of India, e-Shram Analytical Report (Ministry of Labour and Employment 2022).
29. Premarathne D et al, ‘Gender, Informality and Credit Access in Coastal Livelihoods’ (2025) World Development.
30. Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, e-Shram Analytical Report (2022); Government of Odisha, Mission Shakti Programme Evaluation Report (2021).
31. Harper S., Zeller D., Hauzer M., Pauly D. & Sumaila U. R., Women and Fisheries: Contribution to Food Security and Local Economies, 28 Marine Policy 56–63 (2013).
32. Kudumbashree Mission, Government of Kerala, Impact Assessment Report on Community-Based Financial Inclusion and Livelihood Models, Kudumbashree State Poverty Eradication Mission (2022).