Filipino Women in Coastal Resources Management: The Need for Social Recognition

Abstract

This paper focuses on the involvement in coastal resources management of women in subsistencefishing households and their specific contributions as managers of scarce resources. Recognizing the major involvement of wives in household as well as in the local fishing economy, this paper argues that women have equal right as their husbands to be considered as stakeholders in carrying out the objectives of a community coastal resource management program. Like their husbands, women have equal responsibilities as well as• privileges in the program, Their concerns an equally important and must be similarly recognized. In arguing this case for women, this paper will examine the community-based coastal resources management program of Apo Island in the Philippines to demonstrate the extent of women's involvement from the initial stage of its implementation to the present. As such, this paper is intended to be a response to the challenge of feminist environmental groups to recognize the emerging visibility of women, particularly the wives, in all aspects of the local economy.