Women in Aquaculture Research and Training
| NACA-SF/WP/89/15 | July 1989 |
|
Women in Aquaculture Research and Training |
UNDP/FAO REGIONAL SEAFARMING DEVELOPMENT AND
DEMONSTRATION PROJECT
NETWORK OF AQUACULTURE CENTRES IN ASIA
National Inland Fisheries Institute
Kasetsart University Campus
Bangkhen, Bangkok
Thailand.
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1.0 Introduction and background
2.0 Literature: An eclectic review
3.0 Women and aquaculture research
4.0 Women and aquaculture training
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. Composition and gender distribution of aquaculture manpower in SEAFDEC, 1988
by
Kee-Chai Chong1
D.B.S. Sehara2
2 Aquaculture Economist, Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia, Bangkok, Thailand.
Concerns for the status, role and welfare of women, statistically comprising the other half of the human race culminated in the declaration of the UN Decade of the Women in 1980. This is partly in recognition of the enormous economic and social benefits lost and costs incurred of not actively involving women in the development process. They represent opportunities foregone. One of the main purpose of this Declaration is to bring about greater awareness of the potential contribution women can make to society and how they can be effectively integrated in development in general and in agricultural and rural development in particular. Poverty is a rural problem in many countries and fish production has been singled out as one significant means to alleviate this persistent poverty.
The nature and complexity of the problem to bring about greater participation of women in the development process can be appreciated by noting that after more than a decade of attention and direct assistance, the problem remains. It is a sensitive issue emoting strong feelings and one which is not clearly understood by both proponents and opponents alike.
As an initial step to objectively assess the situation, a survey on “women in aquaculture profession” is carried out. In particular, this survey will examine women in aquaculture research and training. It is a logical first step as research and training are necessary to underpin the development of the industry. Besides, the Workshop on “Women in Aquaculture” held in Rome by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in April 1987 noted that statistics on women in the aquaculture profession is scanty (FAO, 1987).
The basic purpose of this survey on aquaculture R and D/E manpower is to take stock of the extent of women's participation in research, development and extension activities in relations to that of men. Aquaculture training is also included in the survey. Accordingly, a general survey of the distribution of aquaculture manpower and training between the two sexes was carried out among the aquaculture institutions in the region. Special attention was focused on the professional status and occupational choice of women within aquaculture.
Altogether, 12 countries supplied the data for the analysis of gender distribution of aquaculture manpower in the region.
In a traditionally male-dominated world, women have historically been barred from every possible activities both in-and outside the home. Much of these have to do with ignorance, myths, religious and cultural taboos and simple lack of understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the women.
Gender roles established in the olden days were handed down from one generation to another. The fact that through the ages women have been referred to as the weaker sex has not helped either. Women were and still are by and large confined to looking after the family and household: tending to the daily needs of the home such as minding the children, food production and preparation, fetching water, collecting wood for the kitchen and general housekeeping. The men were to provide for the needs of the family, including going to war or defend the family and community (also nation) from external threats and aggression to the family, community and nation.
Men have traditionally played the role of the active provider while the women passive dependents. Thus, through the ages Man's vocabulary and behaviour have evolved under this gender orientation and historical gender context. It is little wonder today that our vocabulary is labelled as sexist. Mankind (another sexist word) is undergoing a rethinking on the entire fabric and structure of human existence, especially on the status, role and contribution of both men and women to society. Are these gender neutral? Or will there always be a division of labour between the male and female due to each sex's physical, anatomical or physiological differences?
This gender division build into all languages is reinforced into our social organisation and structure as well as our educational system. The resulting gender division and roles are constantly being reinforced and soon become perpetuated and institutionalised.
Thus far, all the labour contributed by women within the family and household are not recorded and unaccounted for in the national accounting system. As such, such labour are unpaid1 On top of this, women have also been largely barred from essential services and opportunities. These included but were by no means limited to education and training to develop new marketable skills, health care, employment and other income-generating activities. Such activities outside the home were often denied to them, not the least being ignorance, religious taboos and cultural restrictions.
The nature of the problem was well spelled out in a 1977 UNDP communication to all its project administrators on the guidelines to integrate women in development. To quote:
First of all, women's role in development is complex. Directly or indirectly (sic), it affects the full spectrum of societal activities. If we start with development planning, for the majority of developing countries the sectors most immediately relevant are agriculture, education and health. Less uniformly and in varying degree, commerce, finance and industry are also important. Additionally, there are multiple linkages between and within sectors. Taken together these various factors point, among other things, to the need for women to play an active part in planning and decision-making at all levels of administration and management. The reason is simply that without women's active contribution to the formulation of the conceptual framework for development, women's role in society is not likely to undergo any basic change. At the present stage of affairs this point deserves special attention in view of a common shortage of qualified female planners and administrators and the consequent need for special efforts to overcome this shortage.
Even today, after more than a decade of work on women, the United Nations Population Fund in its annual report on the State of World Population (1989) reaffirms:
Slower population growth in developing countries and economic progress without irreversible damage to the environment will depend on investments in women, including health care, family planning services, education and better-paid employment outside the home. … The results of ignoring the needs of women are uncontrolled population growth, high infant and child mortality, weakened economy, inefficient agriculture, low living standards and steadily deteriorating environment for all.
The concerns expressed above are arrived at from observing that women are less educated than men and they marry young, usually as young as 9 years old. In Pakistan, male children take up 70 % of available places in schools. Similar patterns are observed in other countries.
Researchers studying 46 countries have found that one percent rise in women's literacy rate is three times more effective in reducing infant mortality than a one percent increase in the number of doctors (UNPF, 1989). The result of this study has very profound implications on the future direction of development planning.
Data from Thailand, cited by the National Commission of Women's Affairs suggest that women are less productive than men. In addition, there are three times as many men than women in executive, managerial and administrative work. Thai women's own view of themselves compounds the problem even further. According to the Commission, a large number of Thai women also believe that they are actually inferior to men which undermine their already low status in Thailand.
These and other similar views held by both men and women further nullify efforts at bringing about greater integration of women into the mainstream as equals. Following below, an examination of the situation through the analysis of the data provided by the institutions surveyed is made.
The status, role, degree of participation and contribution of women in aquaculture depend to a large extent on the level and stage of development of the industry in the respective country. These are also tempered by the social customs and culture of the people towards woman's status and role in the community and society.
In countries with well established aquaculture industry, women have made major inroads into the research, extension and training profession. One such country is the Philippines as the data from the Philippines will clearly attest. On the other hand, where aquaculture is still relatively new or is not well developed, women's participation is quite limited and generally confined to providing certain manual labour like pond preparation and preparation of fish feeds and feeding. Net making and retailing fish in the village are also commonly observed. They likewise may provide such labour for experimental work on research stations.
Following below is a country by country summary of the status, role and participation of women in aquaculture research, training extension and administration. Altogether, the survey covered 13 countries in the region: Bhutan, Brunei, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.
India: As of 1988, there are 919 staff being employed by the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute in Cochin, Kerala, India. Of this total, only 11 % are females or 98 persons. Fifty percent of the female employees are in administration and another 32 % in research. Only two female staff are involved in extension and information-related activities. The rest perform miscellaneous office jobs.
Of the male employees, 375 or 41 % are engaged in research, 36 % in miscellaneous activities such as laboratory and experimental farm work. About 100 men are found in administrative work. The rest or 14 persons are in extension and information exchange. More women are found in administrative work than men, reflecting a gender preference for such work in the division of labour between the two sexes.
As far as educational qualifications of female employees are concerned, about 5 % have Ph.D, 18 % M.S. and 11 % B.S. degrees. The rest are high school graduates. More or less similar pattern of distribution of educational qualifications is found among the males. In total, 68 % of the employees are high school graduates.
China: Based on the data provided by the Chinese Government, there are 20,682 staff working in aquaculture all over China in 1988. Of the total aquaculture manpower, about one-fourth are female employees, distributed as follows:
| * | Administration | 50 % |
| * | Research | 6 % |
| * | Extension/Information | 6 % |
| * | Training | 25 % |
| * | Others | 13 % |
Not unlike women, more men are also found in administrative positions (50 %). The ratio of men to women in administration, research and extension is at present 3:1. The reverse is the case for training, that is to say, three times as many women are found in training than men.
The NACA Regional Lead Centre in China, Asian-Pacific Regional Centre for Research and Training for Integrated Fish Farming has 57 staff, of which 20 are women or 35 %. A good representation of women (8) is found in research. In extension and information exchange, they (7) outnumber the men. Men dominate in the field of training with 30% of the total staff. In contrast, only 3 women (5 %) are involved in training.
At the national level, there is no difference between the men and women as far as educational qualification is concerned.
Philippines: The composition, distribution and professional status of Philippines aquaculture manpower between men and women is partly indicative of the stage of development of the industry in the country.
Out of 393 staff in the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources under the Department of Agriculture working in aquaculture, 171 (44 %) are women and the rest are men (56 %). About 73 % of the women are engaged in extension/information exchange, 15 % in training, 10 % in research and 2 % in administration. Similar distribution is also reported for men: 64 % in extension/information exchange, 26 % in training, 6 % in research and 4 % in administration. In the field of research, women outnumber the men.
About 71 % of the women were graduates, including 7 % with post-graduate degrees. As for men, 62 % were graduates, again including 7 % post-graduates. There are therefore more female graduates than male graduates.
On the other hand, the Aquaculture Department of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Centre has a total of 566 employees. The main concentration of the staff is in administration and research, accounting for 46 and 40 % respectively. Of the administrative staff, 41 are female and 218 male. In research, there are 72 women and 157 men researchers. Figure 1 provides a detailed breakdown of the staff composition.
The overall educational level of women employees is higher in comparison to the men: 50 vs 25 % at the graduate level, 34 vs 8 % at the post-graduate level and 2 vs 6 Ph. D's. Two-thirds of the men are non-degree holders.
| 566 employees | ||||
| Administration | Research | Extension | Training | Others |
| 259 | 229 | 40 | 23 | 15 |
| (46 %) | (40 %) | (7 %) | (4 %) | (3 %) |
| 41F | 72F | 21F | 7F | 2F |
| (29 %) | (50 %) | (15 %) | (5 %) | (1 %) |
| 218M | 157M | 19M | 16M | 13M |
| (52 %) | (37 %) | (4 %) | (4 %) | (3 %) |
| (Note: F = female and M = male. Figures in parenthesis are percentages) | ||||
Figure 1. Composition and Gender Distribution of Aquaculture Manpower in SEAFDEC, 1988.
Republic of Korea: The Fisheries Research and Development Agency (FRDA) employed 818 people in 1988. About 18 % are in administration, 26 % in research, 30 % in extension/information exchange. No staff is involved in training. Seven percent of the employees are women and they are mainly in research.
In the field of aquaculture, there are about 428 staff or about 52 % of the FRDA staff. Of the 7 % women staff in FRDA, 17 women or 2 % work in aquaculture: 7 in research, 3 in extension and information exchange. Of the 411 men employees, 246 or 60 % are in extension, 107 or 26 % in research, 15 or 4 % in administration and the rest (10 %) in various unclassified responsibilities.
In aquaculture, 12 % of the women employees are university graduates and another 24 % are post-graduates. There is no Ph.D among the women. Among the men, 20 % are graduates and only 5 % post-graduates and 1 % with Ph.D qualification.
Indonesia: Under the Central Institute for Fisheries Research in Indonesia which comprises:
there are altogether 157 personnel. They are distributed about equally among the 3 institutes. Female personnel accounts for about 28 % of the staff in the freshwater fisheries institute, about 17 % in coastal aquaculture and 70% in marine fisheries. No staff is involved in extension activities as this function is the responsibility of the Directorate General of Fisheries. Approximately 95 % of the entire staff are engaged in research. This employment pattern is similar for the women.
An examination of the data on educational background shows that about 7 % of the staff are graduates, 18 % post-graduates and 4.4 % Ph. D degree holders. Among female staff, about 15 % have post-graduate degrees and 2.6 % with Ph.D qualification. There is no female staff with B.S. degrees.
Malaysia: Within the Department of Fisheries, there are 483 aquaculture manpower. This includes manpower available at head office, state offices and 9 fisheries research stations. At the headquarters, there are 17 persons, including 2 female staff. All of them are in extension/information exchange. The state offices's staff consist of 7 female employees and 119 men staff who are mainly engaged in extension/information exchange and administration. The staff at the 9 research stations similarly are involved in research, training and administration. Female employees hardly constitute 8 % of the entire aquaculture manpower.
The majority of the staff are non-graduates, estimated at 89.4 %. About 24 % of the female staff are graduates and 2.6 % post-graduates as against 7.2 % graduates and 2 % post-graduates among males.
Thailand: The Thai Department of Fisheries is organised into the following 4 divisions or institutes concerned with culture fisheries:
Under the Brackishwater Division, there is one Brackishwater Fisheries Station located in Satul. The Division has 131 staff, of which 32 (24 %) are women. The coastal aquaculture institute has 6 (23 %) female staff out of a total of 26 personnel. The Satul station has 43 employees but only 3 women on its staff.
Out of a total staff strength of 168 employees, the Freshwater Division has 39 women. On the other hand, the National Inland Fisheries Institute has about equal number of men and women on its staff of 45 persons.
Within the Department, 45 staff are in administration, 273 in research, 74 in extension/information exchange and 43 in “other” job classification. About 15% of the 273 research staff are in research. In extension/information exchange, women dominate the men by slightly more than 5:1 ratio. However, in general the number of female to male employees within the Department is about one-fourth.
Of the women in fisheries, about 62 % have B.S. degrees, 26 % with M.S, degrees and 4 % Ph.D degrees. A similar pattern of distribution in educational background holds for the men: 64 % with B.S. degrees, 17 % M.S. and 2 % Ph.D qualification.
Singapore: The manpower available with the Aquaculture Branch of the Primary Production Department is about 90 staff. The distribution of the 25 female staff is as follows: 6 in administration, 1 in research, 3 in extension/information exchange, 3 in training and the balance in other office responsibilities which are not specified. For the men, they are distributed as follows: 3 in administration, 7 in research, 5 in extension/information exchange, 4 in training and 46 in other Aquaculture Branch activities.
As for educational qualification of the female staff, 6 are graduates and 1 with a Ph.D degree. The qualification of the rest of the female staff is not provided. Out of the 65 male employees in the Branch, 6 have B.S. degrees, 1 with Ph.D degree and the rest (58) are classified as having “other” educational background. From the above, it appears that women in the Aquaculture Branch as a group are relatively better educated than the men (28 % as opposed to 12 %). This is also true in 3 other institutions surveyed.
Brunei: The Aquaculture Section of the Brunei Department of Fisheries has only 35 staff members including 10 women. Of this 10 women, two are in administration and the rest are in other miscellaneous office duties. Similarly, only 3 men are in administration and the other 22 attend to other unspecified office tasks. Based on the data supplied by the Department, no one either male or female is reported to be in research, training or extension/information exchange.
With respect to educational background of the aquaculture staff, one female staff has post-graduate degree; no B.S. or Ph.D degree holder is reported. Among the men, one has a B.S. degree and two with M.S. degrees.
Hong Kong: The Agriculture and Fisheries Department of Hong Kong has 29 staff members in total. The number of female employees is only 2 or 7 %, one each in research and extension. No staff is reported to be in training. The men are found in administration (5), research (4), extension/information exchange (5) and others (13). One of the two female staff is a Ph.D graduate while the other has lower than a university education. Among the men, 4 have B.S. degrees. No information was available on the qualification of the other 23 workers.
Pakistan: There are only 9 aquaculture staff in the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council. Women constitutes one-third (3) of the staff strength: 2 in research and the other in unspecified responsibility. Among the men, 5 are in research and the other in administration. The Council did not furnish any data on the staff composition for extension and training activities.
Only one woman is a post-graduate and the other two have non-university education. For the men, three have post-graduate degrees: 2 M.S. and 1 Ph.D.
Viet Nam: In Viet Nam, five different organisations are responsible for fisheries, including aquaculture. They are respectively:
The RIA 1 has 120 employees, Institute of Marine Products Research 52, Seaweed Centre 85 and Central Aquaculture Company 412 employees. By far the largest number of women is employed by the aquaculture company, 230 persons. In this company, the women outnumber the men. The combined number of women workers in the 4 Vietnamese institutions is about 48 % of the total staff reported in the survey. Most of the women, like their male counterparts work in administration, research and other trades. There are very few staff in extension/information and training in the 4 institutions surveyed.
There is no female Ph.D on the staff of either of the 4 institutions. The percentage of woman graduates and post-graduates is also very low. Among males, 11 are Ph.D, 111 B.S. and 76 M.S. graduates. The remainder have other than university qualification. In Viet Nam, the education status of men is higher than women.
Formal education and training opportunities have traditionally been inaccessible to women through the ages. These were largely reserved for males. One means to improve the living standards of the families of fish farmers and fishermen, in particular the small scale operators, is to provide appropriate training to women. The knowledge and skills acquired can then be put to good use to earn and provide for the family: better food, better clothing, better medical attention, better educational opportunities and other basic necessities for the family, especially the children. Education (training) is a basic human right. Education and training open the door into opportunities.
It is frequently cited that the majority of training and extension activities being carried out are implemented by men. As the survey data will show below, this is no longer or not true even in societies in which the mobility and visibility of women are controversial.
India: Most of the training courses in India are organised through the Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK) of the fisheries institutes under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Details provided by two KVK's in Kausalyagang show that a total of 77 courses have been organised in fisheries and another 22 in home science from 1977 to 1985. In total, 1,882 farmers were trained in fisheries, including 308 women in home science. These courses were either organised as on- or off-campus training programmes.
Details on the educational background of the trainees were not available. No definite trend was observed in the number of participants trained in fisheries during the 9 years the courses were conducted. However, for the home science courses, the number of women participants is increasing. This is to be expected because the course caters to the needs of the womenfolk. Both courses were of short duration, lasting from 10 to 30 days.
The training courses conducted by the KVK attached to the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Cochin included training in mariculture, pearl culture, prawn farming, seaweed culture, oyster culture, hatchery seed production, fisheries statistics and population dynamics. Altogether, 2,761 trainees including one foreign participant were trained from 1983–1987. A most interesting and gratifying feature of these courses is that women participants (1,717) exceeded the men (1044) by almost 65 %. Further, more and more female trainees are being trained in these courses.
Of the 1,717 women trained, about 25 % have high school diplomas and the rest are categorised as “others”. “Others” as used here denotes less than a high school qualification. Among males, 32 % have high school qualification, 12 % are graduates and post-graduates and the rest (56 %) are classified under “others”. This shows that male trainees are better educated than females. There were no female resource persons though, only men.
China: Courses organised by the NACA Regional Lead Centre in China include but are not limited to fish disease prevention, technology on pond fish culture, freshwater fish culture, fish nutrition, environment and ecology, carp seed production and integrated fish farming. These training courses are also generally well attended by participants from overseas. To-date, international participants have come from 35 countries. All the participants are sponsored by either the Chinese Government or bilateral or multilateral agencies such as ADB, CIDA, FAO/UNDP, IDRC, NACA and World Bank.
Out of 841 participants trained since 1983, about 12 % are women: 64 Chinese women and 38 women from other countries. Of the 102 women trained since 1983, close to 80 % obtained their training only since 1986 (54 participants) and 1987 (26 participants). Even though the number of female participants declined to only 9 persons in 1988, it is safe to say that more and more training opportunities are opening up to women, if they should seek them. Among the 739 men, about 21 % are from abroad and the rest are Chinese.
Sixty-two percent of the female trainees as compared to 36 % of the male trainees are degree holders.
According to the Bureau of Aquatic Products of the Ministry of Agriculture, two other courses which are popular are English and Japanese language training. The former is organised by the Shanghai Fisheries University and Xiamen Fisheries College since 1984 while the latter is conducted by the Dalian Fisheries College since 1984. In addition, the China Society of Fisheries also carried out a training course on fish/shrimp feeds. A total of 326 persons were trained, of which 54 are women.
Philippines: The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), especially through its Regional Fisheries Training Centres organised many different training courses, mostly of short duration on extension methodology, aquafarming, livelihood, prawn pond culture techniques, improved milkfish pond management techniques, prawn culture management, seaweed farming, fish farm management and post-harvest technology since 1983.
The BFAR-FAO/UNDP-ASEAN-UP (Marine Science) seaweed farming training course was attended by 18 participants, 13 of whom were overseas participants; the remainder were Filipino trainees. In the other courses, only local participants were trained. In all, 6,556 persons were trained including 851 Filipinas (female) or 13 %. The majority (35 %) of the participants was trained in 1985 alone. Training activities appear to taper off since 1985 as the number of trainees, male and female was decreasing.
About 96 % of the female trainees as against 94 % of men were degree-holders; the rest were high school graduates. In total, 148 female and 154 male resource persons (trainers) respectively were involved in the BFAR training activities.
Similarly, the Aquaculture Department of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Centre (SEAFDEC) organised a multitude of different training courses on a wide range of subjects: prawn hatchery, prawn development, pond culture, freshwater aquaculture, brackishwater fish farming, oyster/mussel development, culture and sanitation of tropical bivalves, mollusc depuration and hatchery techniques, aquabusiness project development and management (APDEM), tilapia cage culture and hatchery, fish farming engineering, induced spawning and seed production of carps, aquaculture economics, fish health, among others since 1983.
Overall, the Department imparted training to 155 female and 581 male trainees. Of this, 154 were foreign participants, distributed as follows: 29 women and 125 men. The educational background of the men and women is about the same, about 75 % of each group have a university degree. Resource persons for the courses were drawn from local and overseas institutions. Since 1983, 41 % of the trainers were women. The men comprised 54 % of the trainers. The remaining 5 % were foreign resource persons. They are mainly men.
Republic of Korea: Based on the survey returns from the South Korean Fisheries Research and Development Agency (FRDA), no aquaculture training was offered during the last 5 years.
Indonesia: In Indonesia, the Agency for Agricultural Extension, Training and Education or AAETE is solely responsible for conducting training courses. The training requirements of the Central Institute for Fisheries Research and the Directorate General of Fisheries are looked after by this Agency. As such, no data was available from the Central Institute for Fisheries, Research and the Directorate General of Fisheries.
Based on the data supplied by the Seafarming Development Centre in Bandar Lampung, Sumatra under the Directorate General of Fisheries, 14 Indonesians attended seafarming demonstration and training courses on seaweed culture (Philippines), oyster culture (Republic of Korea), seabass culture (Thailand) and finfish net cage culture (Singapore). Only one woman staff participated in the training offered.
Malaysia: The National Prawn Production and Research Centre, Pulau Sayak conducted 5 courses, namely, green mussel culture, brackishwater pond culture, brackishwater cage culture, giant prawn (Macrobrachium) hatchery operation and penaeid shrimp hatchery operations. Altogether, 1,160 men were trained. No woman participated in these courses.
The Finfish/Shrimp Hatchery Centre at Tanjung Demong provided training to 14 Malaysians on seabass nursery techniques. Again, all the trainees were men. The Inland Fisheries Training Centre at Enggor carried out a training programme on “Basic Freshwater Fisheries Course” which benefited 94 (8 %) women and 1,103 (92 %) men. A total of 98 persons, comprising 95 men and 3 women attended courses in freshwater fishery techniques, freshwater fish and prawn management at the Freshwater Fisheries Centre, Bukit Tinggi. There is no foreign trainees in all these courses. Overall, only 4 % of the trainees were female.
For females, 75 % of them are high school graduates; for men, it is only 39 %. The percentages of degree holders, about 2-3 % is about the same in the 2 categories. The data shows that female trainees were better qualified than the men. As for resource persons, 32 % were women.
Thailand: Slightly less than 15 times more females than males were trained by the Training Section of the Department of Fisheries: 3,527 as against 238 during the last 5 years. An interesting feature of these training courses is the rapid increase in the number of women being trained over the last 5 years.
In the last 5 years, Satul station has trained 1,057 persons in aquaculture. In the Satul training programme, women made up only one-fourth of the total number of trainees. Less than 3 % of the trainees had a high school (1 %) or university (1.4 %) education. About 25 % of the resource persons were women.
Singapore: During the period from 1984–1986, the Aquaculture Branch conducted 13 training courses on aquarium fish keeping, breeding and diseases, aquarium fish culture, aquarium fish health monitoring and marine finfish netcage culture. In all, 113 persons were trained but the number of female participants was a meager 4. Of the 15 foreign participants trained in aquaculture, two were females.
Among the female trainees, two were high school graduates and two university graduates. Out of the 109 male participants, 53 % have completed high school and 27 % were university graduates. The others had qualifications not specified above. A total of 23 women and 55 men provided the course lectures and instructions.
Brunei: The Brunei Fisheries Department conducted training courses on basic aquaculture of 1–5 month duration for its staff and farmers. These courses are referred to as in-house training. About 65 participants attended the courses offered from 1985– 1987. The number of female trainees was only 5; the 1987 course had the largest number of participants, 4 out of 5. From the data, it is apparent that aquaculture training is being stepped up, especially since 1985. Only one female and two male had high school education. The qualification of the other 62 participants was not provided. No data was available on the number, educational background and gender distribution of the resource persons.
Hong Kong: No data was made available to the survey on aquaculture training in Hong Kong.
Pakistan: The Pakistan Agricultural Research Council reported that since its aquaculture mandate was only recently given by the government authorities, aquaculture research, training and extension is still being organised. Accordingly, no training has been organised so far.
Viet Nam: No data on aquaculture training was made available to the survey.
A major finding of this survey is that with a few exceptions, women are already being integrated into the main stream activities in aquaculture research, training, extension/information and administration. In other words, equitable improvements have been made in bringing more and more women to participate more actively in aquaculture technology development and transfer.
Based on the data made available to this study, it appears that more and more women are being trained in different aspects of aquaculture. While positive gains in placement of women in aquaculture have been made in the countries surveyed, there is still room for more women in the aquaculture profession, especially in managerial and executive positions.
The data show that women employees in the institutions surveyed generally have better education than men. This is especially true in China, Philippines and Thailand where more than 75 % of the female staff have university qualification at either the B.S., M.S. or Ph.D level. Female employees in Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore also have higher educational qualification than their male counterparts. However, in Indonesia, Brunei, Pakistan and Viet Nam, women were found to have lower educational qualification than the men.
UNPF. 1989. 1989 State of the World Population Report, United Nations Population Fund, New York.
FAO. 1987. Women in Aquaculture, Proc ADCP/NORAD Workshop on Women in Aquaculture, 13–16 April 1987, UN FAO, Rome, Italy.
FAO. 1988. Women in Fishing Communities: Guidelines, UN FAO, Rome, Italy.
PUBLICATIONS AND DOCUMENTS OF THE REGIONAL SEAFARMING DEVELOPMENT AND DEMONSTRATION PROJECT
Working Papers
NACA-SF/WP/87/1. Lovatelli, A. Status of scallop farming: A review of techniques. 22 pp.
NACA-SF/WP/88/2. Lovatelli, A. Status of oyster culture in selected Asian countries. 96 pp.
NACA-SF/WP/88/3. Lovatelli, A. and P. B. Bueno, (Eds). Seminar report on the status of oyster culture in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. 55 pp.
NACA-SF/WP/88/4. Lovatelli, A. Status of mollusc culture in selected Asian countries. 75 pp.
NACA-SF/WP/88/5. Lovatelli, A. and P.B. Bueno, (Eds). Seminar report on the status of seaweed culture in China, India, Indonesia, ROK, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand. 79 pp.
NACA-SF/WP/88/6. Lovatelli, A. and P.B. Bueno, (Eds). Seminar report on the status of finfish culture in China, DPRK, Indonesia, ROK, Malaysia and Singapore. 53 pp.
NACA-SF/WP/88/7. Lovatelli, A. Seafarming production statistics from China, Indonesia, ROK, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. 37 pp.
NACA-SF/WP/88/8. Lovatelli, A. Site selection for mollusc culture. 25 pp.
NACA-SF/WP/88/9. Lovatelli, A. and P.B. Bueno, (Eds). Seminar report on the status of finfish netcage culture in China, DPRK, Indonesia, ROK, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. 56 pp.
NACA-SF/WP/88/10. Chong, K.C. Economic and social considerations for aquaculture site selection: an Asian perspective. 17 pp.
NACA-SF/WP/89/11. Chen J. X. and A. Lovatelli. Laminaria culture - Site Selection criteria and guidelines. 30 pp.
NACA-SF/WP/89/12. Chen J. X.. Gracilaria culture in China. 18 pp.
NACA-SF/WP/89/13. Seafarming Project, RAS/86/024. Site selection criteria for marine finfish netcage culture in Asia. 21 pp.
NACA-SF/WP/89/14. Lovatelli, A. Seafarming production statistics from China, India, Indonesia, ROK, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. 47 pp.
Bibliography
NACA-SF/BIB/88/1. Selected bibliography on seafarming species and production systems. 20 pp.
NACA-SF/BIB/88/2. Selected bibliography on seafarming species and production systems. 52 pp.
NACA-SF/BIB/89/1. Selected bibliography on seafarming species and production systems. 49 pp.
Training manuals
Culture of the Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea qiqas) in the Republic of Korea. 64 pp.
Culture of the seabass (Lates calcarifer) in Thailand. 90 pp.
Manual on seaweed farming: Eucheuma spp. 25 pp.
Manual on marine finfish netcage culture in Singapore. 275 pp.
Culture of kelp (Laminaria japonica) in China. 204 pp.
