Group discussions and individual interviews of men and women were used for obtaining qualitative information with regards to division of labour within households, decision making process and access and control over production resources and benefits. A summary of the organization of these interviews is shown in the Table 34. Due to the spontaneous nature of the interviews conducted in the survey areas, this section remains rather anecdotal and provides a generalized picture of gender issues in the area.
As shown in Table 6, few women own ponds. Difficulties in constructing ponds, heavy workloads in domestic chores and distance between houses and ponds are often mentioned as reasons for not owning their own ponds. However, women of fish farming households recognize the benefits from fish farming for households as a whole.
In the households, usually men, often household heads, make the decision to start fish farming. Pond construction is often done by male household members. Exceptions include Mikalanga village of Mbinga district where women participate in pond construction. A group of women in urban villages of Mbinga district were planning to construct their own ponds through collaborative labouring (called “Ushirika”). These women have gained knowledge of pond construction through their husbands and neighbours.
In most villages surveyed, feeding and fertilizing are done by women as instructed by their husbands. In Chikomo village of Tunduru district, where the majority of the men have migrated to urban towns in search of employment, women enjoy more autonomy in decision-making. Women decide when, what and how much to feed their fish. Feeding is considered to be a part of women's domestic chores.
Table 34: Summary of organization of informal interviews
| Location | Respondents | Remarks |
| Mpitimbi A (Songea rural) | Informal interview with a teacher (male) of a secondary school | Requested to be an interpreter |
| Informal group interview with seven women | Interviewed at the backyard. Women were discussing organization of ‘Ushirika’ | |
| Mpitimbi B | Informal interview with a male shopkeeper | Used to do fish farming |
| Informal interview with two women walking in the village | One was from fish farming household(FFH). | |
| Namtumbo | A woman MCH officer | Interviewed on seasonal nutritional problems, food habits |
| A livestock officer at Agricultural Institute | Organization of agricultural research and extension | |
| Naikeshi | A wife of a fish farmer at the house | Refugee family from Mozambique |
| Mputa-kitanda | Two women washing in the river from non-FFH | Interviewed on consumption of fish and other commodities |
| Subira | A couple with individual ponds | The wife was a member of the village court. |
| M. Mjini | A woman agricultural extension officer | She was a native from the area (Ngoni tribe). Requested to be an interpreter |
| Mkumbi | Group interview with church women's group | Attended by 8 women from FFHs and non FFHs |
| Group interview with members of coffee growers association | Attended by 7 male farmers. Interviewed on division of labour, perception of women fish farming | |
| Mkako | A couple with an abandoned pond | The wife was interviewed in presence of husband at home |
| M. Mjini | Two women leaders from two groups of women | A visit was made to one of the women's houses |
As for harvesting, the division of labour is varied. In some FFHs (Nanjoka and Namwinyu villages of Tunduru district, and Mbinga urban village) in which fish is often considered as a source of cash income, both men and women discuss batch harvesting and work together during the harvest. In these FFHs, women can make decisions on intermittent harvesting independently of their husbands. In the Kidodoma village of Tunduru district, it was reported that girls aged 7 to 14 use pieces of cloth to practise fish harvesting; married women do not do this.
Women usually have their own pieces of land for cultivating food crops for household consumption and sales at the local market. Women from the Ngoni tribe in Songea district own 0.5 to one acre allocated from their husbands and grow maize, sweet potatoes, beans and leafy vegetables. The women help each other to prepare, weed or harvest land. It seems that access to land per se is not a constraint for women (except in Mbinga, where there is acute shortage of arable land), but access to land suitable for fish farming operation is not the same. Moreover, accessibility to land may differ according to the marital status of women (i.e. monogamous and polygamous households).
It seems particularly difficult for women to gain access to fingerlings. Sale of fingerlings is considered to be a male domain; it is believed that selling activity stands in the way of women becoming independent fish farmers.
Lack of time for attending to ponds and difficulties in organizing extra household labour were often mentioned. Women in a tobacco growing area (i.e. Numtumbo ward) said that they did not wish to own their own ponds because they were busy with tobacco. Curing of tobacco leaves by smoking for 4–5 hours and continuous culling and weeding take up a considerable part of women's time. In addition, processing of cassava and maize flour for daily meals is also time consuming.
Coffee is a permanent crop and requires a significant chunk of women's working time. harvesting and processing are labour intensive work and continue for four to five months between May and October. In Matengo area in Mbinga district, where the major crop is coffee, women find it particularly difficult to start pond construction.
Although women carry out most of the day-to-day management of ponds, they do not receive technical advice directly from fisheries officers. These officers usually visit individual pond owners, but seldom organize meetings with men and women engaged or interested in fish farming. There is no taboo on male staff approaching women, but if women are not approached, they do not receive information. In most of the villages, women do participate in fish harvesting by picking fish by hand after partial draining of the ponds; but they do not practice seining.
There were varied responses in the control over the income from fish farming. It seems fish farming lies in between cash crop production and income generating activities (e.g. local beer brewing11, handcraft, pottery etc). Women control income from fish ponds if they own them. For instance, a woman pond owner said that she uses income from fish ponds to buy fertilizer for her plots. Some claim that the income from fish farming belongs to husbands, just like the income from cash crop production. In Kidodoma village, Tunduru district, men decide on that use of income from fish ponds and give women money for items such as school fees, clothes, and groceries. However, in Mkumbi village of Mbinga district, income from fish farming belongs equally to men and women, and they discuss how to spend it.
Generally speaking, fish farming is perceived positively by non-fish farming households in the same villages. Non-FFHs can buy fresh fish from neighbouring FFUs during batch harvest. Non-FFHs do participate in pond construction, repair and harvesting when requested by FFHs. Non-FFHs approach FFHs for technical advice and for fingerlings when they plan to start fish farming.
Women in non-FFHs feel they do not know enough about fish farming in order to start. Land is not considered a limiting factor, except in Mbinga where there is a general shortage of arable land. They also see difficulties in obtaining sufficient fingerlings and technical advice. It was often mentioned that FFHs are reluctant to sell their fingerlings because of fear that they may not have enough for themselves. It has become particularly difficult since extension service supported by US PCV had been suspended since 1991.
Some initiatives were observed among groups of women to construct fish ponds. In Subira village, Songea urban district, a woman farmer, who is a pond owner herself, plans to introduce fish farming to interested members of a women farmers group. The group is buying a maize milling machine through its own contributions. It was thought that a maize milling machine will free some women's time, and fish farming can be then introduced.
In Mbinga urban village, the chairperson of UWT (Women's group of Tanzania: Umojaa wa wanawake, Tanzania) has organized 30 women into a group. The group is independent from UWT, which often furthers political aims and is able to apply for loans from banks. It has requested fisheries officers to organize an introductory meeting on fish farming.
