Sixty-eight-year-old Maria Elena is a fisherwoman, catching fish for a living in Mexico’s Lake Chapala. Earlier, in order to earn enough to meet family needs, in addition to fishing Maria Elena also filleted fish but her deteriorating health no longer permits this. Despite having fished for over 50 years, she is not a member of the fishers’ cooperative in the region and therefore cannot directly access any government benefits. To make matters worse, some time ago, polluted river waters entered the local lake, resulting in a substantial decline in fish availability.

Maria Elena’s life typifies the issues faced by women in the sector. They are forced to work in multiple capacities to earn money for the family, and then bear primary responsibility for domestic chores. They are forced into retirement by ill health, often brought about by the pressures of excess work. Declining fish catch and the pollution of fish sources also push them out of traditional occupations. At the end of their working lives, many of them do not have any legal identity and recognition accruing from their occupations, and are therefore excluded from benefits to workers in the sector. At the end of a hard working life, the benefit of even a meagre old age pension requires the proof of identity.