Why does gender equality matter for the transition to sustainable and low-carbon fisheries?

Introduction: An Energy Transition Must Work for Everyone

Across the Caribbean, fisheries and aquaculture support thousands of livelihoods and contribute significantly to food security, employment, and rural development. Yet participation in the sector is not experienced equally.

Women play critical roles throughout fisheries value chains, particularly in processing, marketing, administration, and household-level fisheries enterprises. Despite these contributions, they often face barriers to accessing finance, productive assets, training opportunities, decision-making processes, and leadership positions. Young people similarly face challenges entering and remaining within the sector.

As Caribbean countries pursue renewable energy adoption and low-carbon fisheries development, there is growing recognition that technological solutions alone are not enough. The transition must also be fair and inclusive. This principle is often described as a just transition- an approach that seeks to ensure that the benefits and opportunities arising from economic and environmental change are shared equitably, while minimizing the risk that vulnerable groups are left behind.

In the context of fisheries and aquaculture, a just transition means ensuring that women, men, and youth have equitable access to the knowledge, skills, financing, technologies, and decision-making processes needed to participate in and benefit from the shift towards cleaner and more resilient production systems. It also means recognizing the different roles people play within fisheries value chains and addressing the barriers that may prevent them from benefiting equally from new investments and opportunities.

For this reason, gender equality and social inclusion have been embedded as central pillars of the STAR-Fish Project from its inception. By integrating these considerations into project planning and implementation, STAR-Fish seeks to support a transition that is not only environmentally sustainable, but also economically inclusive and socially equitable.

Understanding the Gender Landscape

One of the project's earliest priorities was to improve understanding of how gender dynamics shape participation in fisheries and aquaculture across the Caribbean.

The project's regional Gender Equality Strategy highlighted a number of common challenges affecting women throughout the region, including lower labour force participation, limited access to financing, underrepresentation in leadership and decision-making roles, and persistent gender-based inequalities that influence economic opportunities and livelihood outcomes.

While these challenges vary among countries, they share a common theme: women continue to contribute significantly to fisheries and aquaculture while often receiving fewer opportunities to influence decisions and access resources.

The strategy also identified the need for better data, stronger institutional capacity, and more intentional efforts to ensure that gender considerations are integrated into fisheries policies, programmes, and investments.

Listening to Communities

Recognizing that meaningful solutions must be grounded in local realities, STAR-Fish supported a series of gender and livelihoods assessments in participating countries.

These assessments examined how women and men participate across fisheries value chains, the challenges they face, and the opportunities that may emerge through renewable energy adoption and climate-resilient development.

The process created space for fisherfolk, processors, community leaders, government agencies, and other stakeholders to share perspectives on how energy transition initiatives can be designed to support more inclusive outcomes.

The findings reinforced an important lesson: while renewable energy technologies can create new opportunities, deliberate action is required to ensure those opportunities are accessible to everyone.

From Assessment to Action

Information alone does not create change.

Building on the assessments, STAR-Fish supported the development of Gender Action Plans designed to translate analysis into practical actions.

These plans identify opportunities to strengthen participation, improve access to information and training, support leadership development, and address barriers that limit equitable participation within fisheries and aquaculture sectors.

Rather than treating gender equality as a standalone activity, the project seeks to integrate these considerations throughout implementation, from stakeholder engagement and capacity development to technical assessments and future investments.

This approach helps ensure that gender equality becomes part of how decisions are made, rather than an additional activity undertaken after decisions have already been taken. 

Knowledge Product Spotlight 

Powering Change: Fueling a Gender-Responsive Energy Transition in Fisheries

Developed under STAR-Fish, this training programme provides practical guidance for integrating gender equality and social inclusion into fisheries and renewable energy initiatives across the Caribbean.

Equipping Stakeholders for a Just Transition

Understanding gender dynamics is only the first step. Achieving a just transition requires that stakeholders have the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to apply gender-responsive approaches in practice.

To support this objective, STAR-Fish developed a regional training programme focused on gender equality and social inclusion in the context of fisheries and renewable energy transition. The programme was designed to help fisheries practitioners, government officers, community leaders, and other stakeholders better understand how gender influences participation, access to resources, decision-making, and the distribution of benefits within fisheries value chains.

The training package goes beyond awareness-raising by providing practical tools and approaches that can be applied during project planning, stakeholder engagement, policy development, and implementation. Topics include gender analysis, inclusive participation, barriers to equitable access, and strategies for promoting meaningful engagement of women and youth in fisheries development initiatives.

The programme formed the basis for a series of regional and national capacity-building activities that brought together stakeholders from across participating countries. These engagements created opportunities for dialogue, peer learning, and reflection on how renewable energy investments and broader fisheries development initiatives can be designed to support more inclusive outcomes.

By strengthening institutional and individual capacity, STAR-Fish is helping to ensure that gender equality becomes an integral part of decision-making and implementation processes rather than a standalone consideration.

Building Capacity for Inclusive Change

Creating more inclusive fisheries systems requires both awareness and skills.

Through a series of regional and national activities, STAR-Fish has supported dialogue and learning around gender-responsive fisheries development, renewable energy transition, and social inclusion.

These activities have brought together fisheries practitioners, government representatives, community stakeholders, and development partners to explore practical approaches for strengthening participation and reducing barriers faced by women and youth.

Importantly, these discussions have also helped broaden understanding that gender equality benefits entire communities by improving economic opportunities, strengthening resilience, and supporting more effective resource management.

Why Gender Equality Matters for Renewable Energy Transition

The shift towards renewable energy has the potential to reshape fisheries value chains.

New technologies can reduce operating costs, improve product quality, strengthen cold-chain systems, and create new economic opportunities. However, if access to these technologies is limited to those who already possess resources, financing, or decision-making authority, existing inequalities may deepen.

A gender-responsive approach helps ensure that the benefits of innovation are distributed more equitably. It encourages consideration of who has access to equipment, financing, information, training, and leadership opportunities. It also helps identify unintended barriers that may prevent certain groups from benefiting from project investments.

In this way, gender equality is not separate from energy transition; it is fundamental to ensuring that the transition is inclusive, effective, and sustainable.

Looking Ahead

As STAR-Fish moves into implementation, gender equality will remain a cross-cutting priority across all project activities.

Future renewable energy interventions, low-carbon fisheries initiatives, stakeholder engagement activities, and capacity-building programmes will continue to apply lessons emerging from the project's gender assessments and action plans.

By placing people at the centre of the transition, STAR-Fish aims to support a future in which cleaner energy systems contribute not only to environmental sustainability, but also to greater opportunity, resilience, and inclusion across Caribbean fisheries and aquaculture communities.