updated: 19 January, 2007
IFAD
Gender
International Fund for Agricultural Development

THEME: Women palayes or fish saleswomen play a powerful role within the fishing economy.

Women play an important role in the fishing sector in Sao Tome and Principe. It is estimated that about 23 000 people, or about 17% of the population of Sao Tome and Principe, are in one way or another involved in fishery activity. The artisanal fishing fleet consists of about 1 500 small boats with oars and 300 boats with outboard motors. A semi-industrial fishing sector also exists. A September 1999 IFAD study produced some interesting findings.

The roles of men and women are very distinct in the fishing communities:

  • Men do the fishing and fix the fishing gear and boat.
  • Women take over when the fish is unloaded from the boats, buying it directly from the fishermen. They transport and market the catch, and in some cases transform it into dried or salted fish. The fish saleswomen are called palayes, and are often the wives of the fishermen.

There is also a notable gender pattern in terms of responsibility for household food security:

  • The fishermen are responsible for providing fish for family consumption.
  • The women are responsible for providing complementary food items such as vegetables, rice, palm oil and salt.

In addition to generating income, women palayes may also raise pigs and poultry, selling or bartering any surplus meat, chickens or eggs. They sometimes also cultivate banana trees or other small crops for home consumption.

The palayes are a particularly interesting and powerful group within the fishing community. Their livelihood is of course closely linked to that of the fishermen. When the fishermen cannot go out fishing the usual four or five times a month because of bad weather, or because temperatures in the ocean are too low at night, the palayes’ activities also suffer. To a large extent, depending on their ability to cultivate customers among fishermen, the palayes’ income can be relatively good. Some palayes also engage in the trading of palm wine, palm oil and agua ardente.

The more successful palayes may also serve another financial function for the fishermen – that of informal moneylenders. Fishermen report that they often borrow money from successful women fish traders, for the purchase of fishing gear. In turn, they commit to paying the palaye back in fresh fish. In other words, the fishermen become dependent on a palaye, much as farmers sometimes become dependent on traders, frequently to their financial disadvantage. It is also the palayes who represent the fishing households in the commonly conducted barter with the farmers on the island.

The palayes further enhance their power and profit margin through palayes associations, which reduces their operating costs through the shared use of fish-drying sheds and the bulk purchase of salt. Four main palayes associations are members of the national association of fishermen.

Any development initiative in these traditional fishing communities will need to take account of the women palayes as a social and economic force. Formal credit for fishermen may find itself competing with the palayes’ informal lending activities.

Adapted from:

IFAD. 1999. Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe: Participatory Smallholder Agriculture and Artisanal Fisheries Development Programme, Inception Paper, Appendix I, Participatory Socio-Economic Analysis. Rome.