Fishing and fish farming have over the years been male-dominated, as women often fall prey to men when they engage in such activities.
This has forced many women to remain fishmongers. They have to wait for men to bring them fish from Lake Victoria which they buy and later sell to their customers.
The marginalisation of women in fishing activities is said to have thrived because of some traditional norms in society.
Most African cultures bar women from engaging in activities such as fishing.
Some men have been taking advantage of the situation and are involved in violation of women.
Fish farmer Esther Otieno narrates how many women fall victim as they are forced to engage in sex to get fish from men.
She said sex for fish, known in dholuo as jaboya, has contributed to the spread of HIV-Aids along beaches in Homa Bay.
“Many women have become vulnerable and suffered from sexual violence because of their inability to get fish for business,” she said.
On Monday, Esther was among 100 women in Homa Bay who benefited from a Sh6 million technological equipment to scale-up cage farming and improve their livelihoods.
NGO-Echo Network Africa (ENA) issued equipment such as motorised boats, fish cages, solar coolers, feed processing machines and solar lamps.
The equipment is expected to enhance the women’s capacity of engaging in fish farming in the lake.
“I’m happy because we’ll now not rely on men to get fish. The initiative will make most of us self-reliant,” Otieno said.
ENA, which advocates women's empowerment in partnership with Mennonites Economic Development Associates (Meda), said they also aim to enhance the participation of women in fish farming.
ENA chief executive officer Jennifer Riria said the aquaculture initiative they are implementing in Homa Bay targets women on four beaches-Wakula, Mrongo, Litare and Kaugege.
Riria said the initiative aims to ensure the voice of women is strengthened to reduce human rights violations along the aquaculture value chain.
“The initiative also ensures strengthened gender and rights-based approach to address HIV-related human rights violations, gender biases, harmful cultural sexual and gender-based violence among the women,” Riria said.
She said the women will now move to the lake and get their own fish for sale.
Riria was speaking when they handed over the equipment to the women at Litare beach in Rusinga Island, Suba North constituency.
The project will be expanded to more beaches by 2027 as they seek to empower more women in Homa Bay.
Homa Bay, which has about 60 per cent of Lake Victoria's water cover in Kenya, also has 137 active and operating beaches.
Women are regularly trained on modern cage fish farming.
“The programmes enhances participation of women in aquaculture as a sustainable economic activity,” Riara said.
Meda representative Walter Tinega said beneficiaries are also trained in entrepreneurship and financial literacy to help them engage in fish farming as a business.
“We trained them on how to do business. We also engaged local beach management units on the initiative,” he said.
Homa Bay government representatives Jack Obonyo, Caroline Owidhi and Rachael Adhiambo said they are committed to ensuring cases of GBV are eradicated.
“We should join hands and ensure women participate in the development agenda,” Obonyo said.
Homa Bay coordinator of aquaculture business development programme Michael Omondi said women can produce more fish through cage farming and improve food security and nutrition in the county.
He said Homa Bay harvested 28.8 tonnage of fish through cage farming.
"Fisheries officials are undergoing training to do close monitoring of fish feed and cages used in the lake to avoid any pollution," Omondi said.
Edited by A.N
