Socio-Economic determinants of gender among small scale fishers practicing diversified livelihoods along coastal Andhra Pradesh, India-An empirical study

Small Scale fishers along the East Coast of India engage in a pluralistic pursuit of diversified livelihoods, wherein a new occupational enterprise replaces an existing one (instances of which are rare and remote) or complements the existing occupation, (mostly observed) either through integration or through additions to the list of already existing livelihood portfolios. Often, the stream of income generating activities arise from the opportunities provided by the ecological diversities and the interplay of land and water resources at their disposal. In this context, gender plays a pivotal role in defining the array of income generating activities in which fishers engage in. The present study attempts to delineate the socio-economic determinants of gender among small scale fishermen and women engaged in Diversified livelihoods in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh. In addition to marine fishing, Diversified livelihoods in which fishers engaged in were dry fish making, collecting and selling cashew from leased in plantations and working as wage laborers in Thermal power plants. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as non-parametric tests such as Mann-Whitney U test. Among the 23 socio-economic variables studied, variables such as age and annual income of fishermen and fisherwomen showed a significant difference. (U=220.00, P=0.001, U=510.00, P=0.002 respectively). Gender wise, it could be observed that the mean ranks for men were higher for variables such as educational status, annual income, Occupational experience, credit orientation and marketing behavior whereas fisherwomen scored over their counterparts with respect to age, diversified livelihood participation, self-confidence, scientific orientation, risk preference, trainings undergone, managerial ability and decision making.