Hindered, Overlooked, and Undervalued: Gender Equality in Nordic Blue Economies

Josefin Ekstedt, Kristina Svels, Magnus Boström, Madeleine Gustavsson, Kristen Ounanian, Katrina Rønningen, Milena Arias Schreiber, Sunniva Midthaug Solnør, Cecilia Österman*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

The Nordic countries are ranked among the most gender equal countries worldwide. Equality, political, and civil rights, leading to the high participation of women in the workforce, have paved the way for this egalitarian view. However, women remain the minority in managerial positions in general, and they are also strongly underrepresented in many male‐dominated sectors of the blue economy. The aim of this article is to introduce and discuss gender equality in the blue economy, and to assess the status of gender research in the Nordic context. To achieve this, a purposive interdisciplinary literature review resulted in three encompassing themes on how women’s participation is hindered, overlooked, and undervalued. Using these themes as an analytical lens, we propose that the underlying mechanisms are similar within fisheries, aquaculture, and maritime transportation in how they affect women’s participation. Still, there is a lack of statistics and research within parts of the blue sector. To move forward, the
Original languageEnglish
Article number8761
JournalOcean and Society
Volume2
DOIs
Publication statusAccepted/In press - 11 Nov 2024

Keywords

  • Blue Economy
  • Fisheries
  • Gender Equality
  • Labor Market
  • Male-dominated
  • SDG 5
  • Seafarer
  • Social Sustainability
  • Women's participation
  • Workforce

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