Livelihood Diversification of Coastal Communities Through Gendered Lens: A Case Study on Kovalam Village, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

This study has assessed livelihood diversification occurred in Kovalam, which is a coastal village in Tamil Nadu state in India. Livelihood diversification is a strategy which enables people to surmount the vulnerability of conventional income-generating activities by diversifying and expanding the number of activities for an improvement in their standard of living. Participatory Rural Appraisal tools, which are focus group discussion, key-informant interview and semi-structured questionnaires, have been used to collect primary data. The result suggested that fishing and fishing allied activities are the major livelihood in Kovalam village, whereas nowadays, small business, services, day laborer, vendors and other different activities are also practiced as livelihood options on a smaller scale. The emerging issue of freshwater insecurity interlinks with the gender division of labor corresponding to livelihood strategies. Gender can be integrated in a better way to ensure sustainable livelihood which will safeguard the wellbeing of coastal communities.