Perspectives from Fisheries Social Scientists: Mixed Methods as a DEIJ Tool

The future of gender research in small‐scale fisheries: Priorities and pathways for advancing gender equity

“…Women often address this challenge by using social capital to obtain informal financial services, borrowing money from friends, relatives and traditional saving groups (Oloko et al., 2022; Rice & Gondwe, 2022). Women in fisheries organisations sometimes pool their resources to collectively buy fish and processing equipment (Nwosu et al., 2021; Oloko et al., 2022; Smith et al., 2024).…”

“…Gender research has led the way in incorporating qualitative and mixed methods into fisheries science, along with other growing fields that recognise the importance of social dimensions of fisheries (e.g., fisheries governance, social‐ecological systems, transdisciplinary and indigenous research) (Cohen et al., 2016; Nyboer et al., 2023; Reid et al., 2021; Shellock et al., 2022). While quantitative methods are valuable for testing hypotheses and producing generalisable knowledge, they may mask individual realities; qualitative methods can root findings in lived experiences, illuminate motivations and mechanisms explaining quantitative observations, and develop concepts, hypotheses and theory more broadly (Ragin, 2014; Rice & Gondwe, 2022).…”

“…While gender equality focuses on equal opportunities for women, men and other gender identities, gender equity goes beyond equal opportunity and acknowledges the unique needs required for individuals to succeed in a system and compensates accordingly (FAO, 2015). While most gender work in SSF to date has focused on gender equality, operationalising the recognitional, procedural and distributional dimensions of equity in gender research can better facilitate progress in the sector, indicating a need for a shift in focus from gender equality to equity (Ferguson, 2021; Frangoudes et al., 2019; Lawless et al., 2021, 2022; McDermott et al., 2013; Pascual et al., 2014; Rice & Gondwe, 2022).…”