Navigating women’s stories in the Galápagos small-scale fisheries

Grounded in the concept of the care economy, this paper describes how women involved in small-scale fisheries in the Galápagos comprehend their contributions to the value chain, and explores the extent to which gender scripts are incorporated, challenged, or negotiated through their conceptualizations of femininity and masculinity. Employing an ethnographic approach, including participant observation and interviews across the three main islands, the findings reveal women’s understandings of their contributions. While women across the Archipelago share a foundational ethos of care, the interpretation and valuation of their contributions to the fishing value chain—particularly in post-harvest activities—differ significantly by varying degrees of formalization and presence of commercialization across the islands. This highlights that market access and institutionalization drive the recognition of women’s labor. Despite a seemingly conservative gendered organization of labor and differentiated gendered scripts, our research shows that women negotiate these gender imaginaries through the notion of “machonear”, indicating agency and adaptability within these cultural backgrounds.