Fisherwomen : changing meanings, changing norms, changing policies?

Abstract: As a consequence of the failure of the CFP (European Common Fisheries Policy) to achieve its objectives there is today an ongoing debate on the future and the restructuring of Swedish and European fisheries. This thesis explores the social processes of the CFP (European Common Fisheries Policy) and the role of women's organising in fisheries management. By passive participatory observations at a Hearing, initiated by the Swedish minister of Agriculture in April 2008, different lines of argumentation among participating actors are distinguished and some of the dominating discursive frameworks are discerned. The second part of the thesis is based on a case study and further investigates what happens when a group of organised women enters the policy process and as a consequence challenge the dominating discursive frameworks of the CFP. The theories used to understand the results are based on communication and gender theories and the findings shows that the institutional framework of CFP is preserving destructive practices since it is built on opposition where opposing actors are sharing certain sets of intersubjective meanings. When women enter the scene different power relations, such as men's privileges as norm makers, are revealed. The fisherwomen thereby not only challenge the meaning of the sexes, they challenge the meaning of fish/er/ies since the whole organisation of CFP is built around fish as a resource, landed by fishermen.