Petty traders, gender, and development in a south Indian fishery

In this paper I examine the impact of mechanization and commercialization o n small-scale fish traders in Kerala, India, with special emphasis on gende r and the impact of economic transformation on women fish traders. I explor e the relationship of women's work in distribution to production and how th is has changed with capitalist development. I argue that because women's ro les in the fish economy have been overlooked, they have experienced economi c marginalization at the same time that their labor has become increasingly important for household survival. Such marginalization stems from a qualit ative change that has taken place in their relationship to production and m arketing as a result of capitalist development and the ecological crisis it has engendered.