A Gendered Blue Economy? Critical Perspectives Through Women’s Participation in Peru

Peru’s maritime waters and their natural resources have long been appropriated as part of the country’s economic development. While several historical analyses have covered the management and use of marine resources, few have focused on gender relations in these processes. In order to help fill this gap, we use an ethnographic approach, through the qualitative analysis of interviews carried out between 2021 and 2022 with three women involved in Peru’s artisanal small‐scale fisheries and scallop aquaculture industry. Through their life trajectories, we discuss how these women became key actors within the Peruvian blue economy and the role that concrete and situated gender relations played in that process. We present a critical analysis of women’s agency and involvement in the blue economy and how the economic opportunities offered are constrained by gender norms, male dominance, and the precarious nature of (in)formal labor. We suggest a need to shift from a focus on blue growth to a more inclusive concept of blue justice that deals with structural inequalities ingrained in current modes of extractivism and aims to secure fair opportunities for all genders in marine‐related activities.