Empowering Women Leadership in Fisheries Cooperatives of Kerala

While studying the functioning of primary fisheries cooperative societies in Kerala, this paper has highlighted the difference in leadership traits of men and women leaders in these cooperatives by collecting data from 160 leaders (116 men and 44 women) using a structured interview schedule. The study has observed that men leaders possess better leadership quality due to their wider extension agency contact, mass media exposure and social participation compared to women leaders. However, the traits of task achievement and adaptability were more across women leaders due to their capability to adjust to different situations. The study has, therefore, recommended that, as the men are mostly out to fishing, they may help their women counterparts to bring external assistance and internal supports to accomplish more such tasks. The Department of Fisheries may also help women in cooperative leadership to bring faster changes in the fishers’ livelihood.