TRIANGULATED RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GENDER, VULNERABILITY AND POVERTY AMONG THE VULNERABLE FISHERIES COMMUNITY MEMBER IN PENINSULAR MALAYSIA

Abstract

This paper aims to profile the backgrounds of the respondents by sex disaggregated, to measure the relationship between two levels of vulnerability and the sex of the respondents, to correlate between two levels of vulnerability, two levels of household financial wellbeing (HFW) and the sex of the vulnerable respondents in freshwater fisheries communities in Peninsular Malaysia. The vulnerable respondents in this paper were sampled through multi-level random sampling. The study locations were Pekan Pahang, Padang Terap Kedah, Lenggong Perak, and Kuala Pilah Negeri Sembilan, which had been sampled to represent the Eastern, Northern, Middle, and Southern Zones of Peninsular Malaysia. With the assistance of the Penghulu (sub- district leader) and the Department of Fisheries in each district, ten villages with freshwater fisheries economic activities were identified and sampled. Fifty male and fifty female vulnerable respondents were sampled in each district with 400 respondents in total reporting. The questionnaire listed seven vulnerability types. On average, the vulnerable respondents in this paper were older people and mostly older single mothers. The majority of the women were older single mothers, less educated, and poorer than men. A significant (p<0.05) relationship was obtained between two levels of vulnerability and the sex of the respondent. Thus, H 1 was rejected. The statistics demonstrate that women were more vulnerable than men because the majority (57.35%) of the female respondents were in the highly vulnerable category while the majority (64.3%) of the male respondents were in the low vulnerable category. Among the respondents, a significant (p<0.05) correlation was obtained through the Chi Square test between sex, two levels of vulnerability, and two levels of HFW. Thus, H 2 was rejected. This paper concludes that there is a relationship between sex, two levels of vulnerability, and two levels of HFW; and that vulnerable women are more vulnerable and poorer than vulnerable men. This paper recommends that poverty eradication programmes should be sensitive to gender and the type of vulnerability which the focus should be given to older single mothers in freshwater fisheries communities.