Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

From household business to shareholding companies—impacts on gender relations and influence in fisheries and fish farming in northern Norway

  • Research
  • Published:
Maritime Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to highlight the nature of the structural changes in fishing and fish farming in northern Norway and to explain how these changes are related to changes within family business. The article examines changes in the role of the household, the wider family, and gender in business through an analysis of qualitative studies conducted during a period of 20 years. Great changes in industrial conditions have had impacts on the organisation of the fishing- and fish-farming businesses, from privately owned small-scale household-based production to larger shareholding companies. The household is no longer the productive unit, with some exceptions in small-scale fishing. However, family ownership is still important in both industries, and the family influences decisions of the business in different ways. The changes in the organisation of business activities also have consequences for gender relations and women’s role both in fishing and fish farming. Women’s traditional role as flexible workers in household businesses is only maintained in smaller businesses that are run by ‘husband and wife’ as a team. However, women still contribute as advisers and supporters for their husbands fishing activities, but women are seldom direct owners of the boat. Exceptionally, women take part in fishing as registered fishers. In fish farming, women may act as professional partners, employees, owners, board members, or managers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. In Nordland county, most of the fish farming businesses are owned by local families. Only the two biggest businesses in the county have national or global majority owners, and neither of them was included in the sample.

  2. These patterns are presented in attachments, Tables 2 and 3.

  3. In this case, only the women were interviewed. She was interviewed first time in 1998, and a second time in 2016.

  4. This case is based on one interview. The interview with the man was carried out in 2017.

  5. In this case, both the man and the women were interviewed in 2002. The man was interviewed again in 2006, and in 2016, both the man, the women and the son were interviewed.

  6. I also found one example in fishing.

  7. In this case, only the women were interviewed. She was interviewed in 2005 and 2017.

  8. Other studies had indicated considerable differences in the priorities among local and non-local businesses (Alsos et al. 2003b).

References

  • Aarsæther, Nils, and Ole Jørgen Bærenholdt. 2001. The Reflexive North. Nord 2001:10. Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers.

  • Acker, Joan. 1997. Rewriting class, race and gender: problems in feminist rethinking. Sosiologisk Tidsskrift 5: 139–158.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alsos, Gry A., and Elisabet Ljunggren. 2015. Kvinner og men som eiere i norske bedrifter. In Kjønn og næringsliv i Norge, ed. Gry A. Alsos, Hilde Bjørkhaug, Agnes Bolsø, and Elisebeth Ljunggren, 49–66. Oslo: Cappelen DAMM.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alsos, Gry Agnete, and Liv Toril Pettersen. 2001. Ei flott næring for tøffe kvinnfolk! En utredning om kvinner rolle i oppdrettsnæringen .NF-rapport nr. 1/01. Nordlandsforskning, Bodø.

  • Alsos, Gry Agnete, Elisabet Ljunggren, and Liv Toril Pettersen. 2003a. Farm-based entrepreneurs: what triggers the start-up of new business activities? J Small Bus Enterp Dev 10 (4): 435–443.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alsos, Gry Agnete, Asbjørn Karlsen, Bjarne Lindeløv, Liv Toril Pettersen, Håkan T. Sandersen, and Torgeir Øines. 2003b. Havbruksnæringa fra et regionalt ståsted: verdiskaping og utvikling i tilknytning til lakseoppdrett i Nordland. NF-rapport nr. 7/03. Bodø: Nordlandsforskning.

  • Alsos, Gry Agnete, Sara Carter, and Elisabet Ljunggren. 2014. Kinship and business: how entrepreneurial households facilitate business growth. Entrep Reg Dev 26 (1–2): 96–122. https://doi.org/10.1080/08985626.2013.870235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alsos, Gry Agnete, Sara Carter, and Elisabet Ljunggren. 2015. Entrepreneurial families and households. In The Routledge companion to entrepreneurship, ed. Ted Baker and Friederike Welter, 165–178. London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Argarwal, Bina. 1997. Bargaining and gender relations: within and beyond the household. Fem Econ 3 (1): 1–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aure, Marit, Anniken Førde, and Tone Magnussen. 2018. Will migrant workers rescue rural regions? Challenges of creating stability through mobility. J Rural Stud 60: 52–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berge, Dag Magnar, and Ove Bjarnar. 1998. Norsk fiskeoppdretts regionale industrialisering: Strukturendring, ledelse og kompetanse i norsk havbruk på 1990-tallet. Rapport nr. 9806. Molde: Møreforskning.

  • Brandth, Berit. 2001. The Gender of Agriculture. Rapport 8/01. Trondheim: Senter for bygdeforskning.

  • Brandth, Berit. 2016. Rural maculinities and fathering practices. Gend Place Cult 23 (3): 435–450. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2015.1013454.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bratrein, Håvard Dahl. 1976. Det tradisjonelle kjønnsrollemønster i Nord-Norge. In Drivandes kvinnfolk, ed. Håvard Dahl Bratein, 21–38. Tromsø: Universitetsforlaget.

    Google Scholar 

  • Britton, Easkey. 2012. Women as agents of wellbeing in Northern Ireland’s fishing household. Mar Stud 11 (1): 16 http://maritimestudiesjournal.com/content/11/1/16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brox, Ottar. 1984. Nord-Norge - fra allmenning til koloni. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

  • Brox, Ottar. 1966. Hva skjer i Nord-Norge? Oslo Pax Forlag.

  • Bye, Lina Marie. 2009. “How to be a rural man”: young men’s performance and negotiations of rural masculinities. J Rural Stud 25 (2009): 278–288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rurstud.2009.03.002 (downloaded 27.08.2018).

  • Carter, Sara, Aniela Kuhl, Susan Marlow, and Samuel Mwaura. 2017. Household as a site of entrepreneurial activity. Found Trends Entrep 13 (2): 81–190. https://doi.org/10.1561/0300000062.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, Andrew P. 1991. Rethinking household livelihood strategies. In Household Strategies, Research in Rural Sociology and Development, ed. Daniel C. Clay and Harry K. Shcwarzweller, vol. 5, 11–28. Greenwich and London: Jai Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davis, Dona, and Siri Gerrard. 2000. Introduction: Gender and the resource crisis in the North Atlantic fisheries. Womens’ Stud Int Forum 23 (3): 279–286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delphy, Christine, and Diana Leonard. 1992. Familiar exploitation: a new analysis of marriage in contemporary Western societies. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellingsæter, Anne Lise, and Arnlaug Leira, eds. 2006. Politicizing Parenthood in Scandinavia: Gender Relations in Welfare States. Bristol: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellingsæter, Anne Lise, and Karin Widerberg, eds. 2012. Velferdsstatens familier. Nye sosiologiske perspektiver. Oslo: Gyldendal Akademisk.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiskeridirektoratet. 2017. Fiskere fra fiskermanntallet. https://www.fiskeridir.no/Yrkesfiske/Statistikk-yrkesfiske/Fiskere-fartoey-og-tillatelser/Fiskere-fra-fiskermanntallet. Accessed 18 May 2017.

  • Fletcher, Dennis E. 2002. Understanding the small family business. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Frangoudes, Katia, and Jose Pascual-Fernandez. eds. 2005. Women in Fisheries and Aquaculture: Lessons from the Past, Current Actions and Ambitions for the Future. Proceedings from the International Conference Aktea, Santiago de Compostela (Spain). 10–13 November 2004. La Laguna, Tenerife: Asociación Canaria de Antropologia.

  • Frisvoll, Svein. 2003. Beslutningsprosesser i havbruket – lokale eieres valg i møte med globale og lokale utfordringer. Rapport nr 07/03. Trondheim: Stiftelsen norsk senter for bygdeforskning.

  • Gerrard, Siri. 1975. Arbeidsliv og lokalsamfunn. Mag.art.diss. Tromsø: University of Tromsø.

  • Gerrard, Siri. 1983. Kvinner i fiskeridistrikter; fiskerinæringas ‘bakkemannskap’? In Kan fiskerinæringa styres? ed. Bjørn Hersoug, 217–241. Oslo: Novus forlag.

  • Gerrard, Siri. ed. 1992. Skårunge, skoleelev eller arbeidssøker? Fiskeriforskning Rapport 1992:1. Tromsø: Norges fiskerihøgskole.

  • Gerrard, Siri. 2008. Quota policy and local fishing: gendered practices and perplexities. Mar Stud 6 (2): 53–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerrard, Siri. 2013. Mobilities, materialities, and masculinities: interconnected mobility practices in Norwegian coastal fisheries. Norwegian Geogr J 67: 3012–3019. https://doi.org/10.1080/00291951.2013.847482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gerrard, Siri. 2016. Kvinner i kystfiske, gjester ved menns bord. In Ulik likestilling i arbeidslivet, ed. Mari Teigen and Sigtona Halrynjo, 277–298. Oslo: Gyldendal Akedemisk.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gerrard, Siri. 2017. Mobility practices and gender contracts: changes in gender relations in coastal areas of Norway’s high north. Nordic J Law Soc 1 (1–2): 91–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter, Mark. 1985. Economic action and social structure: the problem of embeddedness. Am J Sociol 91 (3): 481–510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grønhaug, Reidar. 1974. Micro-macro relations. Skriftserie nr. 7. Bergen: Sosialantropologisk institutt, Universitetet i Bergen.

  • Gullestad, Marianne. 1984. Sosialantropologiske perspektiver på familie og hushold. In Myk start - hard landing, ed. Ingrid Rudie, 37–59. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hersoug, Bjørn, and Jahn Petter Johnsen, eds. 2012. Kampen om plassen på kysten: Interesser og utviklingstrekk i kystsoneplanleggingen. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

    Google Scholar 

  • Højrup, Thomas. 1989. Det glemte folk. København: Institut for europæisk folkelivsforskning/Statens byggforskningsinstitut.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jentoft, Svein, and Cato Wadel, eds. 1984. I samme båt: Sysselsettingssystemer i fiskerinæringen. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnsen, Geir, and Mona Lindal. 2006. Laksefeber: Nordnorsk fiskeoppdrett gjennom 35 år. Stamsund: Orkana forlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnsen, Jahn Petter, Grant D. Murray, and Barbara Neis. 2009. North Atlantic fisheries in change: from organic association to cybernetic organizations. Mar Stud 7 (2): 55–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kilpatrick, Sue, Tanya J. King, and Karen Willis. 2015. Not just a fisherman’s wife: women’s contribution to health and wellbeing in commercial fishing. Aust J Rural Health 23 (2): 62–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kolle, Nils. 2014. En næring for distriktene. In Over den leiken ville han rå. Norsk havbruksnærings historie. Norsk fiskeri- kysthistorie, ed. Edgar Hovland, Dag Møller, Anders Haaland, Nils Kolle, Bjørn Heroug, Gunnar Nævdal, and V. Bind, 151–178. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lykke, Nina. 2003. Intersektionalitet – ett använbart begrepp för genusforskningen? Kvinnovetenskapelig Tidsskrift 1: 47–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mariussen, Åge, Jane Wheelock, and Sue Baines. 1997. The family business tradition in Britain and Norway. Int Stud Manage Org 27 (3): 64–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/00208825.1997.11656713.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meld. St. 16. 2014–2015. Forutsigbar og miljømessig bærekraftig vekst i norsk lakse- og ørretoppdrett. Oslo: Nærings- og fiskeridepartementet.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moxnes, Kari. 1990. Kjernesprengning i familien? Familieforandring ved samlivsbrudd og dannelse av nye samliv. Olso: Universitetsforlaget.

    Google Scholar 

  • Munk-Madsen, Eva. 1996. Fiskerkøn. Ph.D. Diss. Univsersity of Tromsø: Norges fiskerihøgskole.

  • Munk-Madsen, Eva. 1998. The Norwegian fishing quota system: another patriarchal construction? Soc Nat Resour 11 (3): 229–240. https://doi.org/10.1080/089411929809381075.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Munk-Madsen, Eva. 2000. Wife the deckhand, husband the skipper: authority and dignity among fishing couples. Women’s Study International Forum 23 (3): 333–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nadel-Klein, Jane and Donna Lee Davis eds. 1988. To work and to weep: women in fishing economics. St. John’s: Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), Memorial University of Newfoundland.

  • Neis, Barbara, and Susan Williams. 1997. The new right, gender and fisheries crisis: local and global dimensions. Atlantis 21 (2): 47–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neis, Barbara, Marian Brinkley, Siri Gerrard, and Maria Christina Maneschy. 2005. Changing Tides: Gender, Fisheries and Globalisation. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Fernwood.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neis, Barbara, Siri Gerrard, and Nicole G. Power. 2013. Women and children first: the gendered and generational social-ecology of smaller-scale fisheries in Newfoundland and Labrador and Northern Norway. Ecol Soc 18 (4): 64. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-06010-180464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Norbye, Anne-Katrine B. 2001. Forpliktelser og følelser: Om slekt, familie og familiebedrifter. In Blod – tykkere enn vann? Betydninger av slektskap i Norge, ed. Signe Howll and Marit Melhus, 167–190. Bergen: Fagbokforlaget.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norges Sjømatråd. 2017. Strong value growth for Norwegian salmon exports in Q1 2017. http://en.seafood.no/news-and-media/news-archive/strong-value-growth-for-norwegian-salmon-exports-in-q1-2017/. Accessed 28 November 2017.

  • NOU 2006:16. Strukturvirkemidler i fiskeflåten. Utredning fra utvalg oppnevnt ved kongelig resolusjon av 6. januar 2006. Avgitt til Fiskeri- og kystdepartementet 19. august 2006. Oslo: Fiskeri- og kystdepartementet.

  • Ødegård, Anne Mette. 2014. Arbeidsinnvandring og fleksible bemanningsstrategier i fire bransjer. Søkelys på arbeidsmarkedet 31 (1–2): 100–117.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oughton, Elisabeth, Jane Wheelock, and Agnete Wiborg. 1997. Behind the lace curtains. In Household, work and economic change: a comparative institutional perspective, ed. Jane Wheelock and Åge Mariussen, 37–52. Boston, MA, Dordrecht, London: Kleuwer Academic.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pettersen, Liv Toril. 1996. Crisis management and household strategies in Lofoten: a question of sustainable development. Sociol Rural 36 (2): 236–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pettersen, Liv Toril. 1997. ‘Hovedsaken er at kjerringa er i arbeid ...’: Husholdsstrategier i fiskerikrisen. Hovedoppgave i sosiologi. Trondheim: NTNU.

  • Pettersen, Liv Toril. 2000. Household adaptations and gender differences in inshore fishing communities in Northern Norway. In Fisheries Dependent Regions, Fishing News Books, ed. David Symes, 82–91. London: Blackwell Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pettersen, Liv Toril. 2018. Fra familiebedrifter til konsern – rammebtingelser og strategier for oppdrettsbedrifter. In Vårt lille land, eds. Elisabeth Pettersen, Gjermund Wollan and Berit Skorstad Stamsund: Orkana forlag (forthcoming).

  • Pettersen, Liv Toril, and Gry A. Alsos. 2007. Change and stability: the role of women in Norwegian fish farming. Marit Stud 5 (2): 93–121.

    Google Scholar 

  • Porter, Marilyn. 1993. Place and persistence in the lives of Newfoundland women. Aldershot: Avebury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Power, Nicole Gerarda. 2005. Masculinity in crisis or resilient masculinity? Can Women Stud 24 (4): 102–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Røst, Unni. 1986. Fiskeoppdrett - redningen for kyst-utkanten? Ny kulturgeografisk serie, 16. Oslo: Geografisk Institutt, Universitet i Oslo.

  • Rudie, Ingrid. 1969/70. Household organization: adaptive process and restrictive form. A viewpoint on ecomic change. Folk Bd 11-12: 185–200.

  • Rudie, Ingrid (red.) 1984. «Innledning». Myk start hard landing. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. pp 13–36.

  • Saugestad, Sissel. 1988. Partners in Enterprise: The Social Organisation of Paid and Unpaid Labour. Case Studies of Household Viability in Northern Norway. Stensilserie (occasional paper) A nr 80. Tromsø: Institute of Social Science, Universitetet i Tromsø.

  • Seierstad, Ståle, Bjørn Sagdahl, and Audun Sandberg. 1985. Kystsamfunn på kår? Nord-Norge som oljeprovins. Tromsø, Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger: Universitetsforlaget.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solheim, Jorunn. 2015. Kapital – menns domene? Kjønn, kapital og eiendom i historisk perspektiv. In Kjønn og næringsliv i Norge, ed. Gry A. Alsos, Hilde Bjørkhaug, Agnes Bolsø, and Elisebeth Ljunggren, 29–48. Oslo: Cappelen Damm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solheim, Jorunn, and Ragnhild Steen Jensen. 2012. Modes of familism: gender, family capitalism and family culture. In Firms, Boards and Gender Quotas: Comparative Perspectives, ed. Fredrik Engelstad and Mari Teigen, 47–84. Bradford: Emerald Books.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • St.meld. nr. 21. 2006–2007. Strukturpolitikk for fiskeflåten. Oslo: Fiskeri- og kystdepartementet.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinseth, Trond A. 2017. Fiskeoppdrett – i Noreg og verda. Frå attåtnæring til milliardindustri. Samfunnspeilet 1/2017. Statistics Norway. https://www.ssb.no/jord-skog-jakt-og-fiskeri/artikler-og-publikasjoner/fra-attatnaering-til-milliardindustri. Accessed 24. February 2017.

  • Strand, Hillevi. 1999. Den globale oppdrettsnæring - muligheter også for kvinner? In Globale kyster: Liv i endring - kjønn i spenning, eds. S. Gerrard, and R.R. Balsvik, 133–142. Tromsø: Kvinnforsk, Universitetet i Tromsø.

  • Symes, David, Jeremy Phillipson, and Pekka Salmi. 2015. Europe’s coastal fisheries: instability and the impacts of fisheries policy. Sociol Rural 55 (3): 245–257.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wadel, Cato. 1980. Lokalsamfunn, hushold og bedrift: Noen aktuelle næringspolitiske koordineringsproblemer i kyst-Norge. In Fiske og lokalsamfunn, ed. Iens Ludvig Høst and Cato Wadel, 311–340. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

    Google Scholar 

  • West, Candance, and Don H. Zimmerman. 1987. Doing gender. Gender & Society 1 (2): 125–151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wheelock, Jane, and Åge Mariussen, eds. 1997. Household, work and economic change: a comparative institutional perspective. Boston, MA: Kleuwer Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheelock, Jane, and Elisabet Oughton. 1996. The household as a focus for research. J Econ Issues 30: 143–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiborg, Agnete. 1997. Nationalisation’ of rural household? New teams for old tasks in agricultural households. In Household, work and economic change: a comparative institutional perspective, ed. Jane Wheelock and Åge Mariussen, 137–146. Boston, MA: Kleuwer Academic.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, Diane L. 1991. Does father know best? A feminist critique of household strategy research. In Household Strategies, Vol. 5, eds. Daniel C. Clay, and Harry K. Shcwarzweller, 29–43. Research in Rural Sociology and Developement. Greenwich and London: Jai Press.

  • Zhao, Minghua, Marilyn Tyzack, Rodney Anderson, and Estera Onoakpovike. 2013. Women as visible and invisible workers in fisheries: a case study of Northern England. Mar Policy 37 (2013): 69–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2012.04.013 (downloaded 5.10.2018).

Download references

Acknowledgements

I thank my supervisor Audun Sandberg, at Nord University, as well as Siri Gerrard and Katia Frangoudes, who commented on earlier drafts of the article. I also thank two anonymous reviewers of MAST for their comments and Catriona Turner for editing the language.

Funding

The article is based on data from the author’s doctoral thesis project at Nord University and is funded by Nord University. The research builds on results from a number of projects carried at Nordland Research Institute, which were funded by Nordland Fylkeskommune (Nordland County Administration) and Fiskerinæringens Kvinneutvalg (the Council for Women in the Fishery Industry). Nord University supported the writing of this article.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nord University, NO-8049, Bodø, Norway

    Liv Toril Pettersen

Authors
  1. Liv Toril Pettersen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Liv Toril Pettersen.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pettersen, L.T. From household business to shareholding companies—impacts on gender relations and influence in fisheries and fish farming in northern Norway. Maritime Studies 18, 305–319 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-018-0122-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-018-0122-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation