Women of Lake Victoria break taboos and take up fishing.

Rhoda Onguti Aketch still remembers the whispers that followed her steps to the lake shore one morning in 2002. She was 39, a mother of seven, and about to break one of the oldest social taboos in the villages around Lake Victoria: a woman setting foot on a fishing boat.

Aketch, now in her sixties, says the people in her village whispered that a woman going to the lake with men would inevitably lead to sexual relationships. But she insisted, and when people realized she came to learn and nothing else, they “fell silent,” as she puts it.

In Kaguil village, part of the Semi sub-county in Kisumu County, western Kenya, fishing was exclusively a male profession for decades, while women’s roles were limited to buying and selling fish in markets. But this strict division began to crack under economic pressures, now compounded by the threat of climate change that is depleting the lake’s fish stocks.

A taboo rooted in tradition

William Okido, a 57-year-old elder from Kaguil village, explains that traditions were stricter when it came to menstruation. It was believed that a woman in that condition entering the lake would “scare the fish and cause losses for fishermen.” Restrictions were not limited to women; even men were forbidden from sleeping with their wives on the night before fishing, as it was thought to reduce their catch.

Before 2002, Aketch was a fish seller like other village women, buying men’s catch to resell in markets. But her income shrank under the weight of costs for fish, firewood, cooking oil, and transport. In 2001, women from neighboring Homa Bay County came to Kaguil and did what was considered impossible: fishing in the lake. That was the inspiring moment for Aketch, who hired two young men from the village to teach her the trade. She endured warnings from locals and pressed on because her family depended on her.

Aketch spent 16 years alone among male fishermen before Faith Owuor Angauo, a mother of four then aged 37, joined her in 2018. Angauo had worked for years as a fish seller in Luanda market. She says her husband initially refused, fearing the reaction of the fishing community, but later allowed her to join Rhoda.

In 2020, Dorcas Oyu, then 22 and a mother of three, joined after her fisherman husband dropped his initial refusal due to the need for extra income. By 2022, the image of a female fisherman had become familiar, so much so that Janet Nduye (42) faced no objections when she joined, because the community “had gotten used to seeing Rhoda and Faith fishing.”

Wilson Ongulo, a fisheries officer in Semi sub-county, revealed the real driver behind the shift: on good days, boat owners on Kaguil beach earn between 6,000 and 8,000 Kenyan shillings ($46–$62), crew members get 500 to 800 shillings ($3.88–$6.20), and traders earn 1,000 shillings ($7.75). This exceeds the 500 shillings women used to earn daily from reselling fish.

Okido admitted the social barrier has effectively fallen, saying “economic hardships are driving women to break the taboo.” Fisherman Delmas Onyango (35) confirms that most of his colleagues now support women’s decisions.