Thesis presented to obtain the degree of
Master of Science in Human Ecology: Culture, Power and Sustainability
May 13th, 2011
Salmon. Gender. Chiloé:
Reflections on Sustainable Development.
Supervisor: Dr. Susan Paulson
Submitted by: Teresa-Laura-Maria Bornschlegl
Human Ecology Division
Department of Human Geography
Faculty of Social Sciences
Lund University
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Table of Content:
Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………..3
Acknowledgment……………………………………………………………………………...4
List of abbreviations……………………………………………………………………….......6
List of tables…………………………………………………………………………………...6
1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………………….7
2 Research design…………………………………………………………………………8
2. 1 Conceptual framework…………………………………………………………………....8
2. 2 Methods and blind spots……………………………………………………………..…..13
2. 3 Times and spaces……………………………………………………………………..….15
3 Findings on Gender and sustainable development……………………………16
3. 1 What is the (sustainability) issue in Chiloé?.................................................................16
3. 1. 1 The salmon boom……………………………………………………………………..16
3. 1. 2 Regarding social sustainability……………………………………………………......17
3. 1. 3 Regarding ecological sustainability…………………………………………...………19
3. 2 Livelihoods, and capitals…………………………………………………………….....20
3. 2. 1 Chiloé 1960 – 1990…………………………………………………………………...20
3. 2. 2 Chiloé 1990 – 2009………………………………………………………...…………24
3. 3 Social coalitions …………………………………………………………….………….31
3. 3. 1 Pro and contra salmon: social coalitions in Chiloé…………………..………………31
3. 3. 2 The matrix of social coalitions: participation and organization………………………32
3. 3. 3 … towards economic diversity and economic self-reliance? ………………………...34
3. 3. 4 …towards social inclusion and social justice?.............................................................35
3. 3. 5 … towards ecologically sound legal institutions? ………………………….………...36
4 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………40
Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………...…….46
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Abstract:
This study discusses sustainable development with the help of a case study of the Chilean
province Chiloé between 1960 and 2009 – main scene of the salmon industry that developed
very rapidly in recent decades. Today, Chiloé faces the now common dilemma of ecological
devastations and increasing income disparity, widely perceived as inevitable side-effects of
development leading to local employment opportunities and national economic growth.
Integrating gender into institutional analysis in the context of sustainable development, the
study looks at implications of gender for the distribution of assets before and after the
establishment of the salmon industry, the formation of social coalitions, the monitoring and
control of legal institutions in Chiloé. The study aims to provide a more detailed picture of
the territorial dynamics of Chiloé for potential policy recommendations towards a kind of
development that would support social inclusion, ecological sustainability, and a stable
economy.
Keywords: salmon farming, gender, institutions, coalitions, sustainable development, Chiloé
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Acknowledgement:
First, and foremost, I’d like to thank my family (who is always there, and who taught me how
to swim, and how to fish), Christine Ambrosi (who changed my life in many ways), Peter
Robertson (who changed my life in many other ways), my two- handful- friends (from whom
I am life-long learning), and the Japanese Karate Association (who gave me a direction).
Tusen tack to Dr. Susan Paulson for having connected me to the world of sustainable
development in general, and to Rimisp – Centro Latinoamericano para el Desarollo Rural - in
detail. I owe Rimisp thanks not only for the financing of my research, but also for the access
to the huge amounts of data accumulated during all the years of their on-going research on
Chiloé.
With Rimisp, I am grateful for having had the chance to be integrated into the marvellous
research team within the Rural Territorial Dynamics Program (DTR) on Chiloé Island, Chile.
Special thanks to Eduardo Ramírez, Felix Modrego, Rodrigo Yáñez, and, of course, JulieClaire Macé– my “gender-team”-colleague with whom I carried out a gender analysis within
the project. Our report– published as a DTR working paper under the title: “Gender System
Dynamics in Central Chiloé, or the Quadrature of the Cycles” - builds an analysis of some
aspects of my thesis research, and contributes material and understanding to this thesis.
Finally, thanks to all the people I encountered in Chiloé, for their patience, their trust, and
their wisdom. They all taught me memorable lessons.
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Dedicated to the wild fish.
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List of abbreviation
CONAMA
Comisión Nacional del Medio Ambiente
CEPAL
Comisión Económica para América Latina
EIR
Environmental Impact Report
FCR
Feed Conversation Ratio
NGO
Non Governmental Organisation
ProChile
Dirección de Promoción de Exportaciones
PRODEMU
Fundación para la Promoción y el Desarrollo de la Mujer
SEIA
Sistema de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental
SERNAPESCA
Servicio Nacional de Pesca
SUBPESCA
Subsecretaría de Pesca
Rimisp
Centro Latinoamericano para el Desarollo Rural
List of tables:
Table A: Women’s cultural capital per year, and differences between 1990 and 2009
Table B: Men’s cultural capital per year, and differences between 1990 and 2009
Table C: Differences in men and women’s cultural capital per year, and the change in
differences between 1990 and 2009
Table D: Social and political participation of men and women in year 1990 and 2009
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1 Introduction
“Because ´development´ is a word—like saying ´democracy´—we all think of something
different”
Former Director PRODEMU, Interview, 2010
Chile is often held as the example for succesfull development in Latin America: from the
1980s on, the country experienced a pronounced economic growth marked by a sustained
increase in savings, investments and export sectors.
However, this succesfull boom –
commonly refered to as the “Chilean Miracle” - has a downside: the over-exploitation of
natural resources, and rather harsh working conditions for the human labor force.
Thus, the long-term prospect of this kind of development and therewith its role model raises
questions. And while there is much research looking for explanations of what made the
“Chilean Miracle” so succesful (Cypher, 2004), the overarching topic of my thesis consists
in an assessement
of what made it so unsuccesful in terms of ecologcial and social
sustainability.
My object of examination (under the microscope) is a case study of the development of the
Chilean province Chiloé between 1960 and 2009 – the main scene of the salmon sector. The
latter ranges amongst the most contributive parts to the “Chilean Miracle”, with a production
growth of 1745 % within a time span of only ten years, generating annualy USD $ 2 billion,
and the employment (direct and indirect) of 50,000 persons.
Previous to the arrival of the salmon industry at site, the province Chiloé - an archipelago of
more than 40 islands located in South Chile - was marked by a mostly subsistence economy
based on small -scale agriculture, shellfish collection, forestry, wool-based crafting,
complemented by temporal emigrations to northern and southern Chile and Argentina (Macé
& Bornschlegl, 2010).
Along with the establishment of the salmon industry, Chiloé
experienced a growth in income and local employment opportunities, but also an increase in
ecological devastations, energy use, and social disparity.
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Thus, my main concern within that thesis is to analyse the recent historical development of
Chiloé in the light of issues of social and ecological sustainability. My approach draws on
institutional theory, placing the weight on the social process of institutions, that is, their
interaction with different livelihood strategies of diverse actors. I set out to demonstrate if
and how a gender analysis of such social process could enrich research of sustainable
development. Thus, my research questions are: How does gender play out within the
institutional analysis in terms of the distribution of assets before and after the establishment
of the salmon industry? How within the formation of social coalitions, and the making and
enforcement of legal institutions in Chiloé?
The objective of my thesis consists primarily in painting a more accurate picture of Chiloé’s
development in order to understand - as the inspector is looking at the dead body: what had
happened exactly. The purpose is to present that picture in a way that will contributing to
thought and policy on how a more sustainable development in Chiloé could be achieved, and
how the research results could lead into some practical applications.
2 Research design
“The theory decides what can be observed”
Albert Einstein, 1926
2. 1 Conceptual framework
The following sections define the main concepts that helped me to illuminate my research
questions with a theoretical light: institutional theory (institutions, capitals, livelihoods of
actors, and social coalitions), and gender – both seen as established theoretical tools in the
context of sustainable development.
There had been already a lot of academic debate about the meaning of “development”
(Rostow, 1971; Cowen & Shalton, 1996), and the number of opinions about what
“sustainable development” would mean are certainly not less plentiful (WCED, 1987; Ekins,
1993; Wackernagel & Rees, 1996; Dincer &Rosen, 2005). For the following thesis, I set the
definition of a sustainable community by Bridger and Luloff (2001) as Archimedean point for
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my understanding of sustainable development. Their ideal typical sustainable community is
demarcated along five interrelated dimensions:
“First, as is the case with standard economic development strategies, there is an
emphasis on increasing local economic diversity. Second, virtually all definitions
stress the importance of self-reliance, especially economic self-reliance. This is
not to be confused with economic self-sufficiency. Self-reliance entails the
creation of local markets, local production and processing of previously imported
goods, greater cooperation among local economic entities, and the like. Selfreliant communities would still be linked to larger economic structures, but they
would have vibrant local economies that would better protect them from the
whims of capital than is currently the case. The third dimension centers around a
reduction in energy use coupled to the careful management and recycling of
waste products. Ideally, this means that the use of energy and material is in
balance with the local ecosystem’s ability to absorb waste. The fourth dimension
focuses on the protection and enhancement of biological and environmental
diversity and wise stewardship of natural resources. Sustainable communities
provide a balance between human needs and activities and those of other life
forms. Finally, sustainable communities are committed to social justice.
Sustainable communities provide for the housing and employment needs of all
residents, and they do so without the kind of class and race-based spatial
separation that is typical of many localities. As a result, they also ensure equality
of access to public services. And perhaps most important, sustainable
communities strive to create an empowered citizenry that can effectively
participate in local decision-making”. (Bridger & Luloff, 2001: 462)
Following institutional theory within sustainable development research (Ostrom et al, 2005;
Berkes, 1989; Agrawal, 2001) I further assume that institutions are the means guiding the
economic development (that is, the possible livelihood strategies of actors, or, the possible
ways for human beings to make a living), preferably towards those stated five dimensions in
order to meet the goal of social and ecological sustainability.
By institutions I mean the set of established and embedded rules that structures social
interactions and their particular enforcing characteristic (North, 1991; Hodgson, 2006). Those
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rules can be of legal or non-legal character: both types set an agenda of limited probabilities
by constraining different options of an actor’s behaviours within a particular situation X to
the chance of a certain possible response Y.
Since human beings tend to align their actions with their assumptions about the probable
actions of their social environment (hence actions are always “reactions”), institutions are
mostly thought of as ways to reduce uncertainties resulting from collective action problems
between asymmetrically informed actors (Ostrom, 1986; Hall, 1996). Institutions are not to
conflate with “organizations” – the latter are structured organizational agencies composed of
actors oriented towards rules.
Defining institutions as rules, however, does not settle the matter entirely: to become a rule,
legal or non-legal regulations also must be recognized and enacted implying a potential
sanction in case of defection. Rules are not necessarily what is common in the sense of a
majority behavior (or, “the average”), but what is normative. It is the potential sanction that
distinguishes rules from mere repeated practices. Literal enforcement of rules is expensive in
terms of transaction costs, and so in most contexts, enforcement is “assured” through
legitimacy1.
The occurrence of sustainability problems in the terms of those five dimensions can thus be
attributed initially to malfunctioning on the level of institutions – there are either “bad”
institutions; or “good” institutions are not sufficiently monitored or enforced. The possible
livelihood strategies of actors would then be guided towards an unsustainable direction.
Stating that is, however, not to say that there would be an ideal set of institutions for solving
universally all sustainable problems across space and time (Ostrom et al, 2005).
Livelihoods of actors in the context of sustainable development are to be understood in terms
of their access to and disposition of capitals (Bebbington, 1999). In reference to Bourdieu
(1985), I distinguish hereby between social, economic, cultural and symbolic capital, adding
1
It [legitimacy] is a process by which cultural accounts from a larger social frame-work in which a
social entity is nested are construed to explain and support the existence of that social entity, whether
that entity be a group, a structure of inequality, a position of authority, or a social practice. […]. In our
view, then, the process of legitimation is a genuinely macro-micro process. (Berger et al, 1998).
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the notion of “natural capital” (Ekins, 1993). The latter equals the stock and flows of nonrenewable and renewable natural resources; economic capital corresponds to the financial
means in terms of income and access to credit. Cultural capital equates the knowledge and
education within a particular social system. Social capital refers to the network or social
contacts an actor disposes of. Emphasis lies in the goal oriented dimension of social capital:
returns are (and can be) expected from a contact. Social capital is not synonym to civic
engagement and participation in social organizations or to conflate with “community”.
Social capital does not equate with social coalitions (sometimes also termed within
institutional theory: structured interorganizational cooperation). While being an important
part of it, the formation of a social coalition involves all kind of capitals on the part of the
actors (and the question remains under which circumstances it leads to that). A social
coalition is the assemblage of different organizations, and depends hereby on the
participation of actors in as well as on the communication between such entities. On the one
hand, the negotiations and struggles taking place in the process of forming and advocating
social coalitions are directed by institutions through e.g. the assurance of trust by reducing
uncertainty and fulfilment of mutual expectations. On the other hand, social coalitions can
influence the creation and enforcement of institutions. According to Elinor Ostrom (1986),
the latter follow from:
“(1) creating positions (e.g., member, convener, agent, etc.); (2) stating
how participants enter or leave positions; (3) stating which actions
participants in these positions are required, permitted, or forbidden to
take; and (4) stating which outcome participants are required, permitted,
or forbidden to affect.”(Ostrom, 1986: 18)
The degree to which a social coalition determines such setting of an institutional agenda by
negotiating/struggling with other actors/social coalitions depends on the strength of the
aggregated value of the capitals brought by actors into the coalition. That is, the stronger
social coalition the more influence on the creation and enforcement of institutions. The
strength of the single actors, in turn, rests on the kind and the proportional composite of
capitals the actor has access to or disposes of. We can think of capitals as different suits in a
card game, the composite of capitals as the hand the actors got dealt out, and institutions as
the rules according to which the card game takes place.
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However, all capitals discussed so far are not fix values in themselves (nor substitutable with
each other). Their value is determined by the (temporally and spatially varying) symbolic
capital - “commonly called prestige, reputation, renown, etc., which is the form in which the
different forms of capital are perceived and recognized as legitimate” (Bourdieu, 1985: 274).
In that sense, capitals are not only means for making a living in a purely material sense, but
they also “give meaning” to the actor’s world (Sen, 1997).
In sum, problems of ecological and/or social sustainability resulting from “bad” institutions,
or a lack of enforcement of “good” institutions, can be delegated to the level of social
coalitions, and so to the distribution of capitals, and which suit of capital is classified as
trump. While the framework of institutional theory renders the concept of sustainable
development therewith better operational through such classifications, it often remains a
gender blind block (North, 1991; Hodgson, 2006; Ostrom et al, 2005).
of sexes, but rather products of social relations embedded in spatial and temporal contexts2.
In turn, in the context of sustainable development gender has sometimes been reduced to
“women’s studies only”. Or: to “projects to help barefoot, poor women”, respectively. Such
approaches as stirred by “ecofeminism” commonly hold that women inherent a closer
relationship to “nature” – what means not only that the subjugation of women (by the
patriarchy/capitalism/ect.) is linked to the subjugation of nature (will say: ecological
degradation). Furthermore, women are said to be “naturally” better targets and vehicles for
sustainable development projects (Shiva, 1989). That “synergism” found adaption by
agencies such as the World Bank writing into their sustainable development programs the
support (“empowering”) of women for overcoming poverty (through giving micro-credits),
stimulating economic growth (through incorporation in the labor market),
checking
population growth (through education).
That instru-mental, women- focused essentialism did not remain uncontested:
critics
(Jackson, 1993; Paulson, 2010) hold that “women” are not a single homogenous unitary
category, that women’s relation to the environment cannot be understood in isolation from
the ones of men, and that there aren’t, anyway, such things as “natural” qualities In order to
understand men’s and women’s incentive towards sustainable development, a more systemic
gender analysis would be needed.
2
On the question whether social construction or biological determination, I agree with Julia Serano
(2007) saying: neither only the one, nor only the other.
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Accordingly, in this thesis, gender is embedded into institutional theory and conceptualized
as “constitutive element of social relationships based on perceived differences between the
sexes” and as “a primary way of signifying relationships of power” (Scott, 1986: 1076). That
differences are perceived is to say that certain distinctions are deemed to be significant within
a particular social system: differences do not exist in and of themselves. They are made
differentiations: order from noise (Luhmann, 1984; von Förster, 2002).
In this sense, gender structures perception, implying a normative dimension of how human
beings are expected to behave appropriately according to their “gender category.” Gender
means hence the assumptions as well as the performance of practices in everyday life that are
largely patterned via and in terms of a distinction between the perceived different sexes
(Acker, 1992). Gender is an organizing principle within social relations whose fulfilment in
terms of gendered expectations varies through time and space.
Gendering institutional theory then means recognizing that the position and accessing of
capitals of each particular actor, the regularized leaving and entering of positions and the
particular prescribed actions differ in terms of gender. Furthermore, gender is crucial in
understanding how actors are created through social interactions with other actors through
mutual behavioural expectation according to the respective cultural beliefs: women become
women, men become men. Gender is happening at a micro – and macro level - and serves
therefore as an analytic observable to understand legitimation processes of power.
2. 2 Methods and blind spots
The following section is dedicated to a detailed description of the methods applied within my
research, as well as their limitations and blind spots.
In order to get an accurate picture of the situation in Chiloé in regard to sustainable
development, I based my study on a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative methods as
well as literature review. My main concerns were to disaggregate information by sex, to
distinguish practices from discourse, and to avoid stereotyped categories (e.g. the category
“housewife” precludes the actual activities of women) as far as possible.
The first pillar of methods presents a two- week field work in August 2010 in Chiloé. During
the field work, my colleague from Rimisp and I conducted 29 semi-structured interviews (17
men, 12 women) with local actors including current and former salmon workers, managerial
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level professionals in salmon industry, local government representatives, union leaders,
farmers, artisans, historians, non-governmental organization representatives, and smallbusiness owners. Besides, we made a mixed-sex focus group of salmon industry union
leaders composed of workers, and former salmon workers.
For all interviews as well as for the focus groups, both my colleague and I remained always
together for having two perspectives on the answers. In some interviews as well as in the
focus group a local guide has been present to facilitate the interviews in cases of
misunderstandings of local language/expressions. Both interviews and focus group have been
tape recorded (authorized recording) in order to assure a backup of data. Additionally, some
parts of the interviews have been transcribed by a native speaker.
Furthermore, I had access to 9 transcriptions of interviews as well as a female focus group
conducted during previous field work in Chiloé in 2009 by a research team of Rimisp on the
subject of sustainable development and territorial dynamics. Interviewees were hereby union
leaders, historians, local government officials, farmers, artisans, and professionals in salmon
industry. Albeit interview questions had not been explicitly disaggregated by sex (that is, they
did not ask specifically about men and women), they nevertheless provided gender related
information.
Second, I used the statistical analysis of data from a survey of 856 rural and urban households
in Chiloé, administered in year 2009 by Rimisp and Woods Institute for the Environment,
Stanford University. The survey was conducted according to the rules of statistical
representativity. The survey allowed disaggregation of data of each survey question, the
corresponding questions to each used data base will be cited in footnotes.
Finally, I reviewed legal primary data including The General Law of Fishing and
Aquaculture, as well as secondary literature on the salmon industry as published by e.g. The
Universidad Austral de Chile and different NGOs (e.g. Rimisp, Fundación Terram) and on
the history of Chiloé –as e.g. fundamental works of Rudolfo Urbina Burgos (1990), and
Phillipe Grenier (1984).
Each of the used methods shows shortcomings and blind spots – apart from the problem that
there is always data missing. Disaggregating data by sex – whether within a statistical survey,
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interviews, or literature - reduces a diversity of realities and experiences to two purportedly
homogenous blocks of material, and furthermore, to only two gender categories.
Asking questions in interviews already directs the interviewed person in a certain direction.
Furthermore, the answers given by the interviewed persons cannot be taken as unquestionable
“truth”, but – as the common sense would suggest– are always subjective. And, of course, the
interviewing person has an effect on the interviewed person – in this case, a gender-effect:
since both my college and I range in the category “women”, answers might have been
different if both of us would have been “men. Interviewed women perceived us sometimes as
compañera de lucha, some men might have felt forced to say something positive about
“women”. Within the focus group the limitation consists in the fact of having been a mixedsexed group. While discussion revealed interesting tensions in regard to gender relations, the
persons present in the focus group may have expressed different opinions and information if
given the opportunity to discuss the issues in single-sex groups.
The blind spot in the survey presents the formulation of certain survey questions and
categories within the survey (such as dueña de casa) that might preclude or hide information
about actual practices and at the same time convey ideological meanings that influence
empirical material. Furthermore, the administration of the survey to the jefe/a de hogar (head
of household), who spoke as the “representative” of other household member might have
biased answers within the survey expressing the experience of adult males more than other
genders and generations.
Finally, I am just a human being with my own perception, and equipped with a baggage of
theoretical assumptions that “decides what can be observed” (Einstein, 1926)
2. 3 Times and spaces
The spatial focus point of my research is concentrated on Chiloé, the second largest island in
Chile. Chiloé is marked by three characteristics: infinite rain, infinite forests, and the infinite
sea. Chiloé’s geography and climate is particularly favourable for aquaculture - disposing of
large lakes with high oxygen levels and a suitable salinity of the ocean waters. However, this
favourability is not to find all over Chiloé: Contrary to the inner sea on the east coast, the
high seas of the west coast are not especially apt for salmon farming.
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The spatial choice of central Chiloé is therefore due to the fact that the socio-economic
changes catalyzed by the establishment of the salmon industry are most profound in this
territory relative to the rest of Chiloé (Modrego et al., 2008; Ramírez et al., 2009a). Central
Chiloé comprises an area of 3.412 km2, six municipalities (Dalcahue, Castro, Curaco de
Vélez, Quinchao, Chonchi, and Puqueldón), and a population of 79,000 people, of which
approximately 48% resides in rural areas and 50% resides in the municipality of Castro, the
functional centre of the territory (Modrego et al., 2008; Ramírez et al., 2009a; Macé &
Bornschlegl, 2010).
The temporal framework is divided into the periods 1960 – 1990 and 1990 - 2009. The
beginning benchmark of the first period is the earthquake of 1960, while the year 1990 marks
the consolidation of the salmon industry (initiated in 1978) and coincides with the
governmental change in Chile.
The second period is set from the consolidation of the salmon industry until year 2009aligning with previous research in territorial dynamics (Ramírez et al., 2009a; Ramírez et al.,
2009b; Ramírez et al., 2010), and their most recent data set available. From 2007 onwards,
the salmon industry experiences until recently a crisis in the salmon industry due to the ISA
virus3 - however the latest development dynamics due to that crisis could not have been taken
more specifically into account.
By marking spatial and temporal limits within the framework, it is not to say that I do not see
Chiloé as a part of longer global history. Nevertheless, the complexity of national and
international contexts could not be considered explicitly within this study.
3
“Infectious salmon anemia (ISA) is one of the most important viral diseases of farmed Atlantic
salmon.[…] Small changes in these viruses, analogous to the mutations that allow low pathogenicity
avian influenza viruses to become highly pathogenic, may allow them to become more virulent.
Recent evidence also suggests that some ISA viruses may cause illness in species other than Atlantic
salmon. One isolate has been linked to illness among farmed Pacific coho salmon in Chile, and a
highly virulent strain can cause disease in experimentally infected rainbow trout.” (Center for Food
Security & Public Health, 2010, in: Macé & Bornschlegl, 2010).
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3 Gender and sustainable development
3. 1 What is the (sustainability) issue in Chiloé?
I think that in Chiloé there wasn’t any development of the salmon industry, but just the
growth of the salmon industry [..] There wasn’t a development of the industry, a development
that would have taken into account the environmental, social, labour conditions, the place
where to include those, that was never really considered.4
Governmental officials, Interview, 2009
3. 1. 1 The salmon boom
In order to define the problems of sustainability in Chiloé it is worth looking at the island’s
history from 1960 onwards that is closely linked to the establishment of the Chilean salmon
industry.
Salmon – the third most important sector of Chile’s export industry5 - is not native to Chilean
waters. Experiments in cultivating salmon in Chile could be dated back to the end of the 19th
century, but they did not turn until the late 80s into the size of an industry. However- once
off the starting blocks, salmon farming became a whiz kid in terms of economic growth: its
production increased from 29 metric tons by 1990 up to 506 metric tons by 2002, pushing
Chile worldwide in the rank of the second biggest producer of farmed (Montero, 2004).
Chiloé is hereby not only the place where the story of industrial salmon ranching in Chile
began, but forms part of the region De Los Lagos where still the lion’s share - about 80%- of
Chilean salmon is produced. For Chiloé’s inhabitants, the establishment of the salmon
industry meant a radical transformation. Within only 25 years Chiloé’s economy changed
from one mainly based on substance agriculture into one lead by an export-oriented, highly
concentrated, transnational industry – the globalized salmon cluster.
Among the most manifest alterations for the local population in terms of livelihood strategies
might count the development of the formal labor market. Whereas wage labor previously had
“Es que yo creo que en Chiloé no hubo un desarrollo del salmón, sino que hubo un crecimiento de la
industria […]No hubo un desarrollo de la industria, no hubo en el fondo un desarrollo tomando en
cuenta las condiciones ambientales, sociales, laborales, el lugar donde están insertos, eso nunca se
considero.”
5
C.f. ProChile foreign trade statistics: http://www.prochile.cl/servicios/estadisticas/exportaciones.php.
4
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been quasi non-existent in Chiloé, earning an income then became an essential pillar of
Chilote livelihood strategies. The shift of the local livelihood strategies happened mostly on
expense of the agricultural sector that got largely abandoned over time. Salmon farming
turned into one of the main employers in Chiloé, generating not only direct occupations, but
related business options like transport, services and fish meal production6. In sum, Chiloé
experienced a rise in income and a reduction in poverty that surpassed the national average
(Ramirez et al, 2009a), commonly linked to the salmon boom.
However, it is not all roses. The economic ascension of the salmon industry entailed several
social and ecological problems that will be classified in the following along the five lines of
my chosen definition of sustainable development.7
3.1.2 Regarding social sustainability
Regarding the social dimension of sustainable development, the main problems coalesce
around aspects of local participation in the decision-making concerning Chiloé, an equitable
distribution of opportunities and income, and economic diversity.
First, the financial distribution in Chiloé is not really a fair sharing: the regional Gini-coefficient remains with 0.54 relatively high (Modrego et al, 2008). This income disparity
cannot only be explained by the fact that non-salmon occupations aren’t that profitable.
While the profit of the salmon industry increased over 540% between the years 1990 and
2000, the average salary within the salmon industry augmented only about 84% over time8
(Muñoz, 2004) Higher positions are generally held by people from outside Chiloé, whereas
the productive infantry - operarios (salmon workers) – are mainly made up by the local
population. The salary of operarios oscillates around Chile’s minimum wage of USD $ 334
per month.9 According to the Chiloé household survey, 63% of men and 71% of women
By 2008, more than 45% of the economically active population of the communes of Chiloé central –
except Castro where it is about one third – was employed within the aquaculture sector; 25% directly
in the salmon industry (Macé & Bornschlegl, 2010).
7
Other issues of ecological sustainability in Chiloé that are, e.g. related to the forest management will
not be considered within this study.
8
Observation made by Felipe Montiel within an international seminar held by CEPAL in the year
2002; in: Muñoz, 2004.
9
National minimum wage is 172.000 Chilean pesos per month, equivalent to approximately USD 334
monthly.
http://www.lanacion.cl/senado-dio-luz-verde-a-salario-minimo-de-172-mil/noticias/201006-30/205317.html (Macé & Bornschlegl, 2010).
6
19 | P a g e
working in the salmon industry earn a wage between USD $ 10 and USD $ 20 per day, or
USD $ 200-400 per month (Macé & Bornschlegl, 2010; Rimisp & Stanford University,
2009).
Operarios are furthermore subjected to unsecure working conditions and poor labour
regulations: constant exposure to humidity and cold at the working place as well as the
monotony of the work movements lead to chronic diseases as e.g. arthritis, lumbago and
tendinitis. To this adds a high risk of working accidents of which some are fatal (Carrasco et
al, 2000). Additionally, salmon workers experience an increase in precarious employment
that can be best described as the “informalization of the formal”: while initially indefinite
contracts were more common within the industry, over time the proportion of fixed-term or
temporary contracts in both direct employment with salmon companies and subcontracts with
secondary firms had been rising. Depending on available fish stocks, firms employ on a
fixed-term basis, often with one to three-month contracts, after which workers are fired and
usually rehired in one to six months. Short-term contracts entail that workers have no rights
to benefits such as vacations or indemnity, and they have no guarantee of being rehired
(Macé & Bornschlegl, 2010).
Moreover, conflicts have been arising between the salmon industry and other economic
sectors mainly linked to agriculture, artisan fishing and tourism. Their economic activities are
bothered about the salmon industry through competition in labor force, use of marine areas,
and landscape degradation. The dominance of the salmon industry inhibits therefore more
economic diversity and economic self-reliance manifest in the creation of a local market and
greater cooperation among local economic entities.
Finally, the major part of the local population in Chiloé cannot be called an “empowered
citizenry” (Young, 1990) effectively included in the decision- making process regarding the
future and development of Chiloé. The local population is not consulted when it comes to
questions whether public funds in Chiloé should be invested in a casino on site, or rather in a
hospital.
3. 1. 3 Regarding ecological sustainability
In terms of the ecological dimension I identify three major problems related to the salmon
industry in Chiloé: energy use, waste management, and marine biodiversity.
20 | P a g e
First, the Chilean production process of farmed salmon does not show a positive energy
balance. The amount of feed necessary for to raise one kilo of salmon is made of
approximately three to five kilo of other fish processed to fish meal and fish oil. While the
gross feed conversation ratio (FCR) of salmon farming in Norway is 1.1 tons of feed per ton
of salmon, the one in Chile is nearly 1.5: 1. Also Chilean on-farm energy use per ton of
salmon is 85% higher than the one of Norway – what translate into the corresponding amount
in global warming and acidifying emissions (Pelletier et al, 2009).
Second, there is a problem with the waste generated by the production of farmed salmon.
Litter from the salmon plants is polluting broad areas in Chiloé as there aren’t adequate
landfills for depositing - in Castro alone there are counted 45 illegal landfills. Even more
important is the contamination of the water: waste such as faeces and feed rests from the
cultivated fish causes an augmentation of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) in the water head
within the salmon cages, the reduction of oxygen, an alteration of the pH value of the water
and therefore eutrophication of marine areas and lakes. Sunken waste material changes
furthermore the structure of the ground sediments (Pinto, 2007).
Third, salmon farming also tend to endanger the biodiversity in Chiloé: when salmons escape
from the cages, they compete for food with native species and risk spreading diseases. Even
if there isn’t yet enough research done to allow the account of a direct causality, one can
nevertheless state: the more escaped salmon the less native species exist (Soto & Moreno,
2001).
The magnitude of all three problem dimensions depends, beside the topography and
morphology of the water area, on the density of fish per cages, on the density of the cages
within one area as well as on the quality of feed, the technology and the used material.
The litmus test whether sustainable development in Chiloé with the salmon industry would
not be anyway a contradiction in terms, remains undecided. A step towards sustainable
development in Chiloé could mean to reduce the amount of fish per cages, and cages per area.
According to Pelletier et al (2009) Chile’s salmon production could transform into the least
environmental harmful in terms of energy use worldwide if the same FCR efficiency as
Norway would be achieved. Yet, the scale of potential replacement of feed remains
constrained by alternative product availability on global markets.
21 | P a g e
3. 2 Chiloé: Distribution of capitals & livelihood strategies
In the mid-eighties Chiloé was known as an area of potatoes, of wheat, of oat, and the sectors
of the island have been rather isolated from all those productive centres, commercial centres,
the today’s concept of the mall did not exist”10
Artisan Fisher, Interview, 2009
Now that we have defined the problems within sustainable development in Chiloé, we can
ask: what has gender to do with it? Hereby, it is worth looking first at the distribution of
capitals in the context of the livelihood strategies of local people before and after the
establishment of the salmon industry.
3. 2. 1 Chiloé 1960 – 1990
The livelihoods strategies of men and women within the period 1960 to 1990 of central
Chiloé were embedded mainly in an agricultural-based economy directed largely towards
subsistence. Export products included potatoes, timber, wool and, to some extent, grains.
However, most of the production, including pigs, sheep and artisan fishing, was absorbed by
internal consumption. As livelihood strategies within agriculture were tied to Chiloé’s
climate, they varied according to the seasonal calendar. The production unit of the primarily
rural population was based on the minifundio (small agricultural holding) which often has
been seen as a barrier to agricultural development. From the early 60s onward, livelihood
strategies started to include tourism as well as beginning fishing industries (artisanal fishing,
shellfish canning industry, as well as the first salmon farms). All in all, Chiloé remained a
national “problem child” until the 1980s, or, in the words of Urbina (1996): “Poor
agriculture, poorly organized fishing despite the enormous potential, no industrial activity.”11
In a context of poverty, marginality and the minifundio, migration was one of the few ways to
get access to economic capital in terms monetary income. From the turn of the century
onwards, emigration from Chiloé was significant, fluctuating according to local work
opportunities and the national economic situation. While emigration took a definitive as well
10
“Mitad de los ochenta se conocía mucho a Chiloé como una zona de papas, de trago, de avena, y
los sectores isleños eran sectores más bien aislados de todos estos centros productivos, centros
comerciales, no existía el concepto de mall que hay hoy día.”
11
“Pobre agricultura, pesca mal organizada a pesar del enorme potencial, nula actividad industrial.”
22 | P a g e
as a temporal shape, especially the latter is interesting in regard to my study: like forestry and
fishing, temporal migration has been chiefly men’s affair for Chilote residents.12
Chilote men left the archipelago normally in November after the potato harvest and stayed
away until March. Destinations of their migrations were Argentina and mainland Chile,
particularly the zone of Magallanes, Coyhaique-Aysén, Osorno, Llanquihue, where they
worked as shearers, or the nitrate fields and mines of Northern Chile. Chilote workers were,
albeit appreciated by their employees as “hard workers”, not paid majestically (Urbina,
1996).
The income, if not spent otherwise during the trip home, was invested in the
maintenance of their farms and fields.
Men’s migration tended to leave Chiloé’s demography female-biased. For example, the
census for Castro in the year 1960 indicates: 7,609 men and 10,653 women residents (Urbina,
1996). Numerous consulted residents stated that women’s business consisted mainly of
“maintaining the house” which, if asked what activities that would have included,
encompassed not less than: the education of children, looking after animals, tending the
vegetable patch, cooking, and collecting shellfish and seaweed. Additionally, women also
did all of the agricultural work labeled as “men’s” tasks: chopping wood, plowing, sowing,
and harvesting - especially if the male labor force stayed away longer than expected.
Furthermore, typically women were engaged in spinning, weaving, and artisan wool work.13
However, none of women’s livelihood strategies were remunerated in monetary terms. As
described by a local government administrator in an interview, they were matriarcas sin
recursos (matriarchs without resources), disposing of a large cultural capital, but depending
on the economic capital that men brought home from migration.
During the harvesting period of the year, both women and men were involved. While it was
typically men’s work to sow, cut and scythe, women’s work was to collect and bale the yield
within the threshing and to select potatoes from the potatoes harvest, managing both
germplasm and nutrition resources. Bigger agricultural work was organized in form of the
minga – a system of cooperation between neighbours exchanging labour force for labour
12
C.f. Mancilla & Rehbein, 2007.
It is not clear to which date this activity can be dated back. While one interviewed anthropologist
stated: “1975 empieza a desarrollarse la artesanía en lana, y la artesanía vegetal acá” a Chilote author
said that already 120 years ago a market for wool and wool products existed in Dalcahue.
13
23 | P a g e
force without any monetary payment. Within mingas the labour division between men and
women and the correlated cultural capital remained the same as described above.
In resume, the discursive norm states that while men’s livelihood strategies were centered in
the external space - the outdoors, the forest, the sea - women’s space was indoors. However,
whereas men stayed in their domain, women crossed those borders; as expressed by a local
anthropologist in an interview: “Women develop all activities, they know [how to do] all the
activities that men know, but men don’t know all the activities of women.”14
While the different sources allow an approximate assessment of cultural capital and economic
capital in terms of gender, it is difficult to ascertain the social capital distribution of men and
women within the social sphere during the period in question.
We can infer from the general tendency within interviews where residents stated that women
“participated little in community development” (Local historian, Interview, 2010)15 that they
might have had less public social contacts as men. Considering the geography of rural Chiloé
where distances between neighbors are often great, women might have remained quite
isolated within the boundaries of their defined space, whereas men tended to have had more
regular occasions to socialize: in bars, on migration – especially the latter was rather a group
enterprise based largely on male kinship relations.
Like social capital, it remains also problematic to assess exactly the natural capital
distribution in gender terms, apart from the fact that land estates have rather belonged to men,
while the sea was anyway common property.
However, it is sure to say that people describe the distribution of all capitals as based on the
belief of inherent qualities of each perceived sex. According to numerous consulted residents,
women during the period in question are labeled as encargada de la casa (in charge of the
house), and hogareña” (housewife); described as passive, albeit strong, with a special sense
for tidiness. They are described in interviews as equipped with patience and with delicate
“Las mujeres desarrollan todas las actividades, sí sabe todas las actividades que sabe el hombre, y el
hombre no sabe todas las de la mujer.”
15
“Atrás lo veía una mujer pasiva, poco participativa en cuanto al desarrollo comunitario, poca
participación.”
14
24 | P a g e
hands required for “manipulating the cooking,” for grinding the flour, for spinning and
weaving. Local actors also ascribe to the mother the responsibilities of transmitting
knowledge of “traditional” Chiloéan culture. And, as it should be the concern of a woman to
maintain the family, it is bad manners if she would waste resources on goods and alcohol
outside the home.
Men, on the contrary, according to descriptions of the époque in the literature16 and in
interviews, waste money on alcohol, they are coarse, and they have strong hands to do hard
physical labor in the field. Above all, men are viajeros (travellers): beyond generating
income, migrations to mainland Chile fulfilled the function of “becoming a man.”17
Manhood was, furthermore, achieved through working – a man without work is a humiliated
man.18 Chilote society during 1960-1990 is said to have been dominated by machismo and
the jefe de hogar (head of household). As stated by multiple interviewees, women were
“enclosed” in the house, obedient to the father and after marriage, to the husband.
Nevertheless, it was not a standard machismo; it was a “matriarchal machismo”: interviewees
stated that women supported macho attitudes by accepting them, and promoting them in ways
such as educating children in tasks distributed by sex. Even more significant, it was a
“machismo matriarchy:” women were, albeit indirectly, engaged in the decision-making,
since even if the husband made the final decision, the consulted opinion of his wife was
crucial. The idea of the matriarchy reverberated also in the attitudes in Chiloé towards single
women with children. Rather than being rejected or marginalized, they were supported by the
community. In sum, the matriarcado machista- as the Chiloéan society of that époque is
labeled by literature and local informants – was a normative system that did not punish
“strong” women who do “masculine” tasks; however the contrary did not hold true.
“New” models of masculinity and femininity began to arrive to the territory through the
Puerto Libre19 in the 1950s and through radio (and later television) from the 1960s onward.
16
Cf. Montiel, 2003; Urbina, 1996; Uribe, 2003.
According to Maffesoli (2004), “El nomadismo no está determinado únicamente por la necesidad
económica o la simple funcionalidad, es una especie de pulsión migratoria que incita al hombre a
cambiar de lugar y de hábitos para alcanzar plenamente las diversas facetas de su personalidad, sólo
accesible a través de la confrontación con lo extraño” in: Mancilla & Rehbein, 2007.
18
“Cuando un hombre no puede trabajar se siente muy humillado, se siente muy mal, pero sí siempre
salimos delante de todas las cosas con eso” (Indigenous woman, Interview, 2010)
19
The Puerto Libre was a tax-free- trading area in Castro. E.g. it was cheaper to buy a car in Chiloé
than on continental Chile.
17
25 | P a g e
These models were absorbed by the youth, which was the most significant group within
Chiloé’s demography during the 1970s: the “American way of life” seemed appealing to
young men and women (Urbina, 1996). Lastly, the status of a man started to be defined more
by economic capital than by personality and hard work.20 In terms of symbolic capital there
already had been coming a shift of the trumps within in the card game of capitals.
3. 2. 2 Chiloé 1990 – 200921
Since the installation of the first salmon farm in Chiloé, a growing portion of the local labor
force started to work in the salmon industry. The major reason mentioned by men and women
interviewees on the question why they started work in the salmon industry, reflect the
increased importance of economic capital in Chiloé: the salmon industry offered the
opportunity to get a monetary income. Even if modest, the steady monthly wage opened
access to credit and services, home loans, and consumer goods.
The proximity of the salmon industry in Chiloé not only eliminated the need for men to
migrate, but furthermore allowed women to also earn money without being forced to abandon
their home-based labor. Since the salmon farms and processing plants are spread along the
shores of Chiloé’s mainland and smaller islands, they opened up the occasion to work for
money close to home even for remote rural populations.
Particularly young men and women had been attracted by the option of monetary income
since the beginning of the industry. As stated by several interviewees, still today natural
capital such as land is not inherited by children until mature adulthood; therefore access to
economic capital meant independence from the parents and a way of life the youth no longer
felt committed to. The shift to salaried work has hereby often led to a gradual abandonment
of agriculture due to the time-consuming, physical labor it entails, and the rather diminishing
profit it generates.
It was also stated by several interviewees that the prospect to meet colleagues at work
motivated men and women to work in the salmon industry. This social dimension can be
“Un hombre valía ahora mucho más por sus bienes materiales que por lo que representaba su
persona. Entre los comerciantes importadores se podía reconocer lo que cada uno era capaz de
presumir por la plata que tenía. (Urbina 1996)
21
The section “Chiloé 1990-2009” is mainly based on the writings of Julie Claire Macé within our
DTR-report 2010.
20
26 | P a g e
understood considering the already mentioned geographic isolation of Chiloé’s rural areas,
and seemed to have been especially appealing for women.
Whereas interviewees claim the entry into the salmon industry was “gender neutral”, they
perceive a strong division of labor: men tend to be assigned towards tasks identified as
“heavier”, and “harder” in the centros de cultivo (salmon cultivation centers)22, whereas
women are given jobs identified as “delicate” or “detailed” in the plantas de proceso
(processing plants).23
Women’s work within the plantas de proceso consists in assembly line de-scaling and
cleaning salmon, extracting the spine and bones, packaging for export, and quality control.24
During the early stage of the salmon industry, women charged with the feeding of the salmon
in the centros de cultivo, but those tasks have become mostly mechanized over time.
According to a Manager of Cultivation Centre, men make up only 30% of labor in the plantas
de proceso where they are assigned tasks such as filleting or removing heads, tails, and
entrails, whereas 95% of the labor force within centros de cultivo is men (Macé &
Bornschlegl, 2010).
Men are working on the rafts and cages at the centros de cultivo, or working as buzo (diver)
responsible for the repair and cleaning of the nets within the cages; men are operating
machinery and navigating boats. They are also working in services related to the salmon
industry such as construction, maintenance, transport, and security. Furthermore, high
position such as managers and supervisors are generally held by men. And while none of the
interviewed actors had ever seen a man doing women’s “delicate” task, women were said to
occasionally also taking over some of men’s “heavier” tasks within plantas de proceso (Macé
& Bornschlegl, 2010).
22
Centros de cultivos are located along the shoreline and their main function is to raise salmon and
control its lifecycle: feeding, health and sanitation, etc. After approximately 10-13 months, salmon
are “harvested” and transported to plantas de proceso (Pinto, 2007).
23
In plantas de proceso, salmon is converted into a value-added product. Harvested salmon are
transported to the plants, where they are processed, which may include eviscerating, removing head
and tail, fileting, deboning, washing, weighing and classification, freezing, removing scales, and
packaging for shipment (Pinto, 2007).
24
The household survey data confirms that view showing that more women than men working in
processing in 1990 and 2008 (Macé & Bornschlegl, 2010).
.
27 | P a g e
Interviewed managers, union organizers, and operarios alike agreed that there are no
noteworthy income differences where men and women are accomplishing the same function.
Nonetheless: different tasks are paid different amounts. The filleting of the salmon will be
slightly better paid than other assembly line jobs, due to the necessary skill for performing a
premium cut.25 Workers operating machinery, as supervisors, or as buzo will also earn a
higher salary - as those tasks are said to be more complex or risky. Thus, while there is no
explicit wage difference in gender terms, there is however an implicit once since the
differently paid jobs are gendered. However, higher positions tend to be stuffed by
“qualified” people from outside the island, while local labor force is employed mostly as low
salaried operarios.
Along with salmon industry shifted the cultural capital in Chiloé: First, we can observe that
“new” knowledge and practices were introduced - not only in terms of higher valued skills
related to formal academic education – what shall become the dominant cultural capital.
Furthermore, new cultural capital got generated over the time through the creation of work
experience: interviewees stated that an experienced operario will easier get hired than a nonexperienced one- though that kind of skill remains unpaid. The designation of tasks within
the industry in gender terms helps hereby to assure the continuum of a newly created
tradition.
Second, interviewees as well as the household survey data tell that cultural capital related to
agriculture decreases for both women and men over the period in question. However, that
decrease of former cultural capital does not hold true for other “traditional” Chilote
knowledge and practices - mainly such that can be translated into economic capital.
Processed salmon is differently categories according to the quality. The category “premium”- a filet
without fish skin and without fish bones - is the most expensive one.
25
28 | P a g e
1990
Change (+/-)
1990-2009
2009
Type of cultural
knowledge
Count
% of total
Count
% of total
Count
change in
% of total
Wool-based crafts
(spinning, knitting,
weaving)
16.507
10,6
17.395
11,0
888
0,4
Wood-based crafts
2.425
1,6
1.709
1,1
-717
-0,5
Boat construction
651
0,4
203
0,1
-448
-0,3
Forest
management
8.011
5,1
5.721
3,6
-2.290
-1,5
Land management
19.707
12,7
18.030
11,4
-1.677
-1,2
Small animal and
livestock raising
19.652
12,6
17.726
11,2
-1.927
-1,4
Sea navigation
3.634
2,3
2.226
1,4
-1.408
-0,9
Diving
323
0,2
327
0,2
4
0,0
Shellfish collecting
18.232
11,7
17.499
11,1
-733
-0,6
Myths, tales, and
stories of Chiloé
21.749
14,0
25.617
16,2
3.868
2,3
Chilote cuisine
22.140
14,2
26.169
16,6
4.029
2,4
Minga, religious
festivals, dances
22.677
14,6
25.304
16,0
2.627
1,5
Total (N)
155.710
100
157.926
100
Table A: Women’s cultural
capital per year, and
differences between 1990
and 2009
Source: Rimisp – Latin American
Center for Rural Development &
Woods
Institute
for
the
Environment, Stanford University.
(2009). Chiloé Household Survey;
Macé & Bornschlegl, 2010.
Survey responses reveal that the frequency of cultural capital related explicitly to Chilote
identity – such as knitting/weaving, woodworking, forest management, local cuisine,
navigation, local myths and history – increases over time among both men and women (See table A
and B) (Macé & Bornschlegl, 2010).
29 | P a g e
1990
Change (+/-)
1990-2009
2009
Type of cultural
knowledge
Count
% of total
Count
% of total
Count
change in
% of total
Wool-based crafts
(spinning, knitting,
weaving)
4.510
3,0
1.406
0,9
-3.105
-2,1
Wood-based crafts
6.809
4,6
7.447
4,9
639
0,3
Boat construction
2.182
1,5
1.956
1,3
-226
-0,2
Forest
management
12.271
8,2
13.013
8,5
742
0,3
Land management
20.203
13,5
19.543
12,8
-660
-0,7
Small animal and
livestock raising
20.111
13,5
19.078
12,5
-1.033
-1,0
Sea navigation
6.559
4,4
8.016
5,2
1.458
0,9
Diving
645
0,4
1.544
1,0
899
0,6
Shellfish collecting
17.504
11,7
16.904
11,1
-600
-0,7
Myths, tales, and
stories of Chiloé
20.398
13,7
24.688
16,2
4.290
2,5
Chilote cuisine
15.622
10,5
14.718
9,6
-904
-0,8
Minga, religious
festivals, dances
22.420
15,0
24.429
16,0
2.010
1,0
Total (N)
149.233
100
152.743
100
Table B: Men’s cultural
capital per year, and
differences between 1990
and 2009
Source: Rimisp – Latin American
Center for Rural Development &
Woods
Institute
for
the
Environment,
Stanford
University.
(2009).
Chiloé
Household Survey; Macé &
Bornschlegl, 2010.
Interestingly, differences between men’s and women’s profiles increase for most of the
cultural knowledge domains. Certainly, between 1990 and 2009, no change is observed in the
fact that more men have knowledge in navigation and forest management, and more women
know how to knit and cook. Nevertheless, these differences become much more pronounced
over time. In the distribution of cultural capital still in 1990, men and women shared
knowledge in many fields, minga and religious festivals, shellfish collecting, and land
management. However, the distributional pattern in 2009 show that these domains of shared
knowledge become more divided by gender over time. Thus, there is an increase in the
differences between men and women’s types of knowledge for nearly every domain: cultural
capital became highly gendered in comparison to the distributional patterns of the past (See
table C).
30 | P a g e
1990
2009
Change in
difference (+/-)
1990-2009
Type of cultural
knowledge
Difference
(N men N women)
Difference
(N men N women)
Count (N )
Wool-based crafts
(spinning, knitting,
weaving)
11.997
15.989
3.992
Wood-based crafts
-4.383
-5.738
1.355
Boat construction
-1.532
-1.753
222
Forest management
-4.260
-7.292
3.032
Land management
-496
-1.513
1.017
Small animal and
livestock raising
-459
-1.352
893
Sea navigation
-2.925
-5.790
2.865
Diving
-322
-1.217
895
Shellfish collecting
729
595
-133
Myths, tales, and
stories of Chiloé
1.352
929
-422
Chilote cuisine
6.519
11.451
4.932
Minga, religious
festivals, dances
258
875
617
Total (N)
35.232
54.494
% change in Total
(1990 to 2009)
Table C: Differences in men and
women’s cultural capital per year, and
the change in differences in 1990 and
2009
Source: Rimisp – Latin American Center for
Rural Development & Woods Institute for the
Environment, Stanford University. (2009). Chiloé
Household Survey; Macé & Bornschlegl, 2010.
55%
Also for the period 1990 -2009, the distribution of all different capitals is based on a
gendered belief and perception of capabilities, and behaviors. For instance, within the context
of the salmon industry, typical characteristics to describe women are: sensitive, productive,
efficient, dedicated, responsible, rigorous, meticulous, and agile. Women are assigned tasks
such as extracting the spine and bones, and to do the quality control because they have “fine
delicate hands”, and “attention to detail”. Male workers generally are seen as strong, clumsy,
brutish, with a tendency towards alcoholism and lateness, yet better able to take on risky,
machine-based, or supervisory positions (Macé & Bornschlegl, 2010).
31 | P a g e
Middle managers, the same people from the company, of course, they prefer for
everything that has to do with handling, women. And everything that’s heavy
work, one can say rough [work], less meticulous, men (Former salmon worker,
Interview, 2010).26
Gender beliefs influence the hiring patterns: women come to be associated with certain jobs,
and men with others, while on the supply side of labor, men and women adapt their behavior
to fulfill these expectations.
Nevertheless, the model of femininity remains focused around
the house and the corresponding tasks as mother and wife. Albeit women started to work
full-time in salaried occupations, domestic tasks such as cooking, cleaning, and raising
children continues to typically fall on them. Besides, globally dominant trends can also be
found in Chiloé: women preoccupied with wrinkles and weight; young girls dyeing their hair
blonde to mimic women they see on television; and young men buying the latest hi-fi
equipment to assure the echo of their masculinity (Macé & Bornschlegl, 2010).
So, why is it important to look at the distribution of capitals in gender terms? What does it
tell in regard to the identified sustainability problems?
First, the distribution of capitals and livelihoods by gender in Chiloé generated an experience
that provided the salmon industry with an already “trained” local labor force - nevertheless
that experience mostly remained classified as “unskilled”, and therefore not worth to pay off.
Due to Chiloé’s climate, historically, the population of the island was experienced in harsh
working conditions. This could have come in handy in the salmon industry whose
occupations at the base of the production process (where most Chilotes are employed) are
generally described as tough work, mostly in a cold and humid environment.
As men’s knowledge and practices were all about the sea, that might have found application
in the cultivation centers. And while Chilote migrants were appreciated on the Argentinean
and Chilean mainland for their “character” as tough workers without demanding much pay,
the same holds true within the salmon industry:
“Los mandos medios, la misma gente de la empresa, claro, ellos prefieren para todo lo que sea
manipulación, mujeres. Y todo los que es trabajo pesado, brusco se puede decir, menos minuciosa,
hombres.”
26
32 | P a g e
Well, now one didn’t have to leave and people didn’t go to Argentina but instead
worked here, of course some said, ‘Shoot, now we’re exploited on our own land,
before we were exploited outside,’ some said, ‘now we’re exploited here’ (Local
historian, Interview, 2010).27
This issue is even more crucial considering the case of women. The role that Chilote women
fulfilled previously to the salmon industry provided them with knowledge and practices that
facilitated the entry into the canning industry, and later the salmon industry. Since women
were assigned to do the “fine work” like spinning and weaving, they disposed of the
necessary training in fine motor skills required in the industry. The weaving leads to the
“needlework” of removing fish bones, the quality selection of potatoes turns into the quality
selection of salmon filets, the feeding of small animals in the yard provides the necessary
sense for feeding fish in the cultivation centers.
As we have seen, women were also well-accustomed to hard work in the pre-salmon-society,
so they could stand the physically demanding working conditions in the industry.
Furthermore, the plurality of tasks they confronted in daily life within Chilote society before
the salmon industry may have made it possible for them to deal with the flexibility required
by the industry in day-by-day work assignments:
I think there was some legacy of women in the sense, say, in manual labor that
her grandparents taught her, or in farm work, for example, with work, say, in
cooking, work in developing products, I think that she already had experience.
So, basically [the industry] replicated this experience (Local government
administrator, Interview, 2010).28
Second, by consistently designating the same tasks to the same sex based on gender
assumptions, the new industry “engendered” a new tradition. As stated by a cultivation center
“Bueno ya no había que salir y la gente no se iba a Argentina sino que trabajaba aquí, claro que
algunos decían chuta ahora somos explotados en nuestra propia tierra, antes eramos explotados afuera
decían algunos, ahora somos explotados aquí mismo.”
28
“Yo creo que había una herencia un poco de la mujer en el sentido, digamos, por un trabajo manual
que le enseñaban los abuelos o en el trabajo de la hacienda, por ejemplo, con el trabajo, digamos, de
las comidas, con el trabajo de elaborar productos, yo creo que ya tenía una experiencia. Entonces, en
el fondo replicó esa experiencia.”
27
33 | P a g e
manager during an interview, the industry should put even more efforts in enforcing each
sex’s “natural qualities”:
[…] specializing the sexes, helping them to strengthen, or giving them where
women’s strengths are, which is the eye, the skill, land the mind. And the man,
putting him a bit more in the more brutish work, where you can develop him
more. I think we should continue in how the sexes are.
29
(Cultivation Center
Manager, Interview, 2010)
In this way, a new custom was created and with that custom experience – and again,
experience that does not have to be paid.
Indeed, no system of official certification
documenting the work experience of operarios exists: even after several years in the industry:
their work remains “unskilled” – and therefore without any regular “upgrading” of salary.
This is even more important considering that some of the low-paid occupations like deboning
are precisely the factors that add value to Chilean salmon in the international market.
In sum, “cheap labor force” is one of the points commonly mentioned by the interviewed
persons and by literature as a crucial explanatory factor for the success of the salmon industry
(Carrasco et al, 2000; Montero, 2004; Díaz, 2003). The problem of low wages are hereby not
only an essential point in terms of social sustainability, but also important for ecological
sustainability. As Eduardo Silva (1996) points out: low labor prices are one the reasons that
make the extension of old end-of-pipe- technology for firms more cost-competitive than the
investment in improvements of the production processes in terms of less environmental
harmful material and technology.
In the next section, I will interrogate if the distribution of capitals affects also the formation
of social coalitions, and how gender plays out in that regard.
“[…]especializando los sexos, ayudándoles a fortalecer, o sea dándoles donde están las fortalezas
de las mujeres, que es el ojo, la habilidad y la mente. Y al hombre poniéndolo un poco más en los
trabajos más brutos, donde tú lo puedes desarrollar un poco más, o sea yo creo que seguiríamos como
están los sexos.”
29
34 | P a g e
3. 3 Social coalitions
When people notice that they are ignored, they just stop participating and that’s it […] 30
Work Union Leader, Interview, 2009
Nobody is wondering why those projects actually don’t work.31
Female Focus Group, 2009
What is needed is monitoring, because the laws do exist.32
Local Anthropologist, Interview, 2009
3.3. 1 Pro and contra salmon: social coalitions in Chiloé
As stated in the theoretical framework, social coalitions of actors can influence the
institutional framework to a degree that depends on the strength of the capitals accessed and
mobilized by the corresponding actors forming the social coalition.
The social coalition that largely defines the reality in and the development of Chiloé in terms
of the institutional framework coalesces around the salmon industry, and encompasses the
Chilean government (e.g. members of Parliament, Ministries, and administrative agencies),
firms and investors linked to salmon production, and representatives of national media.
(Ramírez et al, 2010).33 This social coalition is marked by organizational cooperation not
only within entities on the public side as, e.g. Fundación Chile and ProChile as well as on the
private side with the producers association SalmonChile, but also between private and public
entities.34 The amalgam of this social coalition consists in shared interests such as economic
growth, employment, foreign capital, and technological innovation. Those topics also serve
as discursive base of legitimation for their operations and dominance acknowledged by parts
of the local population in Chiloé.
Albeit critical bodies exist such as social and environmental NGOs, local groups related to
economic activities such as tourism, artisanal fishing, artisanal crafting, and some worker
“Cuando la gente se da cuenta que no la consideras no participa nomás, entonces prefiere continuar
con su vida diaria, que es el trabajo, el aislarse y el protegerse.”
31
“Nadie se cuestiona porque no funcionan estos proyectos.”
32
“Lo que se requiere es una fiscalización, porque están las leyes.”
33
Despite the ISA crisis the pro-salmon-coalition did not markedly lose strength (Ramirez et al.,
2010).
34
This social coalition will be termed “pro-salmon-coalition” in the whole thesis, while the critic
counterpart to the pro-salmon-coalition will be termed “counter-coalition”.
30
35 | P a g e
unions, they did not succeed in forming a strong social coalition able to break the dominance
of the pro-salmon alliance.
Such counter- coalition could address the identified sustainability problems. In regard to
economic diversity and self-reliance, that would mean to foster networks of alternative
economic projects with local artisanal or agricultural products, artisanal fishing or with
tourism. On a political level, a strong counter-coalition could potentially– via social
inclusion- bring forward an ecologically sound and socially just legal framework.
In the following, I will focus on the question what might have limited the impact of such
counter- social coalition and on the gender component into that. Albeit I do not conflate
participation in an organization with the automatic formation of social coalitions, I suggest
that membership in organizations could serve as the first step and indicator of the forming of
such. Therefore, I start by looking at the participation in organizations, including unions,
social, political, and cultural organizations.
3. 3. 2 The matrix of social coalitions: participation in organizations35
The household survey (Rimisp & Stanford University, 2009) shows that the total number of
men and women participating in political as well as non-political organizations increases
between 1990 and 2009 (Macé & Bornschlegl, 2010).
By 1990, the organizations ranked with the highest level of participation for both men and
women are junta de vecinos in the first place, followed by sport clubs, and religious groups.
By 2009 the order of highest participation for men stays the same, while the order of
women’s participation changes to: first, junta de vecinos; second, religious groups, and third,
educational groups (see table D).
Contrary to widespread opinion of the interviewed actors, the household survey shows that
men have a higher rate of participation in organizations than women. However, between
1990 and 2009 the number of female-dominated groups increases. For instance, groups such
as housing committees, health association, religious and spiritual groups have a female
majority (see table D).
35
The section 3.3.2 draws on parts originally written by Julie-Claire Macé within our DTR-report
2010.
36 | P a g e
Table D: Social and political participation of men and women in year 1990 and 2009
Participation 1990
Participation 2009
Difference
N men N women
Men
Women
Count
Total
1990
Count
6.983
5.899
12.881
1.084
Ethnic group
244
78
322
Political party
221
28
249
Housing committee
104
225
Religious or spiritual group
1.943
Union or trade association
Cultural group or assoc. (folklore, etc.)
Type of organization
Neighborhood association (Junta de
Vecinos)
Men
Women
Count
Count
Total
2009
Difference
N men N women
6.068
5.848
11.916
220
167
785
629
1.414
156
193
129
14
143
115
329
-121
230
595
825
-365
1.928
3.871
14
2.769
2.755
5.524
15
451
381
832
70
1.346
640
1.986
707
375
601
976
-227
679
528
1.207
152
Business association or other
production group (tourism, etc.)
Farmers' cooperative or association
25
106
131
-80
259
481
740
-223
586
480
1.066
106
535
521
1.056
13
Water or waste management group
112
35
147
77
2.142
1.370
3.512
771
43
73
116
-31
94
219
313
-125
74
163
237
-89
161
215
377
-54
3.860
804
4.664
3.057
5.817
1.228
7.045
4.588
219
1.178
1.397
-960
0
100
100
-100
0
31
31
-31
11
137
149
-126
259
741
1.000
-481
493
1.594
2.088
-1.101
95
44
139
51
583
715
1.298
-131
41
40
81
1
70
50
120
20
374
205
580
169
701
1.017
1.718
-316
16.009
13.039
29.048
7.009
22.873
18.657
41.530
9.297
Professional association (professors,
veterans, academics, etc.)
Artisan group
Sporting club
Mothers group (Centro de Madres)
Youth group
Education group (Parent-teacher
association, etc.)
Social action or charitable group
Health association
Other groups
Total
Source: Rimisp – Latin American Center for Rural Development & Woods Institute for the Environment,
Stanford University. (2009). Chiloé Household Survey; Macé & Bornschlegl, 2010.
The household survey data tells that organizations are becoming more polarized in their
membership: differences between men and women’s participation become more pronounced
over time. For instance, the participation in sporting groups is more male-dominated in 2009
than it has been in 1990. In general, women have stronger membership in organizations
associated with the social and cultural realm, such as housing committees, and educationbased groups, while men participate more in sport clubs, councils, and work unions. That is,
37 | P a g e
men and women’s work and social participation appear to be diverging over time into globally
stereotype gender categories (see table D) (Macé & Bornschlegl, 2010).
Within this development reverberate commonly hold gender beliefs about men and women:
according to interviewees women are seen as having more commitment to the community
and the communal, while men are said to generally lack interest and time to attend meetings
since “they are working.” As a former director of PRODEMU observed, female-dominated
groups would be also more sustainable through time fulfilling - beyond their official
function- social purposes for their members. In other words, women “care” (Macé &
Bornschlegl, 2010).
Several interviewed actors perceive the participation of women in organizations and unions
as new: women would have gained space, independence, and voice; they are “liberated” from
the supremacy of men. Women are said to have expanded their roles as purely passive
housewife by adopting new identities as workers and leaders. They are more active and
confident: qualities that some attribute to the “Bachelet effect.” But despite the perception of
women as innovadoras for the development and future of Chiloé, men are said to be taken
more seriously than women in the public sphere:
For example, it’s better that a man goes to a public office, they’ll give him a
quicker answer maybe, and more specific, than if a woman goes, who doesn’t
know how to move well within the public domain36 (Former PRODEMU
director, Interview, 2010).
Men are generally described by interviewees as less emotional and more rational than women –
qualities that seem to make the better leader (Macé & Bornschlegl, 2010).
Looking at participation in Chiloé not only in quantitative terms, but also in qualitative terms,
the household survey reveals that while participation generally increases between 1990 and
2009, the quality of that participation diminishes over years.37 By 1990, 69% of all men, and
“Por ejemplo es mejor que vaya un hombres a una oficina pública, le van dar una respuesta más
rápida tal vez, y más concreta, que si va una mujer, que no sabe moverse bien en el ámbito público.”
37
This question was approached within the household survey 2009 by dividing the categories of
participation into “high”, “medium”, and “low” (c.f. Macé & Yáñez, 2009).
36
38 | P a g e
61% of all women indicate that they would participate as actively involved members in their
organization. By 2009, only 51% of all men and only 43% of all women remain committed
members (Macé & Yáñez, 2009; Ramírez et al, 2010) – the latter is especially interesting in
regard to the above mentioned perception about gained female space. But where does such
participatory disenchantment stem from?
3. 3. 3 … towards economic diversity and self-reliance?
While the system of economic “cooperativas” previous to the salmon industry is claimed to
have worked rather well, interviewees perceive main problems on the level of economic
organizations and participation in alternative development projects within the second time
period of my research.
First, several consulted actors stated that men and women in Chiloé would prefer to ask for
charity rather than engaging actively in organizations themselves. This practice of
asistencialismo (welfarism) is said to be complemented by a paternalismo (paternalism) on
the part of governmental agencies such as the municipality. Instead of providing the
necessary tools for “teaching how to fish”, the fish is simply given – what creates, wittingly
or unwittingly- certain dependence. That is, no cultural capital in terms of knowledge and
practices is generated. Paternalism is also said to be the reason why local men and women
often are the lacking administrative and logistic skills necessary to lead an organization.
Organizations fail because nobody knows “how to work together”, coordination is lacking
and often the work load tends to fall on one single person.
Second, interviewees mentioned the perceived ineffectiveness of encounters why men and
women would be staying away from organizations:
“We all should be furniture makers since this is the country of the round tables:
round table for fishing, round table for agriculture, round table for tourism, round
table for artisan crafters, round table for health; whatever problem, let’s just make
a round table, but in the end, making round tables does not achieve anything; to
39 | P a g e
be sure, it is an occasion of civil participation, but in the end, nothing concrete is
achieved” 38 (Artisanal Fisher, Interview, 2009)
Indeed, the household survey confirms that men and women in Chiloé perceive a loss in
influence of their organization on the decision-making that determines the development
of the community:39 while in 1990 79% of men and women considered the influence of
their organization as strong, this amount decreases to 65% in year 2009.
3. 3. 4 … towards social inclusion and social justice?
The perception of lacking influence can also account as reason for the lack of commitment on
a political level. Decisions are perceived as being taken out of the reach of local influence,
somewhere far away en los escritorios (at the desk) in Santiago, and even beyond- where the
actual reality of Chiloé is unknown. Work unions remain weakened by the fact of the split
production process into several sub-firms, as well as by the fear of getting on the “black lists”
of the salmon industry– even if those might be not such common practice anymore.
Local governmental bodies such as municipalities are criticized for being too bureaucratic,
and being structured in a way that gives too much power to the mayor and not enough to
organizations such as junta de vecinos. To this adds a perceived increase of the practice of
clientelismo (clientelism) within governmental bodies – broad agreement within all consulted
sources. A decreasing confidence in political actors - the household survey shows that 69% of
both men and women don’t trust anymore in political actors - might be responsible for a
general political apathy that translates in lower commitment to participation in organizations.
This result is consistent with the broader tendency of political apathy in Chile, documented
by several other studies (Klesner, 2007, Seligson, 1999). According to Carruthers (2001)
“values of community, solidarity and participation have gone out of style, replaced by an
unapologetic materialist consumerism”. On the practical side, the salmon industry means
38
Deberíamos ser todos mueblistas porque este es el país de las mesas, mesa de la pesca, mesa
agrícola, mesa de turismo, mesa de los artesanos, […] mesas de la salud; […] hay un problema: mesa
de trabajo y al final una mesa de trabajo no lleva a muchas cosas, entonces claro, es un momento de
participación ciudadana, pero al final no te lleva a resultados concretos […]”
39
The measurement of perceived influence was approached through the following question: Do you
think that your organization influences the decisions that affect the community (investments, policies,
programs, services, strategies of development)? The respondents had to answer with a qualifications
of a scale ranging from 1 (bad/low) to 7 (good/high) (¿Cuánto cree Ud. que esta organización influye
en las decisiones que afectan a la comunidad? (inversiones, políticas, programas, servicios, estrategias
de desarrollo, etc.).”
40 | P a g e
hereby providing the income opportunity to buy the necessary accessories to fulfil models of
masculinity and femininity.
Interviewees stated that “new political actors” would be required with new ideas in order to
motivate engaged participation. And even if de facto there still more men than women
participating, however on the discursive level, participation in civil groups could become
labelled as “a woman thing” – manhood does not seem to be achieved through civic
engagement. This may lead not only to decreased engagement among men in future (if the
trend continues), but also to “women’s things” not being taken seriously within a political
realm, with the corresponding effect for a potential counter- coalition.
The weakness of the counter-coalition reverberates in the creation and enforcement of the
legal institutions respective to social and ecological sustainability. That will be illustrated in
the following section by looking closer on the Chilean framework of environmental law – yet
that is not to say other legal corpora would be less important.
3. 3. 5 …towards ecologically sound legal institutions?
Until 1989 there did not exist any legal framework that would have controlled and monitored
the operations of the salmon industry. In 1992, the environmental legacy with the General
Environmental Framework Law and its main instrument – the environmental impact reports
(EIR) – was introduced, passing as law in 1994. For understanding the issues of ecological
sustainability in Chiloé, it is worth looking at the major legal devices regulating salmon
farming40.
According to the Chilean legislation, the use of water and coastal areas for aquaculture
activities requires a governmental authorization. The General Law for Fishing and
Aquaculture (La Ley General de Pesca y Acuicultura: Ley 18.892) regulates such authorized
user right in form of given consents of the category “porción de agua y fondo” (portion of
water and ground).41
40
It is also to mention that the salmon industry has established internal guidelines such as. e.g.
Código- de- Buenas -Practicas (SalmonChile, 2003).
41
There are two different types of consents: The “aquaculture consent” which is the user right of a
specific location of the marine territory for the specific purpose of aquaculture. The “aquaculture
authorisation” grants the user right of a specific location of lakes, and rivers for the specific purpose
of aquaculture (the breeding of young salmon) (SUBPESCA, 2003:57).
41 | P a g e
For obtaining such consent, the applicant has to hand in a project report to the National
Fishery Service (Servicio Nacional de Pesca, SERNAPESCA), subordinated to the Ministry
of Economy, Promotion and Reconstruction. The project report must include information
about the technical and geographical details of the planned cultivation. After a first
verification by the SERNAPESCA, the application is passed to the Sub-secretariat of Fishery
(Subsecretaría de Pesca, SUBPESCA), subordinated to the Ministry of National Defence the last instance for the final issuance of the consent.
The criteria of verification for issuance is hereby assessed along the lines of the General Law
for the Environment (Ley sobre Bases Generales del Medio Ambiente, Ley 19.300) as
established by the Comisión Nacional del Medio Ambiente (CONAMA). Accordingly, each
project is subject to an environmental evaluation in form of an environmental impact report
(EIR) within the Regulations of the Evaluation System of Environmental Impact (Reglamento
del Sistema de Evaluacion de Impacto Ambiental, SEIA). In the case of the salmon industry,
the required EIR are either a Declaration of Environmental Impact (Declaración de Impacto
Ambiental) or a Study of Environmental Impact (Estudio de Impacto Ambiental), depending
on the size of the projects. Smaller projects, however, do not have to declare an EIR at all.
The Environmental Regulation for Aquaculture (Reglamento Ambiental para la Acuicultura)
holds that each cultivation centre must maintain its consigned area of cultivation in clean
conditions.
Once the consent is given to the applicant, the latter will register in the Registro Nacional de
Acuicultura - administered by SERNAPESCA- and is then subjected to pay an annual patent
tax, as regulated by the General Law of Fishing and Aquaculture.
While those legal regulations mean a progress compared to the situation before 1990, there
remain nevertheless several problems, respectively. First, the regulation of access to the
consents was indirectly excluding the Chiloé’s local population not sufficiently equipped
with the necessary cultural capital in jurisprudence, administration and logistics, and
historically not used to the division of the sea into user rights - at least not in the beginning
years.
42 | P a g e
Second, the whole evaluation process from the application to the issuance of consent is based
on the project report written by the applicant. Since the given information remains unchecked
by a third party, essential issues such as e.g. the quantity of farmed fish and the size of the
used area are never verified.
According to Silva (1996) the EIR are administered by
organizations that are themselves weak, and “in which the industry to be regulated is closely
involved as collaborator and from which other social groups are essentially excluded” (Silva,
1996:3).
Third, the monitoring of the legal framework simply does not work. Interviewees stated that
there is no controlling body – an “authority- that could put the theoretically existing law into
practice. The lack of coordination in regard to the question which organization would be
actually in charge is reflected by the broad range of potential “candidates” as indicated by
interviewed
actors:
SUBPESCA,
CONAMA,
or
the
municipalities.
Apparently,
responsibilities are not clearly set. However, there is a consistent lowest common
denominator: all named agencies were said to lack personal and money to realize effective
regular controls of the salmon industry. Matters are complicated by the geographical reality
in terms of the huge and dispersed coastal territory that would need to be supervised. For
instance, a Leader of a Work Union stated:
And the other thing is the contamination, I mean, nobody controls the
contamination; the CONAMA turns a blind eye because they don’t have enough
people to go controlling centre X. And the marine authority does not have
sufficiently staff on board for controlling the cultivation centres. 42 (Leader of
Work Union, Interview, 2009)
Minimal stuff in state agencies is hereby still the heritage of the free-market -policies by the
dictator regime of Pinochet.
Fourth, the patent pay, as established by Art.84 of the General Law for Fishing and
Aquaculture is relative to the amount of hectare in terms of surface, not to the amount of
actually used water in terms of volume. To put numbers into a perspective, the average
monthly patent pay is only a third of the water bill of a Chilean household. By 2007, the
“Y lo otro es la contaminación, o sea nadie tampoco supervisa la contaminación, la CONAMA hace
vista gorda porque no tienen gente para ir a supervisar a centro x. A la autoridad marítima no le
alcanza el personal embarcado para supervisar los centros de cultivo.”
42
43 | P a g e
revenue of the salmon industry encompassed USD $ 2.200 million while the tax pay USD $
1.68.868, that is 0, 0053% of its profit (Liberona & Furci, 2008).
Finally, there is insufficient control in regard to the concentration of consents. As a locally
based lawyer put it during an interview:
So, that’s an industry without any control, nobody said that this should be an
industry where nobody can have more than 40% of the consents […], because
actually the mono-cultivations together with an economic concentration are
disastrous [..]43 (Lawyer, Interview, 2009)
Indeed, within 1992 and 1999 the numbers of companies shrink from 63 different
companies to only 40 different companies, while the production per company increased
from 790 to 5447 metric tons. The largest companies are hereby transnational
corporations such as Marine Harvest Chile S.A, Invertec, Aguas Claras S.A (Montero,
2004)
In sum, those findings confirm the view of Ostrom et al (2005) that ecological sustainability
depends largely on the frequency of monitoring of institutions. Much of the legal Chilean
environmental framework that regulates the salmon industry is still rather a “paper park” than
de facto applied and enforced institution. However, I don’t agree with Ostrom et al (2005) in
the point that successful resource management is independent of social coalitions - as it might
be asked: who establishes the frequency of control if such is not related to social coalitions?
Chile’s government – still oriented towards free-market policies- provides only limited
funding to environmental agencies. And even though the environmental framework law
ranges among the most progressive legal bodies respective to the inclusion of citizen
participation, the latter remains largely the result of Chilean cúpulismo: non-participatory and
centralist – “the law’s participatory mechanism tend to exclude precisely the groups most
directly affected by proposed developments” (Carruthers, 2001). The practice of
environmental law in Chile bears the traces of a dominant social coalition who sought to
“Entonces esta es una industria que no la regularon, nadie dijo, esta es una industria donde nadie
puede tener más del 40% de las concesiones […], porque efectivamente los monocultivos asociados a
concentración económicas son nefastos [..].”
43
44 | P a g e
inhibit any innovation in environmental policy fearing that it might curb economic growth
(Silva, 1996).
And as Chile’s environmental movement in a whole remains still without much resonance in
a relatively weak civil society (Carruthers, 2001), also Chiloé is missing a counter-socialcoalition strong enough to enter as an interlocutor the institutional negotiations by imposing
more enforcement. The main safeguard of the social coalition in favour of the salmon
industry is their discursive sovereignty. The discursive accounts serve to explain and support
the existence of the salmon industry (and generally the pro-salmon-coalition). In terms of
legitimacy, the boot remains with the other foot - and yet there is strong gender component to
it. Thus, salmon industry is commonly presented as the deliverer of modernity and
employment rescuing Chiloé from backwardness. In the beginning years of the salmon
industry, the discourse held that the families could now stay together: Chilote men could stay
at home with their wife without the need to migrate. Then, the industry became credited for
bringing the “liberation” of Chiloé’s women. And not only is this “liberation” presented as
being without alternatives, it also goes along with well-known gender stereotypes. Simply
put: no salmon industry, no washing machines.
4 Conclusion
I think that there are very good intentions, there are competent people for developing those
projects, those initiatives, those dreams I told you and that they can realize, but the means
are lacking, the means to develop those activities […] 44
Municipality Official, Interview, 2009
Animadverting that the development in Chiloé is marked by major social and ecological
problems coming along with the establishment of the salmon industry, I analysed the recent
history of Chiloé in the light of issues of social and environmental sustainability within
institutional theory.
I hereby tried to find out if and how a gender analysis of such
institutional process could enrich research and strengthen findings on sustainable
development.
“Yo encuentro que hay muy buenas intenciones, hay gente muy capacitada para desarrollar estos
proyectos, estas iniciativas o estos sueños, que yo te contaba, y que lo pueden aplicar, pero falta eso el
recurso, y el recurso para desarrollar la actividad […].”
44
45 | P a g e
The results respective to my research questions of how gender plays out within the
institutional analysis in terms of the distribution of assets before and after the establishment
of the salmon industry, the formation of social coalitions, and the making and enforcement of
legal institutions in Chiloé, are the following.
I showed that the different capitals had been accessed and distributed in gendered ways in
Chiloé before and after the arrival the salmon industry. Interestingly, the way gender
organized the Chiloé society previously to the salmon industry facilitated the establishment
of the latter. The pre-salmon gender division had “trained” Chilote women and men in skills
and attitudes that were useful for the salmon industry. The latter thus disposed of an already
experienced labor force by just taking over the previous gender division within the
assignment of new tasks – yet classified as “unskilled”. Likewise, the “engendering” of a
new tradition within the salmon industry via a gendered assignment of jobs assured the
continuum of work experience that nevertheless remained financially unvalued for both men
and (even more for) women.
The establishment of the salmon industry changed gender models in so far as manhood was
no longer “achieved” by migration to the Southern and Northern ends of Chile, but through
activities such as sports, and more material oriented fullfilments of masculinity. The access to
economic capital, however, did not change major expecations on being a woman, still
including “female” duties as cooking, cleaning, and raising children. Greater economic
capital in terms of higher positions within the salmon industry remains largely inaccessible
for the local population in general, and for the female portion of it, in specific. The same
accounts for the access to the “dominant” cultural capital (jurisprudence, management, and
likewise) - whereas the commercialize-able parts of the former Chilote cultural capital get
more gender pronounced.
A social coalition that could advocate a more sustainable development of Chiloé still lacks
the necessary strength in terms of capital composition. The goal of fostering of a strong social
coalition of organizations in favor of ecological and social sustainability remains withdrawn
by deficiencies in coordination/cooperation between organizations, and by additional
deficiencies in a solid commitment within organizations.
Also, in recent years, participation in organizations gets more distinct in gender terms - paired
with typical gender assumption of “working men” and “caring women”. Whereas the number
of female dominated groups increases, women remain less actively engaged in organizations
46 | P a g e
than men. Despite the “Bachelet”-effect and the perception of women as innovadoras,
women – assumed to be more emotional and less rational than men- tend to not be taken
seriously in the public realm. This might be not only crucial within social coalitions regarding
the increase of female dominated groups, but might also reverberate on their strength if
commitment is getting discursively labeled as trivial “women’s thing”.
The weakness (or non-existence) of a social coalition in favor of a more sustainable
development is salient in regard to the potential legal mitigation of ecological problems
whose main sticking point remains the practical application theoretical existing laws.
Changes in the practice of environmental law are inhibited through the legitimation process
of the salmon industry – presented by the corresponding socio-political forces as deliverer of
modernity and employment. And, a related illustration of the noble deeds of the salmon
industry is the representation of salmon work as responsible for the “liberation” of women
(from barbaric traditions?) – which is, historically a quite common discursive pattern for
legitimation purposes.
In sum, regarding my research question of whether gender enriches institutional theory and
research in the context of sustainable development, I can therefore say: it does – as it helps to
paint a more accurate picture of the material and symbolic realities of the population within
the territory in question necessary to understand what had happened, and probably also why it
happened. By not considering gender relations within institutional theory, the probability of
taking along snowsuits to a desert increases. However, gender could be taken into account in
quite diverse ways – the usefulness of a concept is largely depending on its definition.
Research and projects that operate with categories such as “housewife”, without ever
questioning what empirical activities that category encompasses; essentialist approaches
focused only on women; or the view of “poor” women that fit perfectly into any “liberation”
discourse, might fail in terms of sustainable development.
Nevertheless, the goal of a gendered institutional analysis is not to discover “green” gender
relations as ultimate cause and vehicle towards sustainability. Likewise, taking into account
gender should not mean ignoring other topics and issues. That would be just another form of
being gender blind.
47 | P a g e
Further research on sustainable development of Chiloé should focus in that sense on an exact
examination of the practice of the environmental law framework, taking also into account the
gender relations within the corresponding governmental agencies such as CONAMA,
SUBPESCA, ect.
Such study should also include an exact documentation of the
cooperation/coordination/communication of the pro-salmon-coalition. Furthermore, a concise
scrutinizing of the financial flows of the public and private sectors within Chiloé would be
needed in order to evaluate potential strategies for alternative livelihoods. Both foci are even
more important in regard to an assessment of the consequences of the actual ISA crisis of the
salmon industry, spoken in gender terms. There is hope that the ways turning around the
“Chilean miracle” lead towards a direction of social and ecological sustainability. Towards a
sustainable “Chiloéan miracle” – redefining the role- model of what “successful”
development means.
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