Female Land Workers At The Sea – Breakthrough From Gender Roles

Sa？etak After the purchase of the Kornati islands, big historical, economic and cultural changes occurred in the lives of the inhabitants of Murter, especially in the families that bought the Kornati islands. These changes are reflected in the different contents of everyday life; in this article are analysed those within the family, especially the breakthrough of some women from their gender roles to the so-called male jobs such as fishing. The fishing in Murter was only sporadically present before the colonization of the Kornati islands. The former male and female land workers in the new living spaces intensified fishing in order to feed themselves. In addition to the existential necessities of life, sometimes the woman’s motivation for fishing was quite an individual choice, as driving a boat. When the women are engaged in fishing for wages with the male crew, considerably exceeding the limits of the gender framework specified by the culture, they keep some of the traditional gender characteristics: clothes, way of verbal communication, moderation in behaviour and recognition of male authority. With this article the author has emphasized the enormous importance of small-scale fishing in our cultural tradition