The Veiled Crew: An Exploratory Study of Wives' Reported and Desired Contributions to Coastal Fisheries Enterprises in Northern Norway and Nova Scotia

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Abstract
This paper explores the fit between the reported and the desired contributions of wives to household small boat fishing enterprises. The research employed a double comparative design: 1) a regional comparison of fisheries-dependent households in North Norway and Nova Scotia, and 2) a dyadic gender comparison of the viewpoints of wives and husbands. Our findings reveal several patterns. First, wives in both regions participate substantially in the household fishing enterprises, although their husbands desire them to participate even more. Second, in both regions the wives recognize that the husbands desire them to participate more; yet in both settings they overestimate the extent of the husbands' desires. Third, in both regions the wives do not wish to participate as much as their husbands desire. In fact, in Nova Scotia the wives feel that their current level of participation is sufficient, although in North Norway the wives would like to be considerably more involved than they currently are. Finally, the husbands are aware that they want their wives to be more involved than the wives want to be. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for both the household dynamics, government job creation policies, and the linkage between job and family support policies for fisheries-dependent communities.