RESEARCH Gender and marine protected areas: a case study of Danajon Bank, Philippines Danika Kleiber 1,2 & Leila Harris 3 & Amanda C. J. Vincent 3 Received: 19 April 2018 /Accepted: 22 August 2018 /Published online: 8 September 2018 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract In this paper, we examine the role of gender in community-based management of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Central Philippines. MPAs are a common conservation and fisheries management tool in this area, but the relationship between gendered fishing practices and participatory MPA management is rarely considered. In this region, women and men’ s fishing practices are often socially and ecologically distinct. MPAs are found in both intertidal and subtidal areas where women and men tend to fish respectively. Based on over 500 interviews in 12 fishing communities, MPAs were largely perceived to be a management tool for men’ s fishing. Very few men and women reported a negative effect on their personal fishing or displacement from their fishing area. However, in two communities MPAs that had been in intertidal areas had either been moved or opened specifically to allow for gleaning. Women were less likely than men to report that the MPA had a positive effect on their fishing, but women and men recommended the MPA in equal numbers. Women and men reported attending MPA meetings, but women were less likely to describe active participation in MPA management such as decision making. This research adds to the larger body of work that considers gender and inequality to critically examine issues of power and exclusion in community-based resource management. Keywords Gender . Philippines . Marine protected areas . Small-scale fisheries . Community-based management Introduction MPAs have become a central tool in conservation and fisher- ies management globally (Jameson et al. 2002; Hilborn 2004; Wood et al. 2008), with few examinations of gender specific effects (Walker and Robinson 2009; Clabots 2013). The gen- der dimension of MPAs touches on three overlapping con- cerns. First, the direct effects of MPAs (both positive and negative) on women and men’ s often-distinct target species, fishing practices, and allocation of catch (Hockey and Bosman 1986; Benzoni et al. 2006; Rajagopalan 2008; Walker and Robinson 2009); second, indirect effects of MPAs (both pos- itive and negative) on women and men’ s activities such as community participation, or alternative livelihoods. Hence, overall perception of MPAs by community members is also important to consider. Thirdly, the potentially distinct contri- butions of women and men to MPA management and decision-making (Aswani and Weiant 2004; Pajaro et al. 2010; Di Ciommo and Schiavetti 2012; Clabots 2013). Gender is an important consideration when examining the direct effects of MPAs on fisheries, because women and men often fish differently. For example women and men tend to fish for different animals: women’ s fisheries often focus on near shore macro invertebrates (shell, echinoderms, etc.), while men’s catch is more often dominated by finfish species although these patterns can vary greatly geographical- ly, as well as over time (Siar 2003; Kleiber et al. 2015). The effect of MPAs on particular species can depend on their life- history, including size, mobility, and dispersal of young, as well as interactions among species. MPAs can improve spill- over and larval dispersal of fish and mobile invertebrates that men typically fish for (Halpern and Warner 2002). MPAs have also been shown to be effective at increasing the size and number of macro invertebrates within the area of protection (Hockey and Bosman 1986), although increases in predator This paper belongs to Topical Collection (En)Gendering Change in Small-scale Fisheries and Fishing Communities in a Globalized World * Danika Kleiber danika.kleiber@gmail.com 1 The ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville 4811, Australia 2 WorldFish, Jalan Batu Maung, Batu Maung, 11960 Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia 3 The University of British Columbia, 2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada Maritime Studies (2018) 17:163–175 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-018-0107-7