Kenyan women defy fishing taboos as climate change threatens Lake Victoria

Kagwel, Kenya — Rhoda Ongoche Akech still remembers the whispers that followed her to the water’s edge in 2002. At 39 years old, the mother of seven was about to break one of Lake Victoria’s oldest taboos: a woman stepping into a fishing boat.

“People were alleging that when women go into the waters accompanied by men, they would engage in sexual intercourse,” the now 61-year-ol...