Beyond “Empowerment”: What Real Gender Equity Looks Like in Tourism Operations

This article was originally published in May 2024. It has been extensively rewritten and republished to reflect the present day.

For decades, the United Nations has emphasized the importance of gender equality in the pursuit of sustainable development. “Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls” is the fifth sustainable development goal – yet the world is far from reaching that goal.

The tourism industry has continued to fail women as well. According to UN Tourism, women make up the majority (56%) of the hospitality workforce, yet women’s roles remain concentrated in lower-skilled, lower-paid, and often informal employment. Just as they are universally uncompensated for duties related to the home and family, women do most of the unpaid work in family tourism businesses as well. Men might be the visible frontline providers tourists encounter, but women keep the beds made, rooms booked, and coffee on the table.

This reality plays out in positions removed from the frontlines of tourism and hospitality as well. Only 30% of tourism ministers are women, so while women may hold managerial roles and jobs in marketing, communications, and partnerships, men still dominate leadership positions, boardrooms, and executive suites. Despite endless industry panel discussions about gender equality, the structural gap remains largely untouched.

Why “Empowerment” Has Become a Trap

Companies, conferences, and industry commitments highlight the importance of “empowering” women: Companies encourage women and people of other marginalized identities to apply for jobs. Conference panels discuss the benefits of diversity across the tourism spectrum. Awards applaud women who inspire, innovate, and motivate others.

In frontline hospitality environments, “empowerment” often shows up in positions that rely on tips, like housekeeping. Many women also operate in the informal travel economy, such as street food vendors, local artisans, and independent homestay hosts – roles that leave them vulnerable to middleman exploitation when they aren’t formally incorporated into tourism supply chains. As the spotlight on community tourism grows, philanthropic and corporate “empowerment” programs increasingly fund capacity building, workshops, and skills training for women in developing tourism markets as well.

In other words, women are welcome – and even encouraged – to participate in the hospitality and tourism ecosystem. Yet “empower” means “to enable or permit,” so being “empowered” to close the yawning gender equality gap within the industry doesn’t go nearly far enough in addressing what women really need. Teaching a woman how to run a homestay or craft business isn’t enough if she lacks legal land rights, access to banking services and capital, safety in public places, or direct market access to tour operators.

From Buzzword to Business Model

Women are just as capable as men at holding top leadership positions. They are just as knowledgeable at engaging in any topic or fine tuning any skill needed across the tourism spectrum. Plus, they are the backbone of the hospitality and tourism ecosystem; without women, day-to-day operations would simply fall apart. So, “empowering” women in the “enable and permit” sense is the least that should be done, but to truly close the gender gap, much more is needed.

Capital and Commercial Power

According to a 2024 report from EU Tourism, the gender pay gap remains sizable across all sectors of tourism and hospitality. Support for startups and entrepreneurship projects is also heavily skewed in favor of men, who capture the vast majority of venture capital and commercial loans. While female-focused networking groups and mentorship initiatives have proliferated across the industry, many inadvertently isolate gender-specific challenges without dismantling the systemic barriers that serve and prioritize men. (Programs like the Women in Travel CIC’s Male Allyship Network offer a promising alternative by using men’s existing access and networks to pave direct pathways for female leaders.)

There needs to be a move away from simply “skills building” to revenue sharing, direct contracting, and supply-chain inclusion in which sourcing is done directly from women-owned cooperatives and not third parties that take a cut of profits. Women don’t need to be “saved” or the beneficiaries of philanthropy; they need true commercial integration, which means travel brands must pay women fairly, sign direct vendor contracts with them, and feature them as equal commercial partners.

Safety and Structural Support

As is the case across many industries, women in tourism and hospitality face conflicts that make it difficult to take on jobs requiring long and inflexible working hours. Women are more likely to be caring for children and aging family members, juggling home-related tasks, and taking on other unpaid roles related to their identities as wives, mothers, and daughters. Remote and hybrid work helps many women, yet inflexibility within many workspaces hampers women’s abilities to do work they are well suited for.

The realities of work for frontline female staff also need to be addressed. In some contexts and destinations, working alone or after dark presents a safety issue. Tourism and hospitality businesses need to recognize the barriers this presents, and offer flexible scheduling and safe evening transport to ensure women are not only welcome – but feel secure – in their workplaces.

Narrative and Leadership Sovereignty

There is rarely a shortage of women when it comes to tourism marketing: They are shown weaving and dancing, cooking and serving food, and welcoming people into homestays and for spa treatments. But women shouldn’t just be used as “authentic” photo ops. They need access to real seat-at-the-table leadership positions in destination management and product design and development.

Unfortunately, getting to that table can be particularly difficult for women. In some places, a lack of access to education means that women don’t have the language or professional skills to qualify for more than menial work. There might be cultural barriers that don’t allow women to travel without guardians, or they may not be allowed in certain spaces due to cultural expectations. Or, the meetings and conferences relevant to their work are held in geographic locations they can’t reach, languages they don’t speak, or at times that don’t align with their availability. To bridge the gender gap, all of these issues must be considered.

From Props to Power

Acknowledging the barriers that exist for achieving gender equality is a good first step – but it cannot be the final one. Internal diversity pledges and corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies mean nothing if frontline workers feel unsafe, local artisans are squeezed out by third-party intermediaries, and female managers are excluded from executive decision-making.

Women don’t need passive “empowerment.” They need fair pay, direct vendor contracts, capital access, and a seat at the decision-making table. This isn’t just the right thing to do. It’s a sound business decision to secure a vibrant future for tourism.