Women's Employment and Participation in Tourism

Abstract

Tourism has demonstrated its potential for creating jobs and encouraging income generating activities to benefit local communities in destination areas. The tourism sector provides various entry points for women's employment and opportunities for creating self-employment in small and medium sized income generating activities, thus creating paths towards the elimination of poverty of women and local communities in developing countries. However, there are a number of conditions under which this potential can be used more effectively. This requires collaboration of all stakeholders - governments and intergovernmental bodies, local government, industry, trade unions, local communities and their different member groups, NGOs, community based tourism initiatives, etc.

Employment

In the last few decades, the tourism industry has undergone a period of explosive growth, and as a labour intensive industry, there has consequently been a rapid rate of job creation and development. We have examined the industry on a global level in terms of the numbers of women in employment over the past ten years, their average weekly wage rate and hours of work, as compared to men (2). We have used the "restaurant, catering and hotel industry" to provide a proxy for the "tourism industry"; these sectors are the largest employers in the tourism industry overall. Gender disaggregated data for the tourism sector was not available for all countries. While data on numbers of women and men working in tourism related professions (73 countries) are more comprehensive than for the average wage (31 countries) and working hours (39 countries), the availability of this information is still highly limited. Data is not available for many of the Middle Eastern countries, for China and, regarding working hours and wages, for the US.

The general picture shows that the tourism industry is a particularly important sector for women (46 % of the workforce are women) as their percentages of employment in most countries are higher than in the workforce in general (34 - 40 % are women). The numbers of women and their percentage of the workforce in tourism vary greatly between countries ‑ from 2 % up to over 80 %. Although there were few obvious regional trends it would appear that in those countries where tourism is a more mature industry women generally account for around 50 % of the workforce.

Of the data available for the years 1988 - 1997, it appears that there has been a broad increase in the participation of women for tourism industry at a global level. The majority of this increase in female participation may be driven by the growth in the industry for specific countries, such as Puerto Rico, Chile and Turkey. For the industrially developed countries, there has been little change in the actual participation of women in the tourism industry.

The proportion of women's to men's working hours, available for 39 countries, is 89% - which means that women work 89 hours when men work 100 hours. The proportion of women's to men's wages is 79%. At first glance, this looks like women are working less hours than men and at the same time receive even less pay. However, we cannot be sure if this is due to women's typical occupations being paid less, women being significantly more in part time and/or temporary employment, and/or women being paid less for the same work (wage inequity). Due to lack of more detailed gender disaggregated information it is not possible to unpick the reasons for the observed disproportional relation of women's and men's working hours and wages. In addition, readers should keep in mind that the increase of women's involvement in the labour market has not been associated with substantial change in the amount of hours women are expected to spend on domestic duties; this is leading to much longer actual working hours for women, i.e. up to 70-90 hours per week.

Regarding the disproportionate relation between women's and men's working hours and their respective wages, there is a divide between the developed world, which employs females on an average weekly wage equivalent to 80% of a male's wage, and the less developed world, where average female wages fall by another 10% to 70% of male wages. However, there are significant variations within these groups.

These data do not include information about the informal sector, leaving us with a skewed picture as the informal sector plays a very important role in terms of income generation through tourism, particularly for women.

Occupations & Positions

The situation in the tourism industry resembles the one in the labour markets in general: There is significant horizontal and vertical gender segregation. Horizontally, women and men are placed in different occupations ‑ women are being employed as waitresses, chambermaids, cleaners, travel agencies sales persons, flight attendants, etc., whereas men are being employed as barmen, gardeners, construction workers, drivers, pilots, etc. Vertically, the typical "gender pyramid" is prevalent in the tourism sector ‑ lower levels and occupations with few career development opportunities being dominated by women and key managerial positions being dominated by men.

In the broadly defined "service sector" (Anker / ILO 1998), women and men are nearly equally involved in the workforce (44 % women), slightly more than in the global non-agricultural workforce in the 41 countries studied by Anker (about 40 %) and significantly more than in the overall global workforce (34 % - ILO data from 82 countries). Examining the occupations being particularly relevant in the tourism sector, one can see that more than 90 % of people working in catering & lodging, as waitresses, bartenders, maids, babysitters, cleaners, housekeeping helpers, launderers, dry-cleaners, and the like, are women.

Vertical segregation of the labour market in the service and the administrative / managerial sectors reflects the situation in the labour markets in general. Women around the world have achieved higher levels of education than ever before and today represent more than 40 % of the global workforce. Yet their share of management positions remains unacceptably low, with just a tiny proportion succeeding in breaking through the "glass ceiling". There are numerous inter-linked factors which help to maintain gender segregation of the labour market. Among them are gender stereotyping, traditional gender roles and gender identity - women are seen as being suitable for certain occupations and they seem themselves as suitable. In addition, traditional gender roles assign to women the main responsibilities for raising children, caring for the elderly, and doing household work. Thus, women are often forced to choose casual labour, part-time and seasonal employment.

Women are much more likely to be employed on a part time basis than men. Although this allows accommodating various responsibilities plus their work outside the home, it does have significant drawbacks: in many cases lower pay per working hour, fewer advancement opportunities, less formal training, less protection from unemployment, etc.

Acknowledging that the problem of gender segregation of labour markets is a general one should not mean that it isn't addressed when discussing tourism. Bringing the necessary changes about requires efforts in all sectors. However, the tourism industry seems to be a particularly good "candidate" for engaging in efforts towards the advancement of women. Due to its size, its rapid growth and its extremely diverse and dynamic nature, the tourism industry has an enormous flexibility. This can enable the industry to develop key initiatives for the advancement of women so that other industries can benefit from initiatives and strategies in the tourism sector as models for their own development. The high percentage of women in the tourism workforce in many countries provides a necessary fundament for the further advancement of women: The "critical mass" is already there. (3)

Self-employment

Community based tourism initiatives, particular of local women's groups and co-operatives, can be an accessible and suitable entry point for women into the paid workforce. They seem to generate more long-term motivation than initiatives from outside. There are numerous examples where women and women's groups have started income generating activities on their own. These activities help to create financial independence for local women and challenges them to develop the necessary skills and improve their education, which in turn increase self-esteem and help create more equitable relationships in families and communities.

Marketing seems to be a key constraint for the expansion of community based tourism. Independent initiatives need more information about markets and potential customers. Tourists need to be provided with more information about the benefits of buying locally and using local services. Creating opportunities for income generating activities as well as effective marketing depend upon access to information about tourism related planning and decision-making in a community area. Access to information is provided at best by involving all stakeholders in planning and decision-making.

Some argue that the seasonal nature of tourism industry creates particularly good conditions for women enabling them to accommodate their various responsibilities. However, women and mothers, particularly in female-headed households, need regular income all year just as traditional households with a male bread-winner.

Education & Training

In many new destinations in developing countries, the local population faces disadvantages for gaining entry into the formal sector because of low levels of education. There is a significant demand for education and training in the communities in and around popular destinations. Training, especially training for self-employment, has been an important element for success. Most training activities are easy to replicate and could thus become an important part of an action strategy for the future. There is little evidence of training to enable or improve participation in the formal sector. Other key constraints are financial management, illiteracy and foreign languages.

Gender stereotypes and traditional gender roles are among the most prominent reasons why women and men tend to pursue different occupations and horizontal and vertical segregation of labour markets prevail (Mackie & Hamilton 1993). Gender stereotypes are prevalent in most cultures and rather resemble each other than being culturally specific. Gender stereotypes influence the way we perceive each other and how we see ourselves. Women are perceived as being particularly suited to fill certain positions in tourism, they tend to see themselves as suited and tend to be interested in stereotypical occupations. Thus, women are in fact particularly suited to take on certain jobs, for example involving caring and household-related work and service positions. On the one hand, this serves to perpetuate gender stereotyping and positioning of women accordingly. This is not generally desirable, particularly because most gender stereotypical occupations are lower paid and do not include key managerial positions. On the other hand, the situation allows women to enter the tourism workforce based on their traditional roles and their own confidence to fulfil them. Addressing the issue of gender stereotypes and gender roles is not tourism-specific; rather it seems that the tourism sector is yet another example where traditional stereotypes and roles come into play. However, tourism could play a key role in challenging gender stereotypes.

Participation in Tourism Planning and Management

Tourism, especially international tourism that involves high capital investments, has tended to be controlled by powerful vested interests and has been characterised by a lack of concern for the local communities residing in the destination areas. In many areas the local communities or sections of local communities have taken the initiative to maximise gains for themselves. In most cases this has been a spontaneous development. However, there have been attempts to introduce systematic processes or strategies to enhance participation by all sections of the host communities, with several of these having a gender focus. There have also been attempts to build up partnerships, partnerships between the formal tourist industry and local communities and partnerships between concerned government departments, NGOs and local communities. It is just a beginning. The experience gained, however, can provide the building blocks for scaling up and evolving effective strategies at various levels, local, national, regional and international.

Income generation is the important motive for participation by women in the tourism industry. In most destination areas in the South, the gains for the local community seem to come from the informal sector or the formal sector owned or organised by the communities (women's co-operatives etc.). The community must be involved in all stages of tourism development - be it the engagement of tourism industry coming in from outside, community based tourism initiatives, or a combination of those.

Capacity building for participation is needed in many cases. It is important to acknowledge that different groups have different requirements in terms of capacity building and empowerment; in particular women and men.

Promotion of community participation in the tourism industry forms an important part of the evolving trend. External interventions, especially projects designed and funded by multilateral and bilateral agencies played a significant role in the development of this trend. There is evidence of early stages of a similar trend in the tourism industry in several countries, with conservation departments taking a role as stakeholders in participatory tourism development.

Tourism boards and government departments dealing with tourism do not seem to be playing a very active role in promoting the participation of local communities as stakeholders or in facilitating partnerships between the local communities and the tourist industry. In most cases, there is a lack of an appropriate participatory mechanism for community participation is pointed out. Integration of tourism development into Local Agenda 21 (LA21) processes seems to be in an infant stage. Many of the experiences with creating meaningful participation and the requirement of developing links with the overall planning and decision-making processes in local communities allow for the conclusion that tourism development should be an integrated component of LA21. LA21 processes require measures to ensure meaningful participation of all, develop a shared vision and involve all stakeholders in decision-making. LA21 processes allow to take into account the heterogeneous nature of local communities which are made up of different groups with diverse interests, needs, capacities, and concerns (women and men, young and old, different ethnic groups and indigenous peoples). As LA21 is an ongoing process, it also involves stakeholders in monitoring and evaluation as plans are put into practice which can ensure continuous commitment by all stakeholder groups.

Networking

The need for networking, exchange and mutual support of community based tourism initiatives has been expressed in various case studies. Several authors refer specifically to the need of networking among women being active in tourism initiatives. As women are not only confronted with the challenges of setting up income generating activities but often also with the challenges of altering their traditional roles in their communities by generating independent income, becoming a "leader" or a "business woman", there is an understandable need for mutual support and exchange of strategies how to meet these challenges.

Women's Rights, Stereotypical Images, Sexual Objectification

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW, 1979), and respective national legislation are the legal and policy basis of addressing human rights and women's rights issues in tourism (Keefe & Wheat 1998). Women can suffer specific discrimination within the tourism sector. They are consistently denied positions of leadership and responsibility within the industry, are concentrated in low skilled and low paid occupations, are being objectified as part of the tourism "package", and they can have their traditional roles perpetuated within an industry that feeds on uncomplicated images. Women will also be among those most adversely affected by negative environmental impacts tourism development - e.g. scarcity of freshwater. Tourism can violate women's rights, but it can also be used to challenge traditional roles and to empower women, in economic, social, cultural and political terms. Women can find a voice and independence through getting involved in tourism activities - by becoming part of decision-making processes and carving out new roles in their families, homes and within local power structures.

The scandalous realities of sex tourism and trafficking of women are not being addressed here. They do indeed represent a most horrific violation of human rights and dignity. Fighting sex tourism and trafficking needs to be a priority on the agenda of everybody involved in tourism. Raising consumer awareness and introducing effective legal measures, including in the country of tourist origin, are among the crucial strategies.

But there is also a strong case for eliminating less obvious variations of sexual objectification of women working in the tourism industry. Studies have shown that women are expected to dress in an "attractive" manner, to look beautiful (i.e. slim, young, pretty) and to "play along" with sexual harassment by customers (e.g. Gruetter & Pluess 1996, Griffiths 1999). Stereotypical images of women are in many cases part of the tourism product. Friendly smiling women, fitting certain standards of attractiveness, who seem to be waiting to submissively serve the customer's every wish are being portrayed. Women working at destinations as well as indigenous women are being shown in a stereotypical way in tourism brochures and other material.