Tourism and Women: Breaking the Shackles of Patriarchy

The tourism sector provides distinctive entry points for women's employment and opportunities for initiating self-employment in small- and medium-sized income-generating projects, thus creating aisles towards the elimination of poverty of women and local communities in developing countries. The tourism industry is one area where the rate of women employment is quite high, both in organised and in unorganised sectors. According to the ILO, 46% of the workforce in the tourism industry comprises women. Women have been able to carve a niche for themselves both at the managerial and at the operational levels. Besides managerial positions, the other tasks performed include those of receptionists, house-keeping, chefs, managing ticket counters, guides, escorts, air hostesses, etc. Gender and tourism issues can no longer be divorced from the mainstream of policy-making. The success of women's initiatives in tourism can be viewed as one of the key constituents of success at the macroeconomic level.