Call for women’s equality in tourism

New think tank calls on tourism industry to give women an equal voice

Equality in Tourism, a new women’s network dedicated to ensuring that women have an equal voice in tourism and an equal share in its benefits, launched today with the release of a report that challenges the industry to start taking gender equality seriously.

The report, titled Sun, Sand and Ceilings: Women in the Boardroom in the Tourism Industry, reveals that although women make up the majority of the tourism workforce in most countries, they are woefully under-represented at executive levels of the world’s top tourism companies.

Equality in Tourism researched 78 companies across four of the major sectors of the tourism industry in the UK – international tour operators, airlines and cruise ships, hotel groups, and international professional associations – and found that only 15.8% of board members are women and more than a quarter of the companies have no women on their boards.

Consequently, Equality in Tourism believes that the UK-based tourism industry is in poor shape to meet a proposed EU Directive on 40% targets for women on boards for all European tourism companies with a turnover of €50 million or more, which could come into force in the next few years. Equality in Tourism is calling on the industry to start addressing the problem now by setting targets of at least 25% female representation on boards for 2015.

Sun, Sand and Ceilings is the first initiative of Equality in Tourism, an independent, non-profit network, which believes that questions of gender discrimination have been largely omitted from the theory and practice of tourism and that greater gender equality is an essential component of a thriving and sustainable tourism industry. It was published today on the organisation’s new website, www.equalityintourism.org

Although this report focuses on the representation of women at the top of the tourism industry, the organisation is concerned with all women working in or affected by the tourism industry worldwide. Equality in Tourism will seek to work with the public and private sectors, providing specialist advice, research, training and capacity building using a global network of experts.

Tricia Barnett, former director of Tourism Concern and one of the co-founders of the organisation, said: "It is an uncomfortable truth that women are very poorly represented in decision-making processes at every level of the tourism industry. They are also the hardest hit by its negative impacts. Equality in Tourism will work with all players, in the community as well as within the industry, to ensure that women are informed and empowered and can contribute as equals. Tourism will only be sustainable when women have an equal share in its development."

Valere Tjolle

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