Responsible Travel has launched a new collection on its website featuring holidays run by small local tour operators owned by women with inspirational stories.
To celebrate International Women’s Day today, it has published a travel guide featuring the collection, which celebrates entrepreneurship against the odds.
The guide states: "In struggling nations, it is invariably the women who struggle most, as any semblance of equality falls away. Women and girls are disadvantaged from the outset by a lack of access to education, scant maternity benefits, cultural expectations about the woman’s role in the home, and inherent gender bias in the workplace."
CEO Justin Francis added: "Tourism has the potential to be a superpower for women in developing countries, but while the majority of its workforce is female, these women are concentrated in lower-level jobs.
"With such a broad geographical reach, and a huge range of skills required, tourism has the opportunity to pull women out of poverty, equip them with skills and provide dignified, sustainable employment.
"We hope this new collection of holidays, and the stories of how the women behind them have overcome prejudice and obstacles to successfully run their own businesses, will serve to inspire generations of girls around the world."
Included in the collection are tours led by women in Ethiopia and cultural tours in Ghana, with a focus on traditional festival, handicrafts and Ghanaian hospitality.
