Reflections Of World Tourism Day

The development of women’s role not only gives society balance, but it strengthens economic and social structures. The challenges now revolve around issues like ensuring income parity, raising employment quality, creating reasonable workplace conditions and penetrating glass ceilings – issues which are relevant generally to Millennium Development Goal 3 and gender equality.

Writes: Edwin Sipho Rihlamvu

“Tourism opens doors for women”! This theme for the United Nations World Tourism Day on 27 September highlights an issue of fundamental importance for our future. Tourism is a sector of the economy that should not only employ a significant number of women but the industry that must provide enormous opportunities for their advancement.

Perhaps what we need to interrogate more profoundly is the level and mechanisms that we employ to creating opportunities that are available for women to be absorbed into the tourism mainstream. This challenge does not only rest with policy makers but is also a function of breeding fertile ground for networking among women themselves.

Women hold jobs across the employment spectrum from artisan or guide to CEO and Chairperson of a board – in countries of all sizes around the world. In recent years they have steadily increased their share of the workforce to hold just almost as many jobs as men, and this increase has been significant in developing countries in areas such as handicrafts and community development, which tie closely into cultural preservation – an important pull-factor for tourism. Recent research showed that in some African countries, women occupied positions such as Hotel General Manager, CEO of Tourism Institution, Airline Director and by no means Tourism Minister.

Celebrating the Launch of Tourism Month on 20 August 2007, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism said, “We are privileged to have outstanding women leaders in tourism - led by our Deputy Minister, Director General, Chief Operating Officer, and a number of Senior Managers. We also have women at the helm of our statutory bodies at the Tourism Grading Council of South Africa, Tourism Business Council and South African Tourism as well as a private sector woman who has seen the Airports Company of South Africa reach new heights of achievement”.

Despite this, Ms Nyeleti Mushwana, CEO of Karibu Leisure Resort and Conference Centre in Limpopo [one of the 918 women-owned government-assisted tourism businesses] contend that “whereas government is doing its best to ensure us entry into the industry, there are deliberate attempts by our male counterparts to close ranks with the view of frustrating our exploits”.

Ms Mushwana’s anguish could arguably be located within the need for women in tourism to create necessary networks that would buffer away undesired interference.

In fact it is very heartening to note that the World Development Indicators’ [Womankind Worldwide] record that women work two-thirds of the world's working hours, produce half of the world's food, and yet earn only 10% of the world's income and own less than 1% of the world's property. This against the backdrop of the fact that of about 1.3 billion people living in poverty around the world, 70 percent of these are women.

We are privileged in South Africa to have in place the tourism second economy strategy that seeks to obviate the plight of the poorest of the poor, especially women, by removing barriers that should give them access to the mainstream second economy tourism products. The sustainable development approach that underpins this strategy has encouraged the facilitation of transactions between small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME’s) and corporate business.

In order to up the 7511 job opportunities for women in tourism that already exist, there is need to amplify attempts to aggressively engender the importance of sustainability throughout the tourism value chain, including spreading its receipts to communities.

“Tourism has not only opened doors for me, but has also enabled me to go through them”, laments Ms Zandile Njongo, owner of the KwaZulu-Natal based Zungezizwe Travel Agency. “I am convinced that for women to thrive in this very competitive industry they need consistent support systems including good training, development programmes, targeted information, good career development, family support structures and frameworks for ensuring self-respect”, she concluded.

Meanwhile, an increasing number of women in the tourism sector have been hosting visitors to Gauteng, as tourism in the province grows. Gauteng Tourism Authority (GTA) CEO, Advocate Cawe Mahlati, attests to the growing presence of women in the industry: " Women can be found solidly anchored along the tourism value chain - running B&B's, as tour operators and guides, conference conveners and hostesses, convention bureau managers, hospitality industry suppliers, creators, vendors and drivers of business and destination management organizations, the list is endless.”

Mahlati recognizes the significant role played by women to strengthen and grow sustainable tourism products and experiences throughout the province. "It is without question that women throughout our province and country are absolutely committed to keeping the sector alive with enormous possibilities for all to enjoy,” she said.

“As government, we also have to remain mindful of our role in continuing to assist and enable the empowerment of women in tourism. The baseline study conducted by the Tourism Black Economic Empowerment Charter Council reveals that women are under-represented at senior management and board level in the industry. This highlights the continuing need for ensuring that government interventions benefit women in tourism” said Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk.

Reflecting on the strides, achievements and challenges that I have recorded above the question remains: Is Tourism Really Opening Doors For Women?

Top