International Womens Day : Tourism Sector Can DO More TO Step IT UP On Gender Equality

On The Occasion Of International Women’s Day, UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, Called Upon The Tourism Sector To Step Up Policies And Businesses Practices That Promote Gender Equality And Women's Empowerment.

“Though In Most Regions Women Make Up The Majority Of The Tourism Workforce, They Tend To Be Concentrated In The Lowest Paid And Lowest Status Jobs And Perform A Large Amount Of Unpaid Work In Family Tourism Businesses”.

Taleb Rifai Unwto Secretary-General

The UNWTO/UN Women Global Report On Women In Tourism Shows That Tourism Can Offer Significant Opportunities To Narrow The Gender Gap In Employment And Entrepreneurship As Women Are Nearly Twice As Likely To Be Employers In Tourism As Compared To Other Sectors. The Report Also Shows That Women Are Well-Represented In Service And Clerical Level Jobs, But Poorly Represented At Professional Levels And Earn 10% To 15% Less Than Their Male Counterparts. Rifai Recalled That “Though In Most Regions Women Make Up The Majority Of The Tourism Workforce, They Tend To Be Concentrated In The Lowest Paid And Lowest Status Jobs And Perform A Large Amount Of Unpaid Work In Family Tourism Businesses”. Governments And The Private Sector Have A Major Role To Play In Promoting Policies That Step Up Equality And Women's Empowerment. “There Is A Particularly Important Opportunity To Promote Empowerment Through Entrepreneurship As Tourism Has Almost Twice As Many Women Employers As Other Sectors”, He Added.