What is it about?
To bridge the gap between the awareness and discussion of disadvantage of women’s career development and the lack of actions to tackle these issues, our study, from a sociological perspective, proposes framework with actionable recommendations to tackle gender issues in hospitality through three dimensions: organisational culture, men’s involvement, and education.
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Why is it important?
According to a 2019 World Tourism Organization report, women account for more than 50% of the labour workforce but earn 14.7% less than men and hold less than one fifth of leadership roles in the tourism industry – particularly the hospitality sector. This study provides a holistic approach with actionable recommendations to promote gender equality and advance female career development in hospitality. The recommendations include: • Create and foster a culture of an open dialogue where issues of gender can be freely discussed by all employees, irrespective of gender, leading to an inclusive and equal organisational culture. • The patriarchal norm in organisational practices and culture should be challenged and the structure and training of organisations should be reimagined through a less patriarchal gaze. • Hospitality education institutions should integrate the subject of gender into tourism and hospitality curriculums. The study is significant for various stakeholders such as policymakers, educators, employees and managers in the hospitality sector, as well as general public. We believe all these stakeholders need to work closely together to challenge traditional masculinity and stereotyping gender labour divisions.
Perspectives
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Let’s not just “talk” about it: reflections on women’s career development in hospitality, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, October 2020, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/ijchm-05-2020-0385.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Hospitality and tourism must challenge ‘patriarchal’ culture
report of our research
New research from the University of Greenwich suggests practical changes the hospitality sector can make to improve its gender equality
Press Release
Let’s not just “talk” about it: reflections on women’s career development in hospitality
Accepted version of the journal article - full text available
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