The tourism sector commits to parity

Inequalities persist

While 54% of employees in the global tourism sector are women, their proportion in management positions is much lower. In fact, the WTTC reports that in 56 of the largest companies in the sector, only 42% of middle management positions and 33% of senior management positions are held by women.

The higher you go, the fewer women you find. Only 28% of the members of the boards of directors of these companies are women, and this proportion drops considerably again to 7% for the positions of CEO and chair of the board of directors.

Not surprisingly, this gap also applies to salaries. According to a 2019 UNWTO report, women working in the tourism industry earn 14.7% less than their male counterparts.

According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association, more and more women are moving into senior positions in the industry. However, these positions are mainly in human resources, sales and marketing. At the same time, women have lost ground in investment and development over the past four years.

According to the National Association of Realtors, only 30% of real estate investors in the US are women, and while women are breaking into the market, most of them remain in the residential sector and are not moving into the commercial sector. The number of women owning and operating hotels and other commercial accommodation is still in the minority.

On the one hand, banks are less willing to lend money to women for this type of project. Secondly, women have fewer networking opportunities than men, mainly because of social stereotypes, the lack of mentoring opportunities and the absence of contacts in the sector.

Sexism is still very much present in the business world, as shown by the #StOpE barometer, Stop Ordinary Sexism in the Workplace, created by Accor, EY...