The second edition of the Global Report on Women in Tourism highlights how tourism can advance gender equality and women’s empowerment

The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in collaboration with UN Women, The German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ), World Bank Group and Amadeus, launched the second edition of the Global Report on Women in Tourism on 6 November 2019.

The Global Report on Women in Tourism 2010 provided the first look and a baseline study on the situation of women in the tourism sector. The second edition of the report considers how the situation has evolved and provides a thorough assessment of tourism’s contribution towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The report has an extended geographical scope covering developed and developing countries, additional in-depth industry analysis, and several case-studies that illustrate how women around the world are using tourism as a vehicle for empowerment and development.

The key findings show that:

• The majority of the tourism workforce worldwide is female—54 per cent of people employed in tourism are women compared to 39 per cent in the broader economy.
• The wage-gap is smaller in the tourism industry—Women in tourism earn 14.7 per cent less than men.
• Tourism offers women greater opportunities for leadership roles—23 per cent of tourism Ministers are female compared to 20.7 per cent of Ministers overall.

The report also highlights that:

• More and more women are challenging gender stereotypes in the sector and assuming roles once dominated by men such as tour guides.
• Technology is an important factor for empowerment, providing women with more training opportunities and stimulating female entrepreneurship through easier access to the tourism market.
• Policy-makers are more aware of the importance of gender equality in tourism and putting measures in place to ensure women fairly share the benefits that tourism can bring.

The report is available online at: www.e-unwto.org/doi/book/10.18111/9789284420384.