Minister of Tourism Tokozile Xasa launched a campaign at this year’s Indaba to increase the proportion of women in tourism management positions to 30% in the next five years.

Speaking at the Women in Tourism networking event on Wednesday evening, the Minister said the campaign would increase the representation of women within the tourism sector at management level, CEO level and board level.

According to a 2011 transformation study, 77% of tourism enterprises had no black female directors while only 10% of large enterprises had the mandated 25% black women in senior management positions.

The campaign has been dubbed “WiT 30in5” and will be chaired by Tourvest Chief Operating Officer Judi Nwokedi in a collaboration between the private sector and the Department of Tourism.

Nwokedi, who sits on the SA Tourism and Tourvest boards, highlighted the challenges faced by women striving for leadership positions. She said when women finally get represented on a board, they are there alone and must spend years advocating to get their sisters on the board. “Even though it is a sector dominated by women, we are the ‘filter feeders’,” she said, highlighting the dominance of women at entry level positions within the sector.

Nwokedi said it was exciting to have the campaign launched by the first black female minister of tourism.