Special focus was placed on the challenges and opportunities facing Women in Tourism (WiT) at Africa’s Travel Indaba, as over 300 females had the opportunity to interact during a network dinner at the uShaka Marine World in Durban.

The WiT programme aims to create a platform for advancing radical socio-economic transformation and integration of women from different socio-economic backgrounds and spectrums within the sector.

According to the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Elizabeth Thabethe, women make up nearly 70% of the workforce, however there is a marked under-representation of women in senior positions. Women hold less than 40% of all managerial positions, less than 20% of general management roles and between 5% and 8% of board positions. 

“Tourism offers the potential for women to hold leadership positions, however, women still only represent one-fifth of all tourism ministers and tourism board chairs. This is one of our women empowerment flagship events that sees women, not only from South Africa but from the rest of the continent, taking time to network and expand their business and professional horizons,” the Deputy Minister said.

In 2010, the UNWTO released the Global Report on Women in Tourism, highlighting the value of the sector as an engine for economic development through foreign exchange earnings and the creation of direct and indirect employment. The report also indicated that tourism growth presented both challenges and opportunities for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

While tourism often contributes to community development and provides opportunities for women’s self-employment, the report also found that women were contributing a large amount of unpaid work in tourism family businesses, especially when compared with other sectors. The formal and informal opportunities tourism provides for women can have a significant impact on poverty reduction in rural communities, according to SA’s Department of Tourism. The proportion of women ‘own-account workers’ is considerably higher in tourism than in other sectors across all regions.

With regard to opportunities, tourism presents a number of income-generating activities for women and the jobs are flexible, able to be carried out at different locations, such as homes, communities and workplaces. The challenges facing women, however, are their concentration in the low-status, low-paid, and precarious jobs in the sector, says the Department of Tourism.

“For the past four years, the Networking Dinner sessions have provided a unique platform for women in the tourism industry, stakeholders and experts, to share ideas on building strong business skills and leadership capabilities amongst women. The ultimate goal is to enhance and nurture more top leaders, entrepreneurs and industrialists in the sector,” highlighted Thabethe.

The dinner was also attended by delegations from Ghana and Lesotho.