Meet the Team

We are a group of passionate and driven women who are dedicated to promoting gender equality and empowering women across the globe. Each of us brings unique skills, expertise, and experiences to the table, all of which are essential in helping us achieve our mission.

Associate and trustee, Anny Andaryati

Anny Andaryati

Trustee

Anny Andaryati has been working to mainstream gender into green economy and resource management to increase gender and ecological justice. She believes that structural gender inequality needs to be addressed to assure gender equality and equity, the successful transition to a green economy and the achievement of sustainable development. In the absence of gender sensitive policies, green economy initiatives such as ecotourism may increase existing gender inequities and endanger overall sustainability.

Anny is a member of global women’s rights organisations which are working to achieve gender equality, sustainable development and human rights. These organisations provide a platform to exchange learning and as a reference for her work.

Anny is an avid traveller and diver, visiting remote places and staying in community run accommodation. She has seen the positive and negative gendered impacts of tourism on communities, their livelihood, and culture.

Associate and trustee, Janet Robinson

Janet Robinson

Trustee

Janet Robinson is a Gender Specialist with 17 years’ experience working mainly in South and South-East Asia.  She works to promote gender justice, specialising in strategic planning, qualitative research and linking gender issues to policy development.  Areas of professional interest include gender sensitivity in disaster risk reduction, anti-trafficking of women and girls, safe urban migration and child marriage following natural disasters.

Following the Asian Tsunami in 2004, Janet worked alongside the Sri Lankan National Women’s Network to assist post-recovery and rehabilitation.  She has advised the ECHO funded Disaster Risk Reduction Consortium in Cambodia on mainstreaming gender sensitivity into disaster management and has developed training modules for women’s leadership in disaster risk reduction, at an international level.

Working with a wide variety of national and international agencies, Janet works to connect with those at grass roots to help give their voice in policy and decision-making. Working with Equality in Tourism combines her passion for travel with a deep concern to see gender justice amongst the most vulnerable in many parts of the world. Currently she is based in the United Kingdom, where in her spare time she enjoys tennis, hiking and creative writing.

Associate and trustee, Angela Hadjipateras

Angela Hadjipateras

Trustee 

Angela has worked on gender equality issues since the early 1990s. First, as Founder/Director of the Central America Women’s Network, which was established in 1991 to raise awareness of and support women’s rights struggles for equality and justice in the region. Then, from 1994-2006, she worked as Gender Policy Adviser and Trainer for ACORD – a pan-African organisation – and was involved in evaluating the impact of gender policy on programmes across many regions of sub- Saharan Africa. Her work included the implementation of gender-focussed participatory methodologies for the understanding and prevention of HIV in communities.

In 2007, she launched a tourism initiative – Zalala Beach Lodge – in the north of Mozambique with a strong focus on enhancing local livelihoods through access to employment and training opportunities and local sourcing. The positive impact on local communities was recognised in 2013 when the Lodge won the IMVELO Award – Best for Local Economic Impact. In parallel and closely linked to this tourist resort, Angela continues to support and promote economic independence and empowerment of women and young girls through the Zalala Foundation which she established in 2017.

Jaklien van Melick

Trustee 

Originally from the Netherlands, Jaklien has worked in the tourism sector for over 20 years, during which time she has lived and travelled to many countries across the globe. She has worked across a range of international private and public organisations, including non-profits. This has given her a dynamic and detailed understanding of the industry. 

She started working in tourism as a holiday representative for an inbound tour operator in New York City and continued working in customer service, airline pricing, and business development for two airlines. She also worked for TripAdvisor and for two outbound tour operators in content marketing and content production. Her most recent positions were with the United Nations World Tourism Organisation and the Austrian Tourism Board, working in destination development and marketing.

Her passion for travel and sustainable tourism is what brought her to Equality in Tourism. As a Trustee, Jaklien heads the Awards team, an essential part of the work we do within the industry to create and advocate for improved gender equality within the industry. She believes that in order to achieve a sustainable future in the industry, gender equality needs to be a priority, and her work within Equality in Tourism International is helping make that happen. 

Dr. Yasmin Begum

Trustee

Yasmin focuses on our Research and Insights initiative, which aims to share key highlights of the findings of current research in a clear and concise form, making it more accessible for those outside of the academic field. Having completed a Master’s in International Journalism, Yasmin is particularly keen to take her research interests across multimedia platforms. She is focused on impact and believes the communication of academic research to wider audiences helps foster engagement in order to address structural inequalities.

Yasmin taught in higher education and specialised in gender and decolonial identity. Her doctoral thesis focused on gender and dress in a South Asian context and looked at how representations of dress in literature reflect social and political changes during and after British imperial rule in India.

Yasmin also works with our global network of Associates who share the values of our organisation. Our Associates come from different fields, ranging from academia, industry, and non-profits, and are committed to promoting gender equality in the tourism and hospitality sectors.

Have you thought about becoming a Trustee?

If you share our passion for Gender Equality and aspire to bring a significant change, why not consider becoming a Trustee? We are consistently on the lookout for people with exceptional skills and expertise who can steer the future of our organisation and the work we do.

Join us; let’s make a difference together.