Our Associate Fiona Bakas is working on a unique 3-year research project on the role of gender in tourism. More than 500 top-level managers from all seven administrative regions in Portugal (including Madeira and Azores), from the private and public sectors, participated in this study. The project discusses the ways in which gender influences the tourism labour market, through Portuguese tourism managers’ narratives and questionnaire responses.
Using feminist economics to analyse tourism labour, this project addresses the underlying structural constraints that both women and men working in the tourism industry face. From coercion to pick ‘feminine’ courses at university, to discrimination during recruitment because of perceived lack of availability, to reduced earnings and restrictions in career progression, we find that women are still particularly affected by gendered constraints when working in tourism.
Combining qualitative and quantitative research, this project provides a fascinating insight into the contemporary ways in which gender roles influence the backbone of tourism – that is the people who work in tourism. Read more about Gentour II, and the project’s executive summary, by clicking here.
