Tracing the Maze - Equitable Tourism Options

ContentsIntroduction ~ 03Section 1: Women and Tourism Policy• y Women and Tourism: Unfulfilled Promises, Continuing Myths, EQUATIONS ~ 06• y Women in Tourism: Realities, Dilemmas and Opportunities, EQUATIONS ~ 14• y Analysing the Gender Dimensions of Tourism as a Development Strategy, Lucy Ferguson ~ 22Section 2: Tourism and Gender Relations• y Tourism Processes and Gender Relations: Issues for Exploration and Intervention, Indra Munshi ~ 42• y Tourism, Liberalization, Gender and the GATS, Mariama Williams ~ 55• y Tourism and its Impact on Gender: A Case Study of Goa, Anita Haladi ~ 63Section 3: Women’s Engagement with Tourism - Issues and Concerns• y Women in Bangalore’s Hotel Industry, EQUATIONS ~ 75• y Women Speak! Women’s Engagement with Community Based and Nature Based Tourism,EQUATIONS ~ 103• y Silence is Not Spoken Here: Women, HIV and Tourism, EQUATIONS ~ 110Annexure:• y Code of Conduct for Safe and Honourable Tourism, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India ~ 136• y Opening Doors is not Enough: Equality, Equity and Empowerment is What Women Seek in Tourism,EQUATIONS ~ 141• y Global Report on Women in Tourism 2010: Preliminary Findings, UNWTO - UN WOMEN ~ 145• y About the Authors ~ 1531

SECTION 01Women and Tourism Policy5

Women in Tourism ~Unfulfilled Promises, Continuing MythsEQUATIONS, 2011*AbstractThis introductory paper aims at taking stock of developments in the last decade inrelation to how women have fared in tourism development and processes in India.Drawing from published work including EQUATIONS own research, featured in thisdossier as well as trends in the media , it aims to examine if any of tourism promises towomen have been fulfilled and if any of the myths have been exposed.6On the world stage, one of the major claims beenmade with regard to women and tourism, is bythe UNWTO on World Tourism Day 2007 - ‘TourismOpens Doors for Women’. This claim was debatedby several civil society organisations includingEQUATIONS in its statement ‘Opening Doors is notEnough’ on World Tourism Day who asserted thatthe balance had not yet tilted in favour of womenand that even at the level of disaggregated datathere was little to show for tourism’s benefits towomen.There is growing academic and activist literaturepointing to the ways in which eroticisation oflabour and feminisation of low-income jobs in theentertainment industry exacerbate vulnerabilitiesof marginalised women rather than tending to‘empower’ them. Civil society critique of tourismpractices in the last two decades has consistentlyanchored itself on the position that the expansionof women’s roles in the economic spheres throughincreased work participation is an unsatisfactoryindicator of gender equality in tourism.Subsequently UNWTO and UN Women (formerlyUNIFEM) have been working together to bringgender to the forefront of tourism, promotinggender equality, women’s empowerment and themainstreaming of gender issues in national tourismpolicies and corporate decisions. The outcome ofthese efforts is the Global Report on Women inTourism 2010, the preliminary findings of which havebeen released. 1 Focused on developing countries,the report aims to develop a quantitative frameworkfor monitoring women working in tourism, andmakes the claim that tourism has the potential tobe a vehicle for the empowerment of women. Thisis promising and we need to wait for the actualreport to be able to engage in a substantive waywith the research methodology and analysis. Thatbeing said this introductory paper spans the issuesbased more on trends from the media, EQUATIONSown engagement with tourism development in thecountry, and the voices and perceptions of womenengaged in different roles.At the national level, starting from the declarationof ‘Women’s Empowerment Year’ in 2001 byGovernment of India, 2 the formulation of ‘Nationalpolicy for the Empowerment of Women 2001 3 andestablishing ‘National Mission for Empowermentof Women in 2010 by Ministry of Women and ChildDevelopment 4 is a long journey to ensure all rounddevelopment of women. The Working Group andsub-groups on Empowerment of Women wereformulated in 2006 to engender planning processes.There are initiatives taken by the Ministry ofWomen and Child Development to identify gaps inexisting laws. Important changes have taken placein the legal framework including amendments inlaws. Landmark judgments have been recorded inrecent years on cases relating to sexual harassmentat the work place, divorce, maintenance rights andguardianship. There has been a push to mainstreamgender concerns into various policies, programmesand action of Central as well as State governmentsthrough innovative tools and processes suchas gender budgeting which tracks the planningprocess for targeting public expenditure in favor ofwomen.

Corresponding to the push for gender sensitivityin planning process, the Ministry of Tourism hasacknowledged tourism industry with a strongfemale presence and placed this as the reasonwhy gender sensitisation and ensuring equalrights to women are important concerns of theMinistry. 5 Tourism is seen to be a priority sectoron the grounds of having extensive forward andbackward economic linkages that build overallincome, employment, especially for women, youthand disabled persons, thereby, bringing greatersocial equity and justice. The Ministry has takeninitiative to include the gender component in itspolicy statements and projects when referringto eco-tourism and rural tourism. The NationalPolicy of Tourism has identified eco-tourism as ameans to ending unemployment, creating newskills, enhancing status of women thus, facilitatinggrowth of a more just and fair social order. 6These are fairly ambitious intentions and it isimportant to see the extent to which intentionshave translated to results and changes on theground.The Impact of Tourism on WomenEmployment Opportunities Offered by Tourism:To start with the much publicised role of tourism ingenerating employment, it is true that the sectoremploys large number of women but genderedpatterns in tourism careers and employment areequally well documented. The preliminary findingsof the UNWTO - UN Women Global Report reinforcethis trend. Concentration of women in lower gradejobs, invisibility of women labour and wage disparityis documented by the Global Report on Women inTourism: 2010 7 recently published by UNWTO - UNWomen. The report highlights that:• y Women are well represented in service andclerical level jobs but poorly represented atprofessional levels.• y Women in tourism are typically earning 10% to15% less than their male counterparts.• y A large amount of unpaid work is being carriedout by women in family tourism businesses.The industry segregates women into areas ofemployment which commercialize their perceiveddomestic skills and “feminine” characteristics. Theattitude towards domestic skills and feminine natureof work has further links with lower economic gains.The paper on Women in Bangalore’s Hotel Industryby EQUATIONS has documented the vertical andhorizontal segregation along with the workingconditions influencing their career prospects.Tourism provides a market to harness women’straditional skills and knowledge and thus offeran alternate source of income. However theirparticipation in tourism reinforces existing genderrelations as well as extension of their traditionalroles. This is particularly visible in handloom, souvenirand textile sectors where women are concentratedin work which has as its basis their traditionalknowledge and skills. While they undeniably reapeconomic benefit out of the opportunities beingthrown up by tourism, the form of participation ismore covert leading to invisibility of women’s labor.This is more acute in the case of women workingas craftsperson, home-stay facilities etc. Theyare not seen as ‘actual contributors’ to tourism,recognized as stakeholders and thus their interestsand concerns are overlooked in tourism planningprocesses.Even their contribution is recognized, theperception attached to the work involved intothese domain often results in their labor beingunder-estimated and under-valued. The measuresto include women through these activities dotalk about women representation but rarely giveserious thought to the process as how to enablewomen to break boundaries of back stage roleand to take front stage role. Thus what getsneglected is the additional support and capacitybuilding for women in terms of skill building,linkage with market, accessibility to materials andcredit. There is a tendency to equate this type ofwomen’s involvement with women participation(an idea which would also imply assertion of theirrights and influence) which necessitates the needto examine the nature of women participation inthese activities. Questions that accompany thistrend are – the kind of opportunities being offeredand how? Does it strengthen the existing divisionof labor or offer choices to women as to where and7

what kind of role they want to play? Do they have asay about how they would prefer to use their skillswhile accessing those opportunities? Do they haveinfluence to ask for the price of the services theyare offering?It is well established fact that the process andactivities of development are reflection of theform of relationships that prevails in society - therelationship between man and woman, the divisionof labour among them, the role as defined by thesociety determines tourism activities. Given thissocio-cultural fabric of tourism process, accessibilityto the opportunities is another challenge beforewomen. Patriarchal norms still have a stronghold on their mobility. In this respect, the paperTourism Processes and Gender Relations: Issues forExploration and Intervention by Indra Munshi showshow the andocentric nature of tourism processalong with class and racial hierarchy advances themale viewpoint.There is a need to recognize the socio-culturaldimension of women’s inclusion and designthem into the strategies. Only creating economicopportunity is not enough until the processsignificantly alters the gendered power relations.The growth of tourism has a two way impact onthe existing gender relations. On the one handit consolidates the existing gender relations bydenying women’s capacities to contribute in theplanning and decision making process and confiningtheir roles to traditional maintenance and nurturing.On the other hand it does create openings to involvewomen in activities that are male bastions.There are examples when women participation isarchitectured into some of tourism projects butthese initiatives require much attention to thesocio-cultural context of women’s participation.The Endogenous Tourism Project is an example.The Endogenous Tourism Project- Rural TourismScheme (ETP-RTS) was a joint project ofGovernment of India- Ministry Tourism and UnitedNations Development Programme (GoI-UNDP)to support the rural tourism initiatives of the GoIwhich would serve to create sustainable livelihoodopportunities among low income communitiesliving in rural areas. 8 One of the key characteristicof this model was empowerment of women, youthand other sections of the community throughthe creation of livelihood options and managerialresponsibilities. UNDP put down a norm that atleast half the participants in the capacity buildingactivities and decision making bodies promotedshould be women. 9 The institutional frameworklike Village Tourism Committee (VTC), Heritageand Tourism Committee (HTC) sought to addressgender issues by challenging existing powerstructures, but social structures proved too hardto break through. The strong resistance by themen towards the participation of women in anyof the decision making forums was quite evidentwith women being completely absent from ofdecision-making structures and process relatedto tourism. EQUATIONS paper ‘Women Speak!Women’s Engagement with Community Based andNature Based Tourism’ explores the opportunitiescreated by tourism, the spaces available to womenand the extent to which these opportunities haveaccommodated women skills as well as theirconcerns.Affecting Lives and Livelihoods:Tourism has encroached on traditional livelihoodsand increased the drudgery on women. Theexpansion of the tourism industry has, in manyareas displaced communities, distancing them fromaccess to natural resources, a phenomenon thatimpacts women the most. From beach destinationslike Kovalam and Goa, to the serene Uttarakhand,tourism has broken down the earlier distribution ofroles, with women having to bear greater burdenof household chores. Before tourism became aprovider of lowly jobs as guides, touts and masseursand sellers of trinkets, when fishing and agriculturewas the way of life, women and men used to bearequal responsibilities for livelihoods, with mencatching the fish and women selling the catch. Withthe fishing grounds gone, men have become partof the tourism industry, and women confined tothe four walls, their importance within the familyreduced and their empowerment reduced, as mendo not give them the same respect when theywere part of the process of earning the family’slivelihoods.In the hill areas of north India, as men become tourguides in the tourist spots of the higher reachesof Himalayas, women have to bear the burden of8

agriculture. In the hill areas, men in jobs, any kindof jobs are looked up to as “being in service” andwomen’s contribution through agriculture goesunnoticed and unsung. Further, with home staysbecoming a new source of livelihood, the burdenon women is even greater, as they have to fetchwater and fuel, and cook not only for the family butalso for the tourists, which is by and large part oftheir traditional role. Therefore, their contributionremains invisible that turns the opportunity intoburden. The tourists are also an intrusion into thefamilial space, with women expected to keep awayfrom them, which means they have to furtherisolate themselves in the interiors of the house.The rampant growth of tourism industry has ledto the scarcity of resources such as water, landand environmental degradation. In Pilikula NisargaDhama, one of the tourist destinations in Karnataka,government acquired the land for a Lake Gardenand amusement park. Due to large scale tourismdevelopment the local community is denied of theaccess to the pond and the area is facing acuteshortage of water.Inflation of prices of local goods is another falloutof tourism development. The higher end of theindustry as well as tourists can afford higher pricesand they tend to corner the market. But the bruntof this price rise is borne by the local community,who cannot afford to buy commodities at such highprices on a daily basis. Women suffer the most dueto the price inflation, as once again it is the womenwho take care of the needs of the family especiallythe needs like food. Additionally, they spend moretime at the market negotiating over the prices ofessential commodities especially food items. Italso affect their health and well being as price riseresults in reduced amount of food availability andusually it is the women who go without food orhave to manage with what ever less amount thatis available.Commoditisation of Women:The language of patriarchy, heterosexuality andtourism promotion are inter linked primarilyaddressed to the need of male tourists. Thelanguage and the images used to market tourismcreate certain images about the place and womenin tourist’s mind. Along with gender, racial and classhierarchy also matters where dark women fromdeveloping countries or poor background are seenas available.The marketing of tourism is one area which featureswomen prominently. One wonders about theintention underlying such promotional activities. Is itto market tourism or to market women as a tourismproduct? The marketing of tourism has interpretedthe leisure activity as a hedonistic pursuit, ratherthan a healthy voyage of discovery and anopportunity to rejuvenate the body and the mind.Such marketing of tourism is a global phenomenon.From Bahamas to Thailand, from the Gold Coast toSri Lanka and to Goa, tourism is identified with anopportunity to have sex. Generally the brochuresof beach resorts show women in bikinis lolling onbeaches in order to attract male tourists. Goa isa case in point. Tourism here is synonymous sex,prostitution, alcohol, drugs and the attendantdangers.The goal of generating revenue by using seductivelanguage with images of women has made womenvulnerable on various fronts. It starts with theperception about women as sex object and goes tothe issues like trafficking, flesh trade and HIV/AIDS.With sex tourism being the most negative andprominent example, there is a significant amountof sexual objectification of women working in thetourism industry. EQUATIONS paper Women inTourism: Realities, Dilemmas and Opportunitiesdemonstrate how women are expected to dressin an “attractive” manner, to look beautiful (i.e.slim, young, pretty) and to “play along” withsexual harassment by customers. For advertisingand marketing, stereotypical images of womenare in many cases part of the tourism product.Friendly smiling women, fitting certain standardsof attractiveness, who seem to be waiting tosubmissively serve the customer’s every wish arebeing portrayed. Women working at destinationsas well as indigenous women are shown in astereotypical way in tourism brochures and othermaterial. Women are often used to promotetourism, even if not linked to sexual exploitation.Beautiful, smiling women are often picked tocover brochures and other promotional material.Indigenous women are also used in promotional9

materials and art of the area, depicting them as acultural attraction. Even more disturbing is how thetribal woman is represented as exotic and desirable.Brochures and promotional materials are repletewith phrases such as “a Reang belle with traditionaljewellery”, “a smiling young Tripura girl”, “Khasibelle in dance costume” or just “tribal women”.Commoditisation is evident – a traditional motifbecomes an “artefact” or “souvenir”, traditionaldresses and accessories – “costumes” and ancestraltraditions – an “experience”. 10Employment opportunities in the tourism and travelsector have traditionally been associated withobjectification and sex tourism in South East Asiaand in some Latin American and Caribbean Basincountries as also in African countries like Malawi.With greater international awareness about theindignity and human rights violation that governsex tourism, and increased and sustained resistancefrom civil society groups, country governments andtourism operators have toned down advertising sextourism with the wantonness that it was peddledsome years ago (as sea, sun, sand and sex), but thedebate continues whether the international effortsto enhance awareness have had any effect on sextourism at all.EQUATIONS paper on Women and HIV/AIDSshows how the projection of women in tourismpromotional material along with their alienationfrom traditional livelihoods and resources, patternsof employment, and socio-economic status – cometogether to make the position of women in tourismprecarious indeed. Women in tourism are eroticisedand discriminated against; the natural outcome ofthis has been the rise of sex tourism. Further, italso includes media articles to confirm the growingnexus between tourism and HIV/AIDS.The first victims of such tourism are women,particularly young girls and boys. In order to meetthe demand of the predatory male tourists, theindustry has looked the other, and even providedpassive encouragement to trafficking. Traffickingby organised gangs has assumed disturbingdimensions as girls from north Karnataka and theKonkan region and southern Maharashtra andNepal are shanghaied into the sex work industryin Goa. The rise of the moneyed middle class inIndia with its yen for the white skin has also seengirls from the erstwhile Eastern Bloc becoming sexworkers in Goa.The loss of dignity involved in such a development isonly one of the aspects of the tragedy. The problemwith sex work is that women who are driven intoit hardly ever can find another, more dignified job.The lethal danger of HIV/AIDS constantly hauntsthem, as do the depredations of the pimps and thepolice. It is a life that has no security of any sort.Most of the women from north Karnataka who aretrafficked return to their broken families after years,broken and many carrying the deadly virus. Most ofthe HIV/AIDS cases in north Karnataka have theirorigins in the sex shanties of Goa or the brothels ofMumbai.The responsibility of the industry in encouragingsex tourism cannot be underplayed. Of late, theindustry and the governments across the worldhave woken up and are making half-hearted effortsto cleanse tourism of its odium. For decades, thetourism industry consciously promoted tourism,implying directly or indirectly of the bounties of sexavailable in the tourism destinations.The Impact on Local Culture and Mores:Tourism has also brought in its train a culturalbaggage which is alien to most communities.The leisure activities of the tourist, many timesbohemian and hedonistic, have had the men andyoung men aping it. Alcoholism is common in mostof the tourist destinations. Crime and prostitutionis rife, in places in Mahabalipuram, which before itbecame a playground of the middle class of Chennaiand the tourists, devastating the fisher economy,and changing the cultural mores and live itselfforever. There is a tendency to perceive tourism asan exemption from behavioral norms set by socialstructure. It is believed that holidaying means beingaway from home and indulging in activities notsocially approved in general. This belief has hadvaried impact on local culture and mores whichin turn has intruded privacy of the place and hasaffected women’s mobility in public spaces.In Kovalam and Goa, where tourists flock in for thebeaches, the scanty clothing worn by the touristsand the influx of sex workers from the erstwhile10

Soviet republics like Russia and Ukraine, the potseekingtourists from Europe and Israel have allbroken taboos. The impact is on women, as theystruggle to keep the youngsters within the confinesof the family, resisting the undesirable changes,worrying about the future of their children, and thepossible waywardness of their men folk.Tourism has contributes to a wide range of issues– many of which seem insignificant but detractfrom the quality of life of local residents. Intrusionon daily life, loss of privacy, and a sense ofcrowding contribute to ill feelings towards tourismdevelopment. (George:2005). 11Women in Governance - Rhetoric inCommitments: Compromising Goals:EQUATIONS paper ‘Women in Tourism: Realities,Dilemmas and Opportunities’ argues thatinternational, national and state level policieson tourism do state a general commitment towomen’s empowerment but rarely go beyond thatto understand and evolve specific measures.In general the political and economic forums thatstructure and drive tourism policy and tourismdevelopment are dominated by male economicinterests and agents. Capacitating women to takethe leadership roles is missing. Silence on women’spotential to shape tourism policy and programmescontinue whilst infrastructure led developmenthas had a direct impact upon every woman. LucyFerguson’s paper ‘Analysing the Gender Dimensionsof Tourism as a Development Strategy’ shows thatdevelopment policies are not only ‘gender neutral’but also ‘gender blind’.The assumption inherent in the initiatives taken bythe government is that women are readily available toabsorb the slack in demand or employment. Variousschemes can be examined where women are seenat receiving end but not in the role of influencersand shapers. The Ministry of Tourism has come upwith certain schemes like bed and breakfast, homestays facilities which seemingly present opportunityfor women to harness their potential and benefit ona commercial basis. However, it doesn’t include anyprocess like capacity building, building leadershipskills, awareness programme or institutional help toenable them to take charge of the projects on theirown. Therefore, integration of women in tourismis being promoted with little attention paid to thechallenges that women will face in accessing theseopportunities.Similarly, the interventions made to includewomen focus mostly on creating opportunitiesnot onto building their skills to access thoseopportunities. For instance in the case of women’sentrepreneurship related to cultural tourism theyface many typical obstacles - lack of capital to investin raw materials, scarcity of raw materials and theiravailability at reasonable rates, absence of directmarketing outlets, difficulty of access to urban area,production problems, lack of guidance in productdesign and development. The initiatives takenduring the 11th Five Year Plan which aimed at holisticgrowth and development of the handicrafts sectorbarely address the concerns of women artisans.Many promotional schemes like capacity buildingfor service provider for Rural Tourism project byMinistry of Tourism, six generic schemes - BabaSaheb Ambedkar Hastashilp Vikas Yojana, Designand Technical Up-gradation, Marketing Support andServices, Human Resource Development Scheme,Research & Development and Handicrafts ArtisansComprehensive Welfare Scheme make no mentionon how to transform de jure equity into de factoequity. In spite of significant contribution of womenin the sector, none of the schemes talks about howto ensure a large number of women artisans arebenefited by the schemes or how to capacitatethem to join the tourism development processas a confident partner. The Capacity Building forService Provider schemes for Rural Tourism projectcovers building capacity/design inputs related toart and craft skills, cultural and natural heritagebut with intention to develop tourism productand integration of target group with tourismsupply chain. Its quite clear that the focus of theseactivities are more on creating linkage with artisanas part of the tourism promotion and not to buildentrepreneurial skills among women.The process of including women is oftendisconnected with the fact that their participationin public spaces is inter-woven with socio-culturalnorms. These, therefore, require sensitivelydesigned interventions for building their capacityand generating awareness and social change before11

and during implementation of the projects. Merecreating opportunities will not increase women’sparticipation but may even backfire to increasetheir burden.The tourism policy starts with the aim to positiontourism as major engine of economic growthwhich limits its vision to women empowerment.Empowerment of women is seen narrowly wherethere participation has been confined only toeconomic gains disregarding the fact that economicgains doesn’t necessarily transform into genderequality or women’s empowerment.Civil Society has critiqued that expansion of women’sroles in the economic spheres through increasedwork participation is an unsatisfactory indicator ofgender equality in tourism. In fact, experiences onthe ground show that women displaced from theirtraditional livelihoods are forced to take up theopportunities offered by tourism in informal sector.There is no empowerment in the process and inmost cases they have no say in the process.Measuring empowerment in quantifiable termsdoes not necessarily transform the power-relationsexerting influence on women participation.Introducing quota system can increase their numbersbut not their capacity to mould the developmentprocess in favor of women. Quantitative measuresof participation in development may not accuratelyreflect the degree of power which women are ableto exercise. Thereby, focusing only on quantityand not on the process can result in anotherform of exclusion and does not acknowledge thecomplexities embedded in socio-cultural realities.Broader Questions Emerging from the Trends:The discussion above has brought followingchallenges to the fore that needs to be answered ifwomen are to be confident players and beneficiariesof tourism:1. How can tourism be shaped to be more equitableand gender just in the light of the andocentricnature of tourism process and activities? This is aquestion that should be uppermost on the mindsof policymakers considering that the majorgrowth in tourism is taking place in Asia. Whilethe global average annual growth between 1995- 2020 is forecast around 4.1% and in Europe at 3%,the growth in Asia is around 6.3%. The main driversof this projected growth are China and India,both countries not known for gender sensitivity.Given the fact that women in Asia, particularlyin India enjoy less gender equality than theircounterparts elsewhere, and that they bear theburden of home chores, such growth is likely toonly increase the burden of drudgery on them.2. What steps can be envisaged at the internationaland national level to rid tourism of its undesirableaspects such as commoditisation of womenand the attendant dangers of trafficking, sextourism, paedophilia and HIV/AIDS. Governmentsdependent on tourism revenue tend to be tardyin taking clear steps to protect women fromexploitation in tourism for the fear that it maydrive down tourist arrivals and would eventend to deny the existence of any problem.Hence, an overarching international conventionbanning sex tourism and asking governmentsto take specific and time-bound steps toimplement the provisions should be debated.3. How to make gender equality a fundamentalcomponent of sustainable tourism approach?This question entails many aspects such as whatkind of development paradigm we want to workwith? In that, where and how do we want tosee women? What about differences betweenwomen along caste, class and ethnicity lines?What strategies should be adopted to achievegender equality in spirit? There is a need topush Gender Development Index (GDI) as wellas Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) if wewant to broaden the narrow empowermentframework being used in tourism sector.4. What could be measures to increase participationof women in political spaces of tourism to tiltthe tourism development process in favor ofwomen? Increasing the numbers of women indecision-making positions in political spaces doesnot in itself translate to greater empowermentfor women. Quantitative measures of women’sparticipation are inadequate as measures ofwomen’s empowerment. Measures to increasethe quantity of women representatives need12

to be accompanied by measures to improvethe quality of participation, in order to supportwomen’s empowerment and more attentionis needed to ways of assessing qualitativelywomen’s empowerment through politicalspaces. Hence confining their participation inquantifiable manner should be debated.11. Commodifying Local Culture for Rural CommunityTourism Development: Theorizing theCommodification Process, George, Wanda, 2005http://msvu.academia.edu/WandaGeorge/Papers/435737/Commodifying_Local_Culture_for_Rural_Community_Tourism_Development_Theorizing_the_Commodification_ProcessEndnotes:* The paper was written by Surabhi Singh and S.Vidya based on a draft and framework by AashaRamesh (an independent researcher on gender anddevelopment issues).1. Global Report on Women in Tourism 2010:Preliminary Findings, UNWTO & UN Women, 20112. Research Reference and Training Division, Ministryof Information and Broadcasting, Governmentof India http://www.rrtd.nic.in/INTERNATIONAL%20WOMEN.html3. Ministry of Women and Child Development,Government of India http://wcd.nic.in/4. Results Framework Document (RFD) for Ministryof Women and Child Development, 2010-2011 http://wcd.nic.in/5. Annual Report 2010-11, Ministry of Tourism. http://tourism.gov.in/AR2011n.pdf6. National Tourism Policy 2002, Ministry of Tourismand Culture, Government of India http://tourism.gov.in/policy/Tourismpolicy.pdf7. Global Report on Women in Tourism 2010:Preliminary Findings, op. cit. p18. EQUATIONS was commissioned by UNDP toreview the process and learning to strengthen itas sustainable model of tourism. ‘Sustainability inTourism: A Rural Tourism Model. A Review Report’2008.9. Ibid10. This is our Homeland - A Collection of Essays on theBetrayal of Adivasi Rights in India, EQUATIONS, 200713

Women in Tourism ~Realities, Dilemmas and OpportunitiesEQUATIONS, 2007*Abstract 1In 1950, the top 15 destinations of the world absorbed 88% of international arrivals,in 1970 this proportion dipped to 75% and even further to 57% in 2005, reflectingthe emergence of new destinations, many of them in developing countries. In thiscontext, this paper explores what this growth has meant for women – particularly forwomen in destinations of the global south. To what extent do they benefit from thisphenomenon? Has tourism opened doors for women? Has its unstoppable growthcontributed to women‘s empowerment? The paper examines the status of womenand their leadership in tourism, the nature of women’s employment in tourism,women in tourism’s informal sector, the effect of depletion of natural resources onwomen and the challenges to women’s rights as stakeholders in all aspects of tourismdevelopment.The Tourism Industry – On a Roll:Consistent growth and increasing diversification hasgiven the global tourism industry the reputation ofbeing one of the fastest growing economic sectorsworldwide. An ebullient World Tourism Organisationreports (UNWTO) that international tourism is verymuch on the rise - the number of internationalarrivals grew from 25 million in 1950 to 842 millionin 2006 representing a 4.6% annual growth rate. Theincome generated by these arrivals surpassing thegrowth rate of the world economy, grew at a rateof 11.2% during the same period, reaching aroundUS$ 735 billion in 2006.While in 1950, the top 15 destinations of the worldabsorbed 88% of international arrivals, in 1970 thisproportion dipped to 75% and even further to 57% in2005, reflecting the emergence of new destinations,many of them in developing countries. The UNWTOforecasts that international arrivals are expected toreach nearly 1.6 billion by the year 2020. Of these,1.2 billion will be intraregional and 378 million will belong-haul travellers.Continuing world prosperity has clearly been themain driver behind this boom. Asia and the Pacificstand out as the motors of international tourismexpansion and the tourism juggernaut continues tomove notwithstanding manmade and natural crises.Emerging markets and developing economiesespecially in Asia, tourism promotion by nationalgovernments especially in developing regions,increased investment in infrastructure, marketingand advertising, development of domestic markets,liberalisation of air transport, growing intraregionalcooperation and a growing number of public-privatepartnerships are key factors in this expansion in thetourism business.So what does this growth mean for women –particularly for women in destinations of the globalsouth? To what extent do they benefit from thisphenomenon? Has tourism opened doors for women?Has its unstoppable growth contributed to women‘sempowerment?Frameworks for Women’s Empowerment:The advancement of women and the achievementof equality between women and men is a matter ofhuman rights and a condition for social justice. Theseare essential to build a sustainable, just, secure14

and developed society. For decades now, throughvibrant movements and political struggles, womenhave challenged existing gender relations andpatriarchal systems to reframe the developmentdialogue. They have placed issues of violence,race, caste and other forms of discrimination thathit women the hardest; and the need for equalityand human rights of women - including social,economic, political, legal, sexual and reproductiverights - at the center-stage of this struggle.Global processes from Rio, Copenhagen, Vienna,Cairo and Beijing to Durban, particularly theCEDAW (Convention for Elimination of all formsof Discrimination against Women), the UN FourthWorld Conference on Women and its subsequentBeijing Platform for Action, have set out criticalconcerns and strategic action points. The battle forequality, to challenge the status quo, to demandaction on women’s key concerns, to mobilise civilsociety in both the global North and South, and topush for a global reordering of the world’s resourcescontinues with the same intensity but leaving onewith little sense of progress on substantive issues.There has been enormous frustration at the lackof government commitment and accountability todevelopment goals in general and gender equalitycommitments in particular.So, what is the role that tourism has played and canplay in this important struggle for equality, equityand empowerment of women? In 1996, VivianKinnaird and Derek Hall in ‘Understanding TourismProcesses: a gender aware framework’ 2 invite us tounderstand tourism processes from a framework ofsocial differentiation. Gender is one key component.Kinnaird and Hall argue that tourism involvesprocesses which are constructed out of complexand varied social realities and relations that areoften hierarchical and usually unequal. The divisionof labour, the social constructions of “landscape” -both natural and human - influenced how societiesconstruct the cultural “other” and the realities ofexperiences of tourist and host all show that inexamining the issues of relationships; differences,and inequalities exist. They went further to arguethat tourism’s identification as an industry based onthe economic, social and political power relationsbetween nations or groups of people representsthe extension of the politics of gender relations.Margaret Swain 3 similarly argues that tourism isbuilt on attractions to sameness and differences. “Isthe world’s largest industry willing to be feminist?”she asks. A feminist worldview is non-androcentric.It explains phenomena in terms of women’s as wellas men’s experiences. It is political when askinghow to promote equity among women and men,based in understandings of the cultural and socialpositions of women and their subordination inrelationship to men. It asks the question “does thiswork for women?” and seeks the perspective ofwomen as well in interrogating data, frameworks,experiences and policies.EQUATIONS has argued that international, nationaland state level policies on tourism do state a generalcommitment to women’s empowerment but rarelygo beyond that to understand and evolve specificmeasures. The UNWTO’s Global Code of Ethics forTourism, for instance, does not specifically addressthe gendered aspects of tourism although Articles2, 6 and 9 are linked to some of the issues beingdebated. Article 2 calls to respect equality betweenmen and women and promote human rightsparticularly individual rights for marginalised andvulnerable groups. It disapproves of exploitation ofhuman beings, such as sexual exploitation. Article6 concerns travel-related press material and othermedia and states that these should contain truthfuland balanced information on travel destinationsthat could influence the flow of tourists. Thesemedia should not in any way promote sex tourism,it asserts. Article 9 on Rights of the workers andentrepreneurs in the tourism industry, focuseson the protection of legal rights of workers, theirsalaries and working conditions and argues thatthese should be guaranteed under the supervisionof the national and local administrations. It alsosuggests that workers should be given sufficientsocial protection. Despite these clauses, it seemscritical that the Global Code address issues of theempowerment and exploitation of women moredirectly, given the significant role that women playin tourism and the significant violations of ethicsthat are linked to women’s experiences in tourism.Often women are exhorted to subscribe to anindividual empowerment ethic - overcome what’s inyour mind and you can do it! In celebration of WorldTourism Day 2007 a leading travel and tourism15

magazine 4 ran a lead feature on India’s “IncredibleWomen in Tourism” – profiling a series of urbanupper/middle class women who worked in upmarkettravel agencies, hotels and the governmentin the sector. Most subscribed heavily to theindividual empowerment ethic. Most felt they werenot disadvantaged being a woman and the key tosuccess was hard work and the individual will toachieve. If the magazine had featured local womenin tourism destinations struggling in the sector; theirperspectives, experiences and realities would havebeen very different. But apparently, these massesof women do not count. This attitude that policymakers, governments and the industry of tourismhave adopted of viewing women’s empowermentas an individual’s challenge can prove to be verydangerous as it diverts focus away from the needto deal with institutionalized gender discriminationin tourism.Policies and budgets have the potential both toperpetuate gender bias and blindness, and totransform them. Gender disaggregated data,gender-sensitive policies and indicators areessential to building up a picture of the nature andextent of gender inequality. We need to understandthe way institutions with their gendered rules workand we need to develop the political will, processesand tools to challenge and change them. Genderaudits and gender budgeting are tools that could beemployed meaningfully - particularly at communitylevels. These in turn will impact women’s politicalparticipation and decision making on the forms,impacts, models and pace of tourism in theircommunities. It is time tourism recognised women’sagency and heard their voices in its development.Women’s Status and Leadership – Participationin Decision Making and Political Processes:In India, women have been viewed by governmentsand policy makers merely as extensions of thetraditional roles they play in families and society -that of nurturers and caregivers. The focus wason promoting the welfare of women and thereby,children rather than empowering women to acquiretheir rights. Schemes and policies for women,therefore, were limited in both vision and approach.Rural India, where two-thirds of India’s populationresides, faces enormous challenges in health,education, nutrition, employment and environment.Women bear primary responsibility in every one ofthese areas — day after day. India’s rural womenhave been systematically denied the freedom,resources, information and decision-making powerthey need to carry out these responsibilities andhave been kept in an almost unimaginable state ofpowerlessness, illiteracy, isolation and malnutrition.The 73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitutionmandated an unprecedented transfer of decisionmakingpower and resources in the rural areas tolocal democratic councils - the panchayats. Mostrevolutionary of all, one-third of all panchayat seatsare reserved for women — guaranteeing them arole in determining the future of their communities.If fully implemented, women potentially have avoice in the decisions that affect their lives.Early advocates of tourism viewed tourismemployment as a positive way of integrating underprivilegedsubgroups of society into mainstreameconomy. However, these have tended largely toreinforce an existing sexist, ethnic and caste-basedsystem of social stratification. In tourism particularly,women’s roles in economic production cannotbe understood without reference to the culturalcontext of women’s structural position in societyand the home. Kinnaird and Hall 5 cite the exampleof tourism-dependent areas of Britain and Irelandto make this point. They argue that innovationslike the ‘bed and breakfast accommodation’ intourism ghettoize women in ways of work thatare an extension of their domestic activities. Thisis particularly interesting in the context of India’sMinistry of Tourism (headed in succession bytwo very articulate women as Tourism Ministers)showcasing bed and breakfast accommodationschemes as a policy intervention towards women’sempowerment. Similarly the Rural Tourism Projectof the Ministry, while having the laudable aim ofwomen’s empowerment among other aims, haslargely conceptualised empowerment in economicterms without taking into account the socialpatriarchal structures and roles that their lives areembedded in. These policy initiatives reveal thenaiveté of the government in offering simplisticsolutions to the need for genuine empowerment ofwomen in tourism.16

Often women’s economic empowermentprogrammes, particularly those for poor ruralwomen, focus on micro-credit and self-help groups.This in some ways only increases the burdenon women and limits their capacity to leverageproductive and scaled up micro-enterprise. Anevaluation report of the Rural Tourism Project ofthe Ministry of Tourism 6 has more or less equatedgender sensitisation to the formation of women’sself help groups and seems to believe that this isan adequate indicator of women’s empowerment.The focus instead should be on collective enterprisewith women’s ownership and to ensure its successrequires significant capacity building and marketlinkages.The Nature of Women’s Employment in Tourism:A very strong argument in favour of tourismdevelopment is that it generates employment atdifferent levels due to the wide range of servicesand products it requires. Undoubtedly, there istruth and merit in this argument. However, it isimportant to understand what kind of employmentlocal women have access to in tourism and whathappens to men and women employed in tourism.Tourism does provide a range of activitieswhere women can participate and also createsopportunities for entrepreneurship development.Global data on numbers of women and men workingin tourism-related professions suggests that theorganised tourism sector is a particularly importantsector where 46% of the workforce compriseswomen (in general, 30-40% of the workforce iswomen) (ILO 2007). Of the data available for theyears between 1988 and 2005, it appears that therehas been a broad increase in the participation ofwomen in the tourism industry at a global level.However apart from their overall presence in theindustry, other factors indicate that women do notseem to benefit and be empowered particularly fromtourism. As in many other sectors, there is significanthorizontal and vertical gender segregation of thelabour market in tourism. Vertically, the typical“gender pyramid” is prevalent - lower levelsand occupations with few career developmentopportunities being dominated by women and keymanagerial positions being dominated by men. InIndia too, women in the organised sector in tourismare relegated to relatively low skill, low paying orstereotypical jobs like front-desk and reception,housekeeping, catering and laundry services. Theyface very high risks of sexual harassment andexploitation and are discouraged from formingunions or associations to consolidate their strengthand influence. The proportion of women’s to men’swages is less. Women feature significantly morein part time and/or temporary employment andare typically paid less than men for the same workdone.The feminisation and informalisation of theworkforce in tourism, particularly in developingcountries, is a matter of concern. Unfortunately,few research studies focus on the gender dimensionresulting in little quantitative data on this trend.Women are seen, and hence favoured, as a passive,compliant and sometime invisible workforce thatwill accept low wages without demanding for theirlabour and human rights. What remains constantis the low economic value accorded to workperformed by women in conditions of exploitation,no job security and violations of human rights.This occurs both directly through prohibitions onlabour organisation and indirectly through furtherabuses where women have claimed rights such asto organise or to be free from sexual harassment.Many women workers face difficult, oftenexploitative conditions. India’s national newspaperscarried a horrifying story of a woman working inan ayurvedic massage parlour in Kerala who wasallegedly set on fire by her employer after she refusedsexual favours to clients. The International LabourOrganisation published a report highlighting thehigh levels of violence, stress and sexual harassmentin hotels, catering and tourism. Unsurprisingly, it ismostly women in junior positions who experiencethese problems, but unlike in other sectors, womenface harassment not only from colleagues andmanagers but also from clients. Factors such aslate working hours, service of alcohol, dress codes,racism, negative attitudes towards service staffand the uninhibited, sexualised nature of tourismand tourism promotion contribute to a high-riskenvironment for women and younger workers,as well as ethnic minority, migrant and part-timeworkers. 7 That these attitudes and difficulties17

prevail primarily in small scale enterprises is anothermyth that needs to be exposed. As the case below(see box) highlights it took India’s national airline sixdecades to acknowledge that women can supervisecabin crew as ably as men!The Maharaja’s New Year gift:Air India, India’s national airline, has finally decidedto catch up with the 21st century and to accept thenon-discriminatory provisions in the Constitutionthat guarantee women equal rights. Incredible as itmight seem, it has taken the airline six decades toacknowledge that women can supervise members ofthe cabin crew as ably as men.On December 28, 2005, Air India issued a directivestating that women could henceforth be in-flightsupervisors. All these years — the airline has beenin existence since 1946 — there were differentemployment conditions that applied to men andwomen. For example, Air India’s female cabin crewwere forced to retire many years earlier than theirmale counterparts. The first age set for retirementfor them was 30. Slowly, after many battles it creptup to 50. Finally, some of these women turned to theBombay High Court in 2003 and won the right to goon flying until 58, like the men. But the victory couldnot be savoured as within months the Supreme Courtoverturned the High Court judgment and held that itwas not discriminatory to ask women to retire at 50.The struggle was then taken directly to the Executiveand in December 2003, the government of Atal BihariVajpayee and the Civil Aviation Ministry passedan order asking Air India to allow airhostesses tocontinue flying until the age of 58.Kalpana Sharma, India Together January 2006Sexist and gendered attitudes abound, making itdifficult for women at all levels to claim equality andequity. The Chief Justice of Karnataka High CourtCyriac Joseph, speaking to an all-woman audienceat the Asia Women Lawyers’ Conference 8 on thetheme “Women’s rights are human rights’ declared“there was no point in women trying to be men anddo all that a man is expected to do.” Cautioningwomen, he said, “Once you lose your womanhood,there is nothing left to be protected.”The Informal Sector 9 in Tourism – InvisibilisingWomen’s Labour:The informal sector is the most direct sourceof income for local communities in tourism indeveloping countries. In the developing world 60%of women (in non-agricultural work) work in theinformal sector. Much of this is linked directly andindirectly to tourism. The role of women in informaltourism settings such as running home-stay facilities,restaurants and shacks, crafts and handicrafts,handloom, small shops and street vending issignificant. But these roles and activities thatwomen perform in tourism are treated as invisibleor taken for granted. The need to acknowledgethe important economic contribution of womenand ensure for them, access to credit, capacitybuilding and enhanced skills, access to the market,encouragement to form unions, associations andcooperatives to increase their bargaining powerand to ensure that their safety health and socialsecurity needs are met is critical.Creating opportunities for income generatingactivities, effective marketing and integratingwomen’s entrepreneurship with variousgovernment schemes to promote women’s selfemployment, would be an important componentto promote women’s participation in tourismdevelopment. The sharing of experiences intourism, understanding and demystifying complexofficial documents, such as tourism policies, masterplans, related to the industry, providing informationabout access to documents are also importantsteps.Community based tourism initiatives, particularlyof local women’s groups and co-operatives can bean accessible and suitable entry point for women’sparticipation in tourism. They seem to generatemore long-term motivation than initiatives fromoutside. 10 These activities help to create financialindependence for local women and help themto develop the necessary skills and improve theireducation, which in turn increase self-esteem andhelp create more equitable relationships in familiesand communities.18

Women and Natural Resources:There is a direct correlation between the depletionof natural resources and increased burden onwomen in daily work in any region of the world.When tourism restricts community access to orcontributes to the depletion of natural resources,it is women not only as homemakers, but alsoas community members, who suffer the most.Women’s access to and control over forest produceand water comes into sharp conflict when tourismusurps these very resources needed to fulfil their lifeand livelihood needs. The daily burden on womenof finding water for the household or firewood forcooking is oftentimes doubled or tripled.When tourism displaces people from traditionallivelihoods or worse still physically displaces them,the worst affected are women who are engagedin the bulk of ancillary occupations like tobaccocultivation, coconut harvesting, fish sorting andprocessing which are jeopardised through suchdisplacement. Transition from certain activitiesto others, for example away from agriculture,could have implications for food security. Certaintraditional occupations risk being crowded outthat could have an effect on the society as a whole.A study in Kumarakom in Kerala showed thatwomen moved out of agriculture to tourism linkedconstruction work as it paid them better dailywages. But having neglected the fields, they endedup losing on both counts as the construction workwas only short-term but they could not return tocultivate fields overgrown with weeds. It becomesthe prerogative of governments and the industryto ensure that rather than displace them, tourismshould build and bolster supplementary livelihoodoptions that women can choose from.The demand for water by hotels can mean lesslocal water for nearby farmers, which can affectfood production and increase the workload ofwomen in collecting water from other sources. Theestablishment of golf courses and special tourismzones or enclaves can also put severe constraintson land and water resources for communitiesburdening the women the most. The incriminatinglinks between tourism and climate change willunfortunately add to the burden women alreadybear.Severe Abuse of Human Rights –Trafficking ofWomen and Sex Tourism:The gross violation of human rights due to sextourism and trafficking of women are the shadowside of the booming tourism industry. Migration andtrafficking of women, both from within developingcountries and cross border to service the touristtrade is commonplace. Russian women to Thailandand the Philippines and Goa, eastern Europeanwomen to European countries and women fromNepal and Bangladesh are trafficked to India toservice the sex trade. The reports of the SpecialRapporteur on Violence against Women (UNCHR)have highlighted the linkages between countries ineconomic transition and the increase in traffickingand forced prostitution of women.Though there are efforts by few tourism serviceproviders to condemn child sex tourism and activelyparticipate in campaigns that combat it, tourismindustry bodies have not taken serious actionagainst the exploitation of women in trafficking andsex tourism. In fact while tourism is celebrated as aglobalised and modernised form of development -it is global tourism, globalised crime and technologylike the internet that have also given the sex industrynew means of exploiting, marketing and supplyingwomen and children as commodities to buyers. 11The Representation of Women in Tourism:The ideological constructs of the advertisingindustry have infused the tourism, aviation andhospitality industry. In tourism marketing, womenare the ‘face’ of the sector, being the most widelyusedobjects in tourism promotion after naturalbeauty and cultural heritage. Women have beenobjectified and depicted as pleasure providers 12 -their images often exoticised, patronising andmisleading.There is also a strong case for eliminating sexualobjectification of women working in the tourismindustry. With sex tourism being the most negativeand prominent example, there is a significantamount of sexual objectification of women workingin the tourism industry. Women are expectedto dress in an “attractive” manner, to lookbeautiful (i.e. slim, young, and pretty) and to “playalong” with sexual harassment by customers. 1319

Stereotypical and sexist images of women areoften part of tourism promotion in brochures andadvertisements. Friendly, smiling and pliant womenfitting certain standards of attractiveness, attired intraditional costumes, waiting to submissively servethe customer’s every wish is the typical portrayal ofwomen in tourism material. The industry howeverhas chosen not to be particularly disturbed by thisview of women, of seeing it as a gross violation oftheir dignity and rights, and believes it to be justifiedin the sale of a product. It is time the global tourismindustry takes responsibility for the way women areused in the selling of tourism and also addressesthis in its code of ethics.Tourism modifies local cultural practices in waysthat affect men and women differentially. Forexample, in Kumarakom, increased houseboattourism severely restricted privacy of local womenwho used the same backwaters to bathe and tomeet with other women socially. When tourismmakes products of culture, it tends to commodifywomen in particular – although both men andwomen are impacted by the insensitive selling ofculture. Jane Henrici 14 gives an interesting exampleof women in Peru – “Before the tourists came, whena woman wore flowers in her hair in public, it meantshe was available to enter into a dating relationship.Once the tourists arrived they liked to take picturesof the photogenic women wearing flowers. Soon thepressure built for all women in the market to wearflowers – detaching it from its cultural meaning andbecoming a pure aesthetic signifier in a touristicframe.”The Challenges Ahead:The tourism industry and stewards of tourismdevelopment face many serious social and humanchallenges in the years ahead. The growing linksbetween migration - both voluntary and forced -and tourism needs to take into account the genderdimensions of this global phenomenon. HIV/AIDS isnot only driven by gender inequality but entrenchesit. Tourism is increasingly seen to have a role in thisentrenchment in its links to trafficking, prostitutionand sex tourism.A categorical position condemning the blatant andinhuman exploitation of women in tourism throughtrafficking and the sex industry is a moral challengethat the global tourism industry needs to respondto. Declaring that the tourism product will not bepromoted at the expense of women’s dignity,respect and rights is the other position that theindustry needs to endorse and practice.The increasing trend of promoting tourism inconflict zones and the consequent impacts it hason women who are already battling for survival isanother matter of serious concern. Disasters andepidemics have an uneasy relationship with tourism– but gender dimensions are rarely integrated intoassistance and reconstruction efforts with the focusbeing largely on the safety of tourists and revival oftourism infrastructure.Engendering tourism policy and understandingtourism’s impacts on women will be key steps tocombating the feminization and informalisation ofthe workforce in tourism, particularly in developingcountries. Research that focuses on the genderdimension of this process could lead to policy andinterventions that can work to the advantage ofwomen. Most policies today focus on and favourlarge and medium enterprise in tourism. Shiftingthe focus to privilege small and micro-enterprisewill not only lead to sustainable options, but createmore viable spaces for women’s engagement intourism.Poverty, and in particular urban poverty, whichthreatens to be an issue of growing magnitude hasdeep roots in gender injustice. Tourism often wipesout the existence and means of livelihood of theurban poor in an overt manner while continuing todepend covertly on cheap labour and exploitativerelationships in order to flourish. Ensuring basicprotection in terms of social security, access toinformation and credit and market linkages will becritical to enable larger numbers of women in theinformal economy - both in rural and urban areas -to gain from tourism.Women’s engagement to assert their rights asstakeholders in all aspects of tourism development(planning, implementation, participation,ownership and monitoring) is also determined bytheir informed participation in decision-makingspaces. Facilitating an understanding of tourismand its patterns among women would not only20

enable them to raise questions about the course oftourism development but also make claims on itsoutcomes.Endnotes:* The paper was written by Rosemary Viswanathand presented at the conference “Tourism OpensDoors for Women” - UNWTO Think Tank: The Roleof Women in Tourism on 27.09.2007 organisedby United Nations World Tourism Organization atBentota, Sri Lanka.1. The experience of women as tourists is increasinglya topic for study and research. This paper howeverfocuses on women who live in tourism destinations,particularly destinations in the global South.2. Tourism Management, Vol 17, No 2 19963. Gender/Tourism/Fun (?) Eds. Swain and Momsen CCC2002. Swain (1995) offered the following definitionof Gender in tourism : A system of culturallyconstructed identities, expressed in ideologies ofmasculinity and feminity, interacting with sociallystructured relationships in divisions of labour andleisure, sexuality, and power between women andmen.4. Express Travel World September 20075. Kinnard Vivian & Hall Derek, ‘Understanding tourismprocesses: a gender-aware framework’ TourismManagement, Vol 17, No. 2, 1996issues referred to in this paper is provided by theILO in its report – “Decent Work and the InformalEconomy” (International Labour Conference, 90thsession, 2002). “…These different groups have beentermed “informal” because they share one importantcharacteristic: they are not recognized or protectedunder the legal and regulatory frameworks. This isnot, however, the only defining feature of informality.Informal workers and entrepreneurs are characterizedby a high degree of vulnerability. They are notrecognized under the law and therefore receive littleor no legal or social protection and are unable toenforce contracts or have security of property rights.”10. Gender & Tourism: Women’s Employment andParticipation in Tourism, UNED- UK project reportsummary 199911. Hughes, M.D., “The Internet and Sex Industries:Partners in Global Sexual Exploitation,” Technologyand Society Magazine, Spring 2000.12. Tourism – Its Effects on Women in Goa, a report to thePeople’, Bailancho Saad, Goa, 198713. Gruetter, K. & Pluess, Ch. (Hg.), 1996. HerrlicheAussichten! Frauen im Tourismus. Zuerich:Rotpunktverlag (Splendid Views! Women in Tourism)14. Calling to the Money: Gender and Tourism in PeruJane Henrici Gender/Tourism/Fun (?) Eds Swain andMomsen CCC 20026. Evaluation study Rural Tourism Scheme,Mott MacDonald Ministry of Tourism, June 20077. Gender, Globalisation and Tourism Cultures,Presented by Dr. Annette Pritchard at the SpecialMeeting of Women Ministers of Culture, 2005 http://womenministers.government.is/Programme//nr/32698. Women must not try to be men: Cyriac Joseph,23/09/2007, http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/23/stories/2007092354980500.htm9. There is no universally accepted upon definition ofthe “informal sector”. However, the interpretationof the term best suited for an understanding of21

Analysing the Gender Dimensions of Tourismas a Development StrategyLucy Ferguson, 2009*AbstractFor several decades, the relationship between tourism and development has beenexplored in the discipline of tourism studies and in policy-making circles. However, verylittle research has been carried out into the gender dimensions of this relationship. Thispaper is a first attempt to unpack some of the issues involved in such an undertaking,and to provide an overview of some of the key empirical areas that need to be takeninto account for further research. Using the third Millennium Development Goal –gender equality and women’s empowerment – as its focus, this paper explores thistheme from a critical perspective informed by feminist approaches to development.Combining literature reviews, analysis of policy documents and primary research thispaper aims to provide an overview of the potential of tourism to contribute to thegender equality and women’s empowerment, and the tensions and complexities thatthis presents. It concludes by offering some tentative policy recommendations and anagenda for future research.1. Introduction:Although highly contested, the links betweentourism and development are now well establishedin academic and policy circles. Less clear is thepotential of tourism to contribute more specificallyto the achievement of the third MillenniumDevelopment Goal (MDG3), to ‘promote genderequality and empower women’. In order toexplore this issue, this paper offers a feministcritique of contemporary tourism developmentpolicy. Drawing together extensive research intothe gender dimensions of tourism; I set out thetensions between feminist visions of developmentand tourism development policy. It must be notedat this stage that the links between gender andtourism have been established relatively recentlyin development policy. As such, this paper is notintended to be a definitive evaluation of thesepolicies, but rather a preliminary explorationof some of the conceptual issues and practicalquestions that need to be taken into account whenlooking at this theme. Early critical work on tourismdevelopment focussed on how the tourism industryoften exploited colonial associations and turned tocolonial power structures to promote and constructthe industry in developing countries (Perez 1974,1975; Britton 1982; Nash 1989). In response, tourismstudies turned its attention to ‘alternative’ formsof tourism, suggesting that these were morelikely to overcome the exploitative dimensions ofmass tourism in developing countries (Lea 1993;Brohman 1996; Khan 1997). Research into thedistribution of benefits from alternative forms oftourism suggests there is no automatic connectionbetween ‘ecotourism’ (Duffy 2004) or ‘new tourism’(Mowforth and Munt 2008) and greater equality intourism destinations. The ‘pro-poor tourism’ (PPT)approach can be seen as an attempt to take thesequestions into account and to target the benefitsof tourism more directly towards poverty reduction(Brown and Hall 2008). PPT has been extensivelydebated in the literature, with critics arguing thatit serves to facilitate a reinforcement of globalinequalities by not taking into account broaderpower relations of global political economy(Harrison 2008).22

While this work on tourism development is usefulin understanding changes in tourism developmentpolicy, it says little about the specifically genderedaspects of inequality embedded within tourismpolicy. A well established tradition of work ongender and tourism has addressed a broad range ofissues, case studies and approaches. Scholars withintourism studies have long argued that tourism is ahighly gendered industry (Kinnaird, Kothari and Hall1994; Kinnaird and Hall 1996). As Vivian Kinnaird andDerek Hall argue:Unless we understand the gendered complexitiesof tourism, and the power relations they involve,then we fail to recognise the reinforcement andconstruction of new power relations that areemerging out of tourism processes. From the valuesand activities of the transnational tourist operatorto the differential experiences of individualsparticipating as either hosts or guests, all partsof the tourism experience are influenced by ourcollective understanding of the social constructionof gender. (Kinnaird and Hall 1996: 100)In spite of the diversity of research on gender andtourism, strong associations persist in the popularimagination between tourism and prostitution.Indeed, for many, this is the extent of ‘genderissues’ in tourism. Certainly, the sexual exploitationof women and children is a serious issue that needsto be addressed, and the emerging phenomenonof ‘sex tourism’ in developing countries has beenextensively researched by feminists (Pettman1997; Jeffreys 1999). However, recent work hassuggested that sex tourism should be understoodmore as a phenomenon of inadequate stateprovision rather than as an intrinsic feature oftourism in itself (Montgomery 2008). Although thisis a controversial argument with which many willdisagree, it prompts us to acknowledge the politicaleconomy and developmental issues involved whendiscussing the relationship between tourism andprostitution. Moreover, the assumption that allresearch into tourism and gender is or should beabout sex work and sexual exploitation servesto obscure the more subtle and nuanced aspectsof these processes. If we look exclusively at themore obvious and sensationalist areas of ‘hyperexploitation’of women in tourism, many importantgender dynamics fall by the wayside.One such dynamic is the gendered characteristicsof tourism work. Feminist research has identified aclear segmentation of men’s and women’s work intourism. This shows how the majority of women’swork is concentrated in seasonal, part time andlow paid activities such as retail, hospitality andcleaning (Sinclair 1997; Chant 1997). Research hasalso identified the ways in which global genderinequalities are embedded within the promotionand marketing of tourism destinations (Cohen1995; Marshment 1997; Pritchard and Morgan2000). However, to date, the majority of this workhas focussed on the gendered outcomes of tourismdevelopment. In contrast, the aim here is toconcentrate more specifically on the ways in whichtourism development policy is in itself gendered.This paper argues that there are two distinct waysin which gendered assumptions operate in tourismdevelopment policy: implicitly (i.e. ‘gender-blind’)and explicitly (i.e. ‘gender aware’). If we are tounderstand tourism development policy, I argue,we need to develop an analysis which incorporatesboth these aspects. We begin by looking at implicitor gender-blind assumptions, demonstrating howmacro-level tourism development policy relieson gender inequalities embedded in processesof restructuring of the global economy. This taskdraws on a wealth of analysis from feministsworking within development studies and globalpolitical economy, who offer an extensive critiqueof contemporary development policy and thecontradictions and complexities this produces forgender equality and women’s empowerment.Next, the paper turns to analyse the more genderawareaspects of tourism development policy– that is, policies which openly seek to affectchange in gender equality or promote women’sempowerment, in line with MDG3. In order todo this I begin by outlining feminist critiques ofcontemporary development policy, setting outthe dominant ‘gender paradigm’ and the ways inwhich gender is conceptualised in developmentinstitutions. I then go on to offer an overviewof gender-aware tourism development policiesand projects, exploring gender policy in theWorld Tourism Organisation and the World Bank,the two most significant global institutions fortourism development. Using policy documents and23

interviews, I show how the gender aspect of WorldBank projects corresponds to the ‘gender paradigm’of contemporary development policy. The final partof the paper offers some tentative conclusions andrecommendations around the potential for tourismto contribute to MDG3.2. ‘Gender-blind’ Tourism Development Policy:‘Development’ is not a neutral, benign processbut one that takes place within a context of globalrestructuring, of which gender inequalities are afundamental component. Although many aspects oftourism development policy do not contain an overtgender component, implicit gendered assumptionsare nevertheless present. These assumptionsoperate in two key ways in development policy.First, macroeconomic development policy assumesthat women will ‘pick up the slack’ of restructuringby continuing to carry out social reproduction worksuch as parenting and domestic work regardlessof external circumstances. Empirical studies indeveloping countries mapped the ways in whichstructural adjustment programmes (SAPs) in the1980s tended to increase and intensify women’sreproductive work, while also increasing women’slabour force participation, particularly in theinformal sphere (Palmer 1992; Çatagay, Elson andGrown 1995). Such restructuring was found totransfer the costs of social reproduction from thestate onto private households and communities,where most of the work was taken up by women(Kanji 1991, Chant 2006). Others concluded thatthe drastic cutbacks in state services and subsidiesthrough development policy had led to a ‘tripleburden’ (Momsen 1991) – of reproductive work,community responsibility, and paid work - forwomen. More recently, feminists have shown howsocial reproduction is being ‘reprivatised’ by theglobal restructuring of production (Bakker 2003),leading to an ‘increasing emphasis on individualresponsibility for, and informalization of, socialreproduction’ (Bakker and Silvey 2008: 8). Indeveloping countries, this has meant that ‘muchof the care burden has inevitably fallen back onwomen and girls’ (Razavi 2007: 1).The second gender-blind assumption ofmacroeconomic development policy involves thegendered inequalities which are integral to globalproduction. A long tradition of research into womenworkers in the export oriented economy outlinesthe global gendered division of labour (Kofmanand Raghuram 2006). Such research has exploredwomen’s work in a variety of sectors, includinggarment factories (Elias 2004), home-basedwork (Prügl 1999; Kantor 2003), domestic service(Ehrenreich and Hochschild 2003) and the servicesector in general (Guy and Newman 2004; McDowellet al. 2005). Other studies include Carolyne Dennis’research on women’s self-employment in Nigeria,showing how the SAPs of the 1980s made it moredifficult for women to enter the most profitableparts of the informal sector due to the male bias inthe growth of industrial employment, while at thesame time increasing women’s need for such access(Dennis 1995). In her research on maquiladora(factories in export processing zones) workers inMexico’s export processing zones - an industrialexpansion hailed as being beneficial to women -Ruth Pearson argued that although Mexico’s shareof technical, managerial and administration jobshas increased, these opportunities had not beenmade available to Mexican women (Pearson 1995).Collectively, this work demonstrates the waysin which gendered – and ethnic - inequalities are‘central to the functioning of the global politicaleconomy’ (Elias 2004: 27).In summary, as Shirin Rai (2004: 583) argues:…(P)articipants come to specific markets with‘unequal’ capabilities and bargaining capacitiesand resources, as a result of and which inhere inunequal market structures, regulated and stabilizedby gendered state formations, and characterized bymore or less unequal power. Class and gender aretwo bases for unequal power relations operating inthe market.So what does this mean in terms of tourism?What does implicitly gendered (or gender blind)tourism development policy look like? Theassumptions outlined above are manifested intourism development policy at the macroeconomiclevel. The primary example of this is the extensivepromotion of foreign direct investment (FDI) indeveloping countries’ tourism sectors. Employmentin global hotel chains is notorious for poorworking conditions, as documented extensivelyin the tourism studies literature. However, theseconditions become even starker when looked at24

through the lens of gender. The tourism industryis characterised by ‘the seasonal nature of many ofits activities and (by) important fluctuations evenin normal periods’. These features of the industrycreate a ‘generic tendency to operate on the basisof a core staff and to employ the labour needed forday-today operations under atypical contractualarrangements’ (ILO 2001: 48). This involvesmaintaining a large pool of temporary labour tobe drawn upon in times of high demand, made upof predominantly young and/or female workers.Other features of the tourism industry include highstaff turnover, long working hours, subcontracting,‘flexible’ working conditions, the prevalenceof ‘casual workers’ and seasonal variations inemployment (ILO 2001: 56-63).In gender terms, the ILO reports that women accountfor 46 per cent of workers in wage employment intourism globally. However, expanding the definitionto include catering and accommodation brings theproportion of female labour up to 90 per cent. Toquote the report in detail:They [women] occupy the lower levels of theoccupational structure in the tourism labourmarket, with few career development opportunitiesand low levels of remuneration (some estimatessuggest that wages for women are up to 20 percent lower than those for men). The greaterincidence of unemployment among women isattributed to their low skill levels and their lowsocial status in many poor countries. They also tendto be the first affected when labour retrenchmentoccurs as a result of recession or adjustment tonew technology. It should also be noted that themajority of workers in subcontracted, temporary,casual or part-time employment are women (ILO2001: 74).Any analysis of the gender dimensions ofmacroeconomic tourism development policy thatpromotes FDI by large tourism companies needsto take into account the structural genderedfeatures of work in tourism. M. Thea Sinclair(1997) argues that work in tourism should beunderstood as a reflection of wider inequalities inthe tourism industry. She points to the fact thatthe fun and escapism enjoyed by tourists dependon the labour provided by workers in the tourismindustry. However, these power relations need tobe analysed carefully, as there are not only divisionsbetween tourists and workers in terms of incomeand wealth, but also between workers, primarilyalong gender but also race lines. Such inequalitiesbetween workers, she argues, affect the relativeincome, status and power of those involved,resulting in a clear segmentation of men’s andwomen’s work in tourism, the majority of women’swork being concentrated in seasonal, part time andlow paid activities such as retail, hospitality andcleaning (Sinclair 1997). Sylvia Chant (1997) alsopoints to the gendered nature of work in tourism:Female recruitment in formal sector enterprisescatering for international tourists tends to drawheavily on male constructed and male-biased genderstereotypes and to place women in occupationswhich in many respects crystallise and intensify theirsubordinate positions in society, whether throughtheir assignation to low-level, behind-the-scenesdomestic work as laundrywomen or chambermaids,or to jobs where their physical attributes are usedto attract men or to gratify male sexual needs, asin front-line hotel, commercial and restaurant postsand in entertainment establishments (Chant 1997:161).Multinational hotel chains have been criticised assetting a precedent for flexibilised, low-skill labourwith little room for mobility and promotion of staff(ILO 2001). However, in many ways this is also trueof smaller organisations such as ‘boutique’ hotelsemploying between 20 and 100 staff. Likewise insmall, ‘family run’ enterprises those employeeswho make up the main body of the workforce donot tend to see much social mobility in their jobs(Sinclair 1997a). As such, there is strong evidencethat tourism employment generated through FDIpromotion is unlikely to greater gender inequality,and indeed may exacerbate inequalities.2.1. Outcomes of ‘Gender-Blind’ TourismDevelopment Policy:In spite of the structural gendered inequalitiesof work in tourism, feminists have always beenacutely aware of the ways in which women’s entryinto the paid workforce tends to have contradictoryand complex effects on gender relations and thelives of women workers (Tinker 2006). Analyses25

of women’s work in the global economy offer aframework for analysing these tensions. As Chant(2002: 550) argues, ‘the emancipatory prospects offemale labour force participation are constrained bythe prejudicial terms under which women enter theworkforce’. Diane Elson and Pearson (1998: 199), ina discussion of women’s work in export processingzone factories, identify a ‘tendency to intensifythe existing forms of gender subordination; atendency to decompose existing forms of gendersubordination; and a tendency to recompose newforms of gender subordination’ (emphasis added).Processes of tourism development have involvedsimilarly complex challenges to traditional genderedpower relations, as will be outlined below.In many ways, tourism development has had aradical impact on gender relations in destinationcountries. As Chant argues, despite the structuralinequalities of women’s participation in tourismproduction, such work has some benefits for theempowerment of women workers: the bringingtogether of women in such a way, she argues, hasthe potential to lead to women tourism workers‘acting by themselves, for themselves, to demandfairer treatment in the workplace, the home, and inwider society’ (Chant 1997: 164-5). Sinclair (1997a)similarly points to some of the increased benefitsof work in tourism for women – for example, sheargues that such work can lead to greater statusin the household and consequently increasedbargaining power in the household context. Inthe words of Irene Tinker, such changes can beinterpreted as ‘empowerment just happened’.Global socioeconomic transformations of the lasttwenty years have led to a shift in gender relationsby undermining ‘subsistence and traditionalfarming communities, altering the sexual divisionof labor and opening cracks in the foundations ofpatriarchal control’ (Tinker 2006: 270). In my ownresearch, many women workers in the tourismindustry in Central America discussed how they feltworking in tourism contributed to their personaland economic empowerment. They talked abouthow male control over household income hadbeen diminished by the many opportunities forwomen to earn money in tourism communities.Others enjoyed the interaction with people fromaround the world, in particular being exposed todifferent gender norms such as women travellingalone or men taking primary responsibility forchildcare. 1 However, these benefits tend not to beaccompanied by wider influence in society, due tothe dominant ideology of the ‘normal’ householdstructure, and the absence of women’s controlover local decision-making.In summary, the implicit or gender-blind assumptionsof macroeconomic tourism development policywhich has promoted FDI in the context of globalrestructuring has lead to a series of complex andsometimes contradictory outcomes for genderequality and women’s empowerment. Althoughtourism work is highly stratified by gender due tothe kinds of labour it requires and the ways in whichsuch labour is to be performed, to some extent itcan be argued to have contributed to economic andpersonal empowerment. However, it is less clearwhether such individual gains have been translatedinto broader social and political influence in society.A large body of literature exists to analyse thesetensions, and can help us understand the implicit orgender-blind assumptions of tourism developmentpolicy and how these map onto broader questionsabout gender equality and women’s empowerment.We now move on to discuss the more explicitgender dimensions of tourism development policy.3. Feminist Approaches to Gender andDevelopment Policy:In order to explore the gender dimensions oftourism policy, it is useful first to set the contextwithin which such policy is made. I begin by offeringan historical literature review on feminist critiquesof development, before setting out more clearlyhow this can be applied to contemporary tourismdevelopment policy. The debates summarisedhere are well rehearsed in the field of gender anddevelopment. However, it is worth going into somedetail here in order to contextualise contemporaryissues for those who may not be familiar with thisbody of literature. The point here is to demonstratethat the inclusion of ‘gender’ within a developmentpolicy is not unproblematic. That is, there is nostraight-forward relationship between making‘gender’ more visible in development policy andgender equality and empowerment outcomes.The seminal work of this kind is Ester Boserup’sWomen’s Role in Economic Development, in which26

she argued that women had been left out ofdevelopment policies and as such their needs hadbeen, marginalised (Boserup 1970). Building onthis argument, the women in development (WID)approach aimed to include women in developmentpolicy in order to decrease inequalities betweenwomen and men (Tinker 1976). Working largelyfrom a liberal feminist perspective, early work inthe WID field argued that the solution to genderinequality lay in widening women’s access to tools,technology and education. The most effectiveway of achieving women’s integration into thedevelopment process, such writers argued, wasthrough increased access to employment and entryinto the marketplace (Rogers 1980).General disillusionment in the late 1970s with thesupposed ‘trickle-down’ effect of the modernisationapproach to development encouraged a rethinkof approaches, giving rise to the ‘anti-poverty’approach of WID which argued that low-incomewomen should be identified as a vulnerable groupin need of particular attention from developmentplanners (Waylen 1996: 39). The solutions proposedwere based mainly around income-generatingprojects for women, making no analytical connectionbetween women’s reproductive roles and thelinks between the reproductive and productiveeconomy (Waylen 1996; Rai 2002). WID feministsdid not offer a radical critique of the modernisationapproach to development and remained within theparadigm of modernisation theory, using insightsfrom liberal feminism to inform their critique ofdevelopment policy and outcomes (Kabeer 1994).As summarised by Jaquette and Staudt (2006: 46),the WID view ‘was that women were excludedfrom or discriminated against in markets and thatthey would act entrepreneurially if they had evenminimal resources to do so’.Socialist feminists in the 1980s argued that the WIDparadigm failed to take into account the exploitationinvolved in the spread of capitalist social relations,of which they identified gender inequality as afundamental component (Benería and Sen 1981).Studies from a gender and development (GAD)perspective concentrated on global processes ofthe spread of capitalism and the impact of suchprocesses on inequality. The focus was also turnedaway from women as a group to the more overtlypolitical category of gender and gender relations,centring more explicitly on power relations (Waylen1996, Rai 2002). Caroline Moser (1989) argued fora re-focussing on gendered power relations inthe study of development in order to challengegender roles and tackle macroeconomic issuesfrom an overtly feminist perspective. This shift toa discussion of gender relations and inequalitywas not merely a theoretical shift, but should alsobe understood as a response to changes in theinternational system such as the introduction andthe emerging era of democratisation (Jaquette andStaudt 2006).Early work in the field of GAD involved studies thattraced the links between the household and thebroader international context. Maria Mies (1982,1986), for example, analysed the links betweenprocesses of informalisation and ‘housewifisation’in the global economy. In their article on ‘nimblefingers’, Elson and Pearson (1981) noted howgender inequalities were exploited by firms lookingfor fast, obedient workers. Much of this earlysocialist feminist work was criticised by feminists indeveloping countries working from a postcolonialperspective, who argued that the work of ‘FirstWorld’ feminists portrayed poor women as victimsand failed to see how racial hierarchies intersectedwith gender hierarchies to produce historically andculturally specific forms of oppression that GADanalysts could not account for (Mohanty 1988,Lim 1990). As such, it was argued that early GADwork was overly deterministic in its approach, notallowing for the agency of women in developingcountries. In many ways the rise of the postcolonialfeminist critique of development can be seen aspart of a wider process of the diminishing influenceof materialist explanations of gender inequality(Jaquette and Staudt 2006). Work such as thatof Marianne Marchand and Jane Parpart (1995)began to question notions of GAD from a morepostcolonial perspective, exploring ideas aboutthe role of language and discourse in developmenttheory and policy.In policy terms, the shift to the gender anddevelopment paradigm manifested itself moststrongly in terms of commitments to gendermainstreaming by international institutions(Hafner-Burton and Pollack 2002). In spite of27

this, some feminists have argued that the radicalterminology of the GAD critique has often beenused interchangeably with the more (neo) liberalaspects of the WID perspective (Pearson 1999). Forexample, Rai (2002: 73) argues for a re-focussingof feminist development work on relations ofproduction and accumulation in order to avoid the‘cooptation’ of feminist language and politics indevelopment policy and practice. The point hereis that the relationship between feminist academicanalysis and gender policy in development is highlycontentious, and reiterates the point that policycommitments to ‘gender’ need to be criticallyanalysed if we are to understand their potentialto contribute to gender equality and women’sempowerment.More recently, commitments to GAD andgender - mainstreaming have been somewhatovershadowed by the introduction of MDG3 asthe primary reference point for gender policy indevelopment. In many ways, MDG3 can be seen asa less radical goal than its forerunner – the BeijingPlatform for Action, which established gendermainstreaming– as it does not make links betweeneconomic restructuring and gender inequality. It isimportant to note that the target associated withgoal three (promote gender equality and empowerwomen) is to ‘eliminate gender disparity in primaryand secondary education preferably by 2005 and inall levels of education no later than 2015’. As Eliasand Ferguson (2007) argue, the MDGs sanction anapproach in which:‘(a) gender issues are reduced to easily quantifiablemeasures of economic efficiency (or ‘human capital’development) and (b) ‘gender mainstreaming’ hasbeen effectively replaced by a development agendathat views gender issues in a much more limitedsense.’One institution that has received a high level ofattention from feminist academics and activistsis the World Bank. Since the emergence of the‘post Washington consensus’ in the late 1990s,the emphasis on poverty alleviation (or ‘pro-poorgrowth’) has had a significant impact on genderequality policies and programmes within theBank. Contemporary feminist work has arguedthat this attempt to combine a ‘gender-friendly’approach to poverty reduction whilst maintaininga commitment to neoliberal structural adjustmentis ultimately limiting (Perrons 2005, Griffin 2006,Bergeron 2001). The problem for some feministswith the overarching interest in poverty reductionis that it is characterised by a lack of any discussionconcerning the links between economic growth,development and macroeconomic policy changesand the perpetuation of gender inequality.Alongside commitments to poverty reduction, thesecond central component to Bank gender policy –consistent since the 1970s – is the firm belief thatemployment and income generation should beunderstood as the foundation of empowermentfor women (Bedford 2003). This commitment toeconomic empowerment for women manifestsitself in various ways in contemporary World Bankpolicy. Despite an official change in rhetoric fromWID to GAD, in practice gender policy in the Bankhas meant getting more women into paid work. Inrecent World Bank publications on gender and theMDGs, it is clear that gender inequality is viewednot so much as a problem in itself, but rather asa barrier to economic development and povertyreduction. The most recent substantive statementof gender policy within the Bank is Gender Equalityas Smart Economics, which aims to ‘increaseWorld Bank Group work to empower womeneconomically’. 2 As argued above in the critiqueof MDG3, this programme fits within a somewhat‘instrumentalist’ understanding of the relationshipbetween gender equality and development. As thereport clearly states:Studies show that when women are given economicopportunity, the benefits are also large for theirfamilies, their communities, and ultimately fornational development efforts. Opening economicopportunities for women puts poverty reductionon a faster track and steps up progress towards theMillennium Development Goals, which include theeradication of poverty and hunger by 2015 (WorldBank 2007: 5).As such, the key paradigm for gender policywithin the Bank can be understood to have twofundamental objectives: to empower womeneconomically (without any discussion of broadernotions of empowerment); and to do this in order28

to more efficiently achieve other poverty reductiongoals. This overview of gender and developmentpolicy demonstrates the tensions and conflicts overthe meaning and deployment of ‘gender’. We nowturn to an analysis of how these debates can beapplied more specifically to tourism developmentpolicy.4. ‘Gender-Aware’ Tourism Development Policy:As set out above, gender policy in development ismade in a somewhat de-politicised environment,where many of the more radical aspects ofthe feminist agenda have been obscured ormarginalised (Cornwall et al. 2007). This is thecontext in which tourism development policy ismade. As such, we should not expect the gendercontent of tourism development policy to easilyovercome these constraints, and should bear thisin mind when analysing its potential to contributeto MDG3. The discussion above demonstratedhow making ‘gender’ visible in development policydoes not necessarily lead to gender equality andwomen’s empowerment. The aim here is thereforeto explore how these tensions and issues play outin the context of tourism development. There is noglobally-agreed policy statement on tourism andMDG3. Nevertheless, some bilateral donors havedemonstrated a commitment to promoting genderequality and women’s empowerment throughtourism. The Japan International CooperationAgency (JICA) funds a number of projects whichintegrate gender and tourism, along with otheraspects such as reproductive health. 3 In Honduras,for example, JICA gender specialists have providedawareness-raising and confidence-building trainingfor indigenous women making handicrafts andother products for the tourism industry. 4 Also inHonduras, Norwegian funding and expertise wasdirected towards a feasibility study on the potentialfor tourism to contribute to gender equality (WorldBank 2003). However, such examples are sporadicat best and suggest that the links between genderand tourism have not been explicitly made inbilateral institutions. As such, we now look at twoglobal institutions in turn – the World TourismOrganisation and the World Bank – in order toanalyse the content and focus of their gender andtourism policy.4.1. The World Tourism Organisation:One institution we might expect to provide someguidance on gender equality issues is the WorldTourism Organisation (UNWTO). However, despitebeing a United Nations specialised agency, theUNWTO has been comparatively slow on theuptake with gender mainstreaming compared withother global institutions. Although the SustainableTourism-Eliminating Poverty (ST-EP) programme hasbeen well-established since 2002, gender equalityobjectives have never been an explicit componentof this. Indeed, gender as a concept was not widelyused in the organisation until 2007. Within theinstitution, gender falls within the remit of ‘Cultural,Social and Ethical Aspects of Tourism’ department,where it is just one of several areas the small teamis concerned with, along with migration, humanrights, non-discrimination and the protection ofchildren. As such, there are limited resources withwhich to develop and promote a strong genderagenda. Nevertheless, those within the UNWTOwith a concern for gender issues managed to takeadvantage of the theme of World Tourism Day2007: ‘Tourism Opens Doors for Women’ in order toraise the profile of gender issues in the institution.As part of this event, a roundtable involving a broadrange of participants was held with the expresspurpose of exploring the relationship between thistheme and the MDGs, setting up a work agenda forthe future.Following on from this, a further UNWTO Forum inBerlin in March 2008 explored the theme of Womenin Tourism. The Action Plan to Empower Womenthrough Tourism developed during the Forumincludes the following objectives:• y Establish a multi-stakeholder taskforce;• y Put in place of a data collection system,including desk research and case studies;• y Initiate a biennial UNWTO-UNIFEM report onthe situation of women in tourism;y • Expand the website www.tourismgender.cominto a PORTAL to serve as a global knowledgesharing e-network;29

• y Build international awareness aboutopportunities for women in tourism;• y Call upon UNWTO members to take vigoroussteps to support gender mainstreamingin national development processes so as toachieve women’s equality in the tourism sector;• y Foster a network of activists, ambassadors andadvocates and experts in gender issues fromaround the world’. 5Of particular interest amongst these activities is theWomen in Tourism Taskforce. The first activity ofthis Taskforce is a project aimed at women workingin five star hotels in developing countries, offeringeducation, human resources and decent training forwomen. The Taskforce will work with hotel chainsand local NGOs in order to teach basic skills in orderto boost women’s confidence in other aspects oftheir lives. 6 However, in spite of these initiativesthe only clear over-arching policy statement fromthe UNWTO is the institution’s ‘triple commitment’to the MDGs. These are outlined as follows: thattourism should benefit the poor; promote theprotection of the environment; and support theempowerment of women. 7 As such, it is too earlyto make any in-depth analyses of UNWTO genderpolicy. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to keep aclose watch on these activities and they will meritfuture research in order to explore the ways theinstitution grapples with the complex issues ofgender equality and women’s empowerment.4.2. The World Bank:Tourism development policy in the World Bank hasin recent years moved beyond macroeconomicstrategies of FDI promotion and employmentgeneration. Tourism features as a focal sector in90 per cent of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers(PRSPs), the key framework documents for donorsupport (UNWTO 2005: 12). Hawkins and Mann(2007) note that the Bank’s total portfolio of tourismfunding amounts to US$3.5billion spanning ninetyfour ongoing projects. They identify four stagesin the World Bank’s approach to tourism: ‘macrodevelopment’(1969-1979); ‘disengagement’ (1980-1990); ‘sustainable development’ (1991-1999) and‘micro-development’ (2000-2006).A key tourism policy shift has taken place frommacro-economic concerns towards micro-economicanalysis:The Bank uses the analytical lens of tourism toexplore barriers and constraints (...) to investment,to examine micro-policy reform, to decentralizeinstitutional structures, and to promote publicprivatepartnerships. (...) This approach is leading toimportant and more focused micro-level and policyinterventions that are targeted at outcomes likeraising the livelihoods of local people (Hawkins andMann 2007: 358).This research is useful in understanding the way theBank’s overall approach to tourism developmenthas been reoriented towards micro-economic andpoverty reduction or ‘propoor’ objectives. However,it tells us little about how gender is conceptualisedwithin this new approach. Although no singledocument exists to outline the Bank’s approach,several projects identify an explicit link betweentourism and gender equality or empowerment.We outline four of these here, paying particularattention to a project in Copán, Honduras, on whichextensive primary research was carried out by theauthor. These projects are firmly embedded withinthe World Bank’s gender paradigm set out above,which sanctions women’s integration into theproductive market economy as the primary routeto empowerment.The ‘Transfrontier Conservation Areas and TourismDevelopment’ project in Mozambique is cited in aWorld Bank list of ‘gender and rural development’projects so is useful in understanding the paradigmof gender and tourism policy. 8 The Project AppraisalDocument states that:Tourism, natural resource management and smallenterprise development are all areas that offerparticular opportunities for employment, incomeand participation by women. In cooperation withNGOs, the Government is also supporting women’sassociations that assist women household headswith weak economic capacity (World Bank 2005:132).As such, the ‘gender’ component of this projectis reduced to creating opportunities for women’s30

economic empowerment. Although listed as ashowcase project for gender and rural development,questions of equality and empowerment are notpresent in the project documentation. In Bolivia,a tourism development project for Lake Titicacaincludes a ‘gender’ component. It aims to ‘promoteactions aimed at improving gender equity andimprove opportunities for Aymarh women’ (WorldBank 2007a: 98). However, there is little explorationof how this might be done and what this mightmean in practice.A recently approved ‘Sustainable TourismDevelopment’ project in Ethiopia (June 2009)is more explicit in its understandings of gender,which suggests that the links between tourismdevelopment and gender may be becomingmore prominent in World Bank work. The ProjectAppraisal Document offers more details about howwomen are to be involved:In Axum the social issues are largely around theplanned activity of (i) enhancing the town squareas a social arena (e.g. cafes and souvenir outletsmanaged by locals) and (ii) restoring some traditionalhouses possibly to transform them into small lodgesrun by community-based entrepreneurs who couldalso benefit from the matching grant scheme. Itis desirable that a particular attention be given tovulnerable groups such as women and the youth soas to generate employment and incomes for them(World Bank 2009: 33).The construction of Ethiopian women as a‘vulnerable group’ is interesting here, as it clearlycasts women as victims in need of the ‘help’ oftourism development. The only solution offeredto overcome such vulnerability is generatingemployment and incomes. In practical terms, it issuggested that ‘these groups’ be given priority injobs in the new tourism site in areas such as ‘ticketsales, parking attendants, guides etc.’ (World Bank2009: 33). Again, understandings of gender withinthis project are firmly embedded with the economicempowerment approach set out above.One project in particular is being hailed as asuccess story for tourism development’s potentialto contribute to gender equality and women’sempowerment. The ‘Regional Development inthe Copán Valley’ project in Honduras included‘gender’ as a key component from the outset. I dealwith this topic in greater detail in a forthcomingarticle (Ferguson 2010), yet some key points areworth emphasising here in order to understandin more detail the World Bank’s approach. Asmight be expected, rather than addressing issuesof inequality in development outcomes andprocesses, the Valle de Copán project focuses onthe potential of tourism to generate the conditionsfor ‘marginal groups’ (women, young people andold people) to access the opportunities affordedby tourism. Women’s participation in handicraftproduction for the tourism market is perceivedby development workers as a method by whichwomen’s groups can be integrated into the marketas well as offering a tourist attraction to potentialvisitors to rural communities, which at the sametime is said to enhance cultural awareness and localconditions. Tourism in this sense is understood asan economic activity that can integrate womeninto the economy, which in turn allows them tocontribute to the family economy and strengthentheir personal development.This conceptualisation of gender equality fitsbroadly within the World Bank paradigm outlinedabove. The primary understanding of gender policywithin the project is that it relates to women in theirroles as producers of tourism goods and services. Ingeneral, support and assistance for these productiveactivities is what constitutes the gender componentof policy. 9 As such, issues of gender equality areleft out of the picture as equality of opportunityand participation are the goals of policy. Womenreceiving training in Honduras through the CopánValley project argued that such training did not takeinto account broader issues within their lives. Forexample, although women may receive training inbasic accounting and marketing skills, wider issuesof concern to them were not addressed. 10Women’s integration into the tourism marketthrough World Bank projects is being pursuedwith little awareness of the significant barriersto participation faced by women working ontourism microenterprise projects. Research on theoutcomes of gender and tourism projects is scarce,predominantly because of the relative newnessof the phenomenon. As such, a summary of the31

32gendered outcomes of the Copán project will haveto serve as a guide here. First, as argued above,the outcomes of tourism development on genderrelations in tourism destinations are complex anduneven. Just because the World Bank project didnot take a radical view in its ‘gender component’,that does not mean it did not provide opportunitiesfor local women to challenge gendered powerrelations. Even activities such as women travellingfrom rural villages into town to attend workshopsand events caused a disruption of traditional powerrelations. Likewise, the granting of sums of moneyto groups of women to set up their own businesseshad a significant impact on rural communities andchallenged the ways that both women and menperceived and performed traditional gender roles.The aim here is certainly not to say that WorldBank tourism development funding is unableto contribute to gender equality and theempowerment of women in tourism destinations.Indeed, in many ways the effects of such funding ongender relations have been significant. The point isthat more radical starting points and more feministexpertise at all stages of gender and tourismdevelopment policy could offer greater potential tomove beyond narrow understandings of economicempowerment. I now turn to some reflecting pointson what this might mean for future gender andtourism policy, and what kinds of research might beneeded to support this.5. Conclusions and Recommendations:This paper has taken a critical approach to therelationship between tourism and MDG3. Byexploring both implicit and explicit genderedassumptions embedded in tourism developmentpolicy, the paper has highlighted some of thetensions and complexities of this issue. A keycriticism of current policy is that very limited notionsof women’s empowerment – that is, economicempowerment - are used to justify and legitimisethese policies. As Chant (2006: 101) argues, accessto material resources is ‘unlikely to have a significantimpact on women’s empowerment withoutchanges in other social, cultural, and legal structuresof gender inequality’. There is no necessarycorrelation between an increase in resources andthe redress of power relations (Kabeer 1999). Assuch, it can be concluded from the research thateconomic empowerment as experienced by manywomen in tourism development communities doesnot tend to translate into meaningful a redress ofpower relations beyond a relative improvementin economic conditions. That is, empowermentthrough the market remains empowerment in themarket, to the exclusion of more wide-reachingsocietal change. Although tourism developmentmay reconstitute gendered power relations innarrow economic (or market) terms, in realitythe broader power structures of inequality acrosssociety remain profoundly gender-biased, a patternwhich is in many ways not only reinforced but alsofuelled by processes of tourism development.However, such a critical perspective is notnecessarily the most fruitful way of openingchannels of debate and exchange with policymakersand development practitioners. In an attempt to dothis in a constructive manner, I offer some tentativeguidelines or recommendations for channellingthe potential benefits of tourism more effectivelytowards achieving MDG3. First, the promotion oftourism as a macroeconomic development strategyfor poorer countries could be carried out witha more explicit understanding of the genderedimplications of this policy. Extensive research existsinto the unequal ways in which tourism work isstructured. As such, tourism companies should beheld to account for their gender policies (whetherexplicit or implicit) in order to provide moreopportunities for promotion and training for womenworkers and to redress the historical imbalances intourism work. Second, there could be a more opendebate in tourism policy circles about the politics ofwomen’s empowerment and gender equality. Thiswould allow gender and tourism policy to movebeyond narrow, market-based conceptualisationsand to present more creative and innovative waysof achieving MDG3. Third, policy-makers could paymore attention to feminist analyses of tourismdevelopment. We need to move beyond generalisedstatements about the contribution of tourism toMDG3 and begin to explore the practical ways inwhich this relationship can be operationalised.This would require the involvement of feministacademics and practitioners at all stages of thetourism policy process – including implementation– to ensure that such policies retain a politicalcommitment to broad notions of gender equalityand women’s empowerment.

As demonstrated in this paper, research into thenexus between tourism and MDG3 is currentlylimited. The guidelines above are tentative preciselybecause of the lack of detailed, analytical research inthis area. This would benefit from further researchin a number of priority areas: the outcomes ofWorld Bank gender and tourism projects; genderand tourism policy in bilateral and regional fundingagencies; and UNWTO’s emerging gender agenda.Also, more research into grassroots feministtourism projects across the world -such as theZona Franja tourism and women’s empowermentproject in Nicaragua – would offer alternative waysof understanding gender and tourism, and provideinspiration for creative and progressive ways ofharnessing tourism to contribute to gender equalityand the empowerment of women.Endnotes:* The paper was published by UniversidadComplutense de Madrid and a later version is nowavailable in Current Issues in Tourism (http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a934837855~db=all~jumptype=rss)1. Interviews with women tourism workers in CostaRica, Honduras and Belize carried out betweenSeptember 2005 and April 2006.2. ‘At A Glance: Gender Equality as Smart Economics’,http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTGENDER/0,,contentMDK:21983335~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062 ~theSitePK:336868,00.html3. http://www.jica.go.jp/english/operations/thematic_issues/gender/4. Interviews with tourism development practitionersin Honduras carried out in May 20085. UNWTO Press Release: Empowering WomenThrough Tourism, Madrid, 31st March 2008, availableat http://www.unwto.org/aboutwto/how/en/how.php?op=46. This analysis is based on interviews with staff fromthe World Tourism Organisation, Madrid, June 2009and September 20097. Report of UNWTO’s Women in Tourism Forum, 7thMarch 2008, available at http://www.unwto.org/sdt/fields/en/pdf/itb2008_WomenInTourism_rep.pdf8. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTARD/Resources/agandgenderprojectsfinal.pdf?resourceurlname=agandgender-projectsfinal. pdf9. Interviews with practitioners on the World Bankproject, Honduras, December 2005 and May 200810. Interviews with indigenous women who participatedin the World Bank project, Honduras, December2005Bibliographical References:Bakker, Isabella (2003) ‘Neo-liberal Governance andthe Reprivatization of Social Reproduction: SocialProvisioning and Shifting Gender Orders’ in IsabellaBakker and Stephen Gill (eds.) Power, Production andSocial Reproduction, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Bakker, Isabella and Rachel Silvey (2008) ‘Introduction:social reproduction and global transformations – fromthe everyday to the global’, in Isabella Bakker and RachelSilvey eds. Beyond States and Markets: The Challengesof Social Reproduction, London: Routledge.Bedford, Kate (2003) ‘How Employment BecameEmancipation: Tracing the World Bank’s Effort to GetWomen into Work’ in Dorothy Sue Cobble, Amanda B.Chaloupka, and Beth Hutchison (eds.) ReconfiguringClass and Gender, New Brunswick, NJ: Institute forResearch on Women/Institute for Women’s Leadership.Benería, Lourdes and Gita Sen (1981) ‘Accumulation,Reproduction, and Women’s Role in EconomicDevelopment: Boserup Revisited’, Signs 7(2): 279-98.Bergeron, Suzanne (2001) ‘Political Economy Discoursesof Globalization and Feminist Politics’, Signs, 26 (4): 983-1006.Boserup, Ester (1970), Woman’s Role in EconomicDevelopment, London: Allen and UnwinBritton, Stephen G. (1982) ‘The Political Economy ofTourism in the Third World’, Annals of Tourism Research9: 331-358.33

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DT 12/08 - Quirós Romero, Cipriano: Lengua einternacionalización: El papel de la lengua enla internacionalización de las operadoras detelecomunicaciones.DT 11/08 - Girón, Francisco Javier; Cañada, Agustín: Lacontribución de la lengua española al PIB y al empleo:una aproximación macroeconómica.DT 10/08 - Jiménez, Juan Carlos; Narbona, Aranzazu: Elespañol en el comercio internacional.DT 09/07 - Carrera, Miguel; Ogonowski, Michał: El valoreconómico del español: España ante el espejo de Polonia.DT 08/07 - Rojo, Guillermo: El español en la red.DT 07/07 - Carrera, Miguel; Bonete, Rafael; Muñoz deBustillo, Rafael: El programa ERASMUS en el marco delvalor económico de la Enseñanza del Español comoLengua Extranjera.DT 06/07 - Criado, María Jesús: Inmigración y poblaciónlatina en los Estados Unidos: un perfil sociodemográficoDT 05/07 - Gutiérrez, Rodolfo: Lengua, migraciones ymercado de trabajo.DT 04/07 - Quirós Romero, Cipriano; Crespo Galán, Jorge:Sociedad de la Información y presencia del español enInternet.DT 03/06 - Moreno Fernández, Francisco; Otero Roth,Jaime: Demografía de la lengua española.DT 02/06 - Alonso, José Antonio: Naturaleza económicade la lenguaDT 01/06 - Jiménez, Juan Carlos: La Economía de lalengua: una visión de conjuntoWorking PapersWP 14/09 - Dobado, Rafael; García, Héctor: Neither solow nor so short! Wages and heights in eighteenth andearly nineteenth centuries colonial Hispanic America.WP 13/09 - Alonso, José Antonio: Colonisation, formaland informal institutions, and developmentWP 12/09 - Álvarez, Francisco: Oportunity cost ofCO2 emission reductions: developing vs. developedeconomies.WP 11/09 - J. André, Francisco: Los Biocombustibles. ElEstado de la cuestión.WP 10/09 - Luengo, Fernando: Las deslocalizacionesinternacionales. Una visión desde la economía críticaWP 09/09 - Dobado, Rafael; Guerrero, David: TheIntegration of Western Hemisphere Grain Markets inthe Eighteenth Century: Early Progress and Decline ofGlobalization.WP 08/09 - Álvarez, Isabel; Marín, Raquel; Maldonado,Georgina: Internal and external factors of competitivenessin the middle-income countriesWP 07/09 - Minondo, Asier: Especialización productiva ycrecimiento en los países de renta media.WP 06/09 - Martín, Víctor; Donoso, Vicente: Selección demercados prioritarios para los Países de Renta Media.WP 05/09 - Donoso, Vicente; Martín, Víctor: Exportacionesy crecimiento económico: estudios empíricos.WP 04/09 - Minondo, Asier; Requena, Francisco:¿Qué explica las diferencias en el crecimiento delas exportaciones entre los países de renta media?WP 03/09 - Alonso, José Antonio; Garcimartín, Carlos:The Determinants of Institutional Quality. More on theDebate.WP 02/09 - Granda, Inés; Fonfría, Antonio: Technologyand economic inequality effects on international trade.WP 01/09 - Molero, José; Portela, Javier y Álvarez Isabel:Innovative MNEs’ Subsidiaries in different domesticenvironments.WP 08/08 - Boege, Volker; Brown, Anne; Clements,Kevin y Nolan Anna: ¿Qué es lo “fallido”? ¿Los Estadosdel Sur,o la investigación y las políticas de Occidente? Unestudio sobre órdenes políticos híbridos y los Estadosemergentes.37

38WP 07/08 - Medialdea García, Bibiana; Álvarez Peralta,Nacho: Liberalización financiera internacional, inversoresinstitucionales y gobierno corporativo de la empresaWP 06/08 - Álvarez, Isabel; Marín, Raquel: FDI and worldheterogeneities: The role of absorptive capacitiesWP 05/08 - Molero, José; García, Antonio: Factorsaffecting innovation revisitedWP 04/08 - Tezanos Vázquez, Sergio: The Spanish patternof aid givingWP 03/08 - Fernández, Esther; Pérez, Rafaela; Ruiz,Jesús: Double Dividend in an Endogenous Growth Modelwith Pollution and AbatementWP 02/08 - Álvarez, Francisco; Camiña, Ester: Moralhazard and tradeable pollution emission permits.WP 01/08 - Cerdá Tena, Emilio; Quiroga Gómez, Sonia:Cost-loss decision models with risk aversion.WP 05/07 - Palazuelos, Enrique; García, Clara: Latransición energética en ChinaWP04/07 - Palazuelos, Enrique: Dinámicamacroeconómica de Estados Unidos: ¿Transición entredos recesiones?WP 03/07 - Angulo, Gloria: Opinión pública, participaciónciudadana y política de cooperación en EspañaWP 02/07 - Luengo, Fernando; Álvarez, Ignacio:Integración comercial y dinámica económica: Españaante el reto de la ampliación.WP 01/07 - Álvarez, Isabel; Magaña, Gerardo: ICT andCross-Country Comparisons: A proposal of a newcomposite index.WP 05/06 - Schünemann, Julia: Cooperacióninterregional e interregionalismo: una aproximaciónsocial-constructivistaWP 04/06 - Kruijt, Dirk: América Latina. Democracia,pobreza y violencia: Viejos y nuevos actores.WP 03/06 - Donoso, Vicente; Martín, Víctor: Exportacionesy crecimiento en España (1980-2004): Cointegración ysimulación de Montecarlo.WP 02/06 - García Sánchez, Antonio; Molero, José:Innovación en servicios en la UE: Una aproximación a ladensidad de innovación y la importancia económica delos innovadores a partir de los datos agregados de laCIS3.WP 01/06 - Briscoe, Ivan: Debt crises, political change andthe state in the developing world.WP 06/05 - Palazuelos, Enrique: Fases del crecimientoeconómico de los países de la Unión Europea–WP 05/05 - Leyra, Begoña: Trabajo infantil femenino: Lasniñas en las calles de la Ciudad de México.WP 04/05 - Álvarez, Isabel; Fonfría, Antonio; MarínRaquel: The role of networking in the competitivenessprofile of Spanish firmsWP 03/05 - Kausch, Kristina; Barreñada, Isaías: Allianceof Civilizations. International Security and CosmopolitanDemocracy.WP 02/05 - Sastre, Luis: An alternative model for thetrade balance of countries with open economies: theSpanish case.WP 01/05 - Díaz de la Guardia, Carlos; Molero, José;Valadez, Patricia: International competitiveness inservices in some European countries: Basic facts and apreliminary attempt of interpretation.WP 03/04 - Angulo, Gloria: La opinión pública española yla ayuda al desarrolloWP 02/04 - Freres, Christian; Mold, Andrew: EuropeanUnion trade policy and the poor. Towards improving thepoverty impact of the GSP in Latin AmericaWP 01/04 - Álvarez, Isabel; Molero, José: Technology andthe generation of international knowledge spillovers. Anapplication to Spanish manufacturing firms.Policy Papers:PP 03/09 - Ferguson, Lucy: Analysing the GenderDimensions of Tourism as a Development Strategy.PP 02/09 - Carrasco Gallego ,José Antonio: La Ronda deDoha y los países de renta media.

PP 01/09 - Rodríguez Blanco, Eugenia: Género, Culturay Desarrollo: Límites y oportunidades para el cambiocultural pro-igualdad de género en Mozambique.PP 04/08 - Tezanos, Sergio: Políticas públicas de apoyo ala investigación para el desarrollo. Los casos de Canadá,Holanda y Reino UnidoPP 02/04 - Álvarez, Isabel: La política europea de I+D:Situación actual y perspectivas.PP 01/04 - Alonso, José Antonio; Lozano, Liliana; Prialé,María Ángela: La cooperación cultural española: Más alláde la promoción exterior.PP 03/08 - Mattioli, Natalia Including Disability intoDevelopment Cooperation. Analysis of Initiatives byNational and International DonorsPP 02/08 - Elizondo, Luis: Espacio para Respirar: Elhumanitarismo en Afganistán (2001-2008).PP 01/08 - Caramés Boada, Albert: Desarme como vínculoentre seguridad y desarrollo. La reintegración comunitariaen los programas de Desarme, desmovilización yreintegración (DDR) de combatientes en Haití.PP 03/07- Guimón, José: Government strategies toattract R&D-intensive FDI.PP 02/07 - Czaplińska, Agata: Building public support fordevelopment cooperationPP 01/07 - Martínez, Ignacio: La cooperación de las ONGDespañolas en Perú: hacia una acción más estratégicaPP 02/06 - Ruiz Sandoval, Erika: Latinoamericanos condestino a Europa: Migración, remesas y codesarrollocomo temas emergentes en la relación UE-AL.PP 01/06 - Freres, Christian; Sanahuja, José Antonio: Haciauna nueva estrategia en las relaciones Unión Europea –América Latina.PP 04/05 - Manalo, Rosario; Reyes, Melanie: The MDGs:Boon or bane for gender equality and women’s rights?PP 03/05 - Fernández, Rafael: Irlanda y Finlandia: dosmodelos de especialización en tecnologías avanzadas.PP 02/05 - Alonso, José Antonio; Garcimartín, Carlos:Apertura comercial y estrategia de desarrollo.PP01/05 - Lorente, Maite: Diálogos entre culturas: unareflexión sobre feminismo, género, desarrollo ymujeresindígenas kichwuas.39

SECTION 02Tourism and Gender Relations41

Tourism Processes and Gender RelationsIssues for Exploration and InterventionIndra Munshi, 2006*AbstractTourism processes, as this article argues, like other processes and relations in societyare gendered. The gender bias is built into the discourse of tourism practices, images,and activities, which, by and large, privileges the male viewpoint. Researchers,academics and social activists have questioned the hegemonic male view of tourismat different levels, although their voices are still weak. In light of the fact that tourismprocesses are expanding rapidly in the globalising world, there is a need to strengthenthese voices, both at the local and global levels. For a start, the agenda of women’smovements everywhere must include the demand for greater participation of localpeople in tourism planning and development, especially if rights and interests ofpeople in tourist destinations in the third world are to be protected. Only then canthey share equitably in the benefits that result from tourism.Tourism and its multiple dimensions, although arelatively unexplored area of academic interestin India, is by now a well established field ofsocial science research in Europe and America.However, in the fast growing literature ontourism, one is struck by the paucity of writing onissues related to tourism processes and genderrelations. It is observed that there is a male bias intourism research which subsumes distinct femaleexperience and behaviour of tourism and tourismrelated activity in the dominant male experience.Whereas in reality, Wearing and Wearing point out,“ Gendered tourists, gendered hosts, genderedtourism marketing and gendered tourism objectseach reveal power differences between womenand men which privilege male view and whichhave significant impacts on tourism image andpromotion” [quoted from Pritchard and Morgan2000:885].This perspective, although largely neglected, iscrucial to an understanding of tourism processes,according to Kinnaird et al (1994) in the light ofthe following. First, that tourism is constructed outof gendered societies and therefore all aspects oftourism related development and activity embodygender relations. Second, gender relations bothinform, and are informed, socially, in diverse andcomplex ways. And economic, political, social,cultural and environmental relations are all partof the process of tourism development. Tourism isnot separate from them but engages all of them.Third, since tourism-related activity has becomean important part of development, the social,economic and political relations which result arepart of the overall relations of power and control,which can be articulated through race, class andgender [Kinnaird et al, 1994: 5].However, one of the issues explored in tourismwritings relates to the gendered character ofemployment patterns resulting from tourism. It isclear that there are differences in the nature andtype of tourism generated employment that isavailable to men and women. And this, of course,has significant social consequences. Althoughinadequate, attention has also been paid morespecifically to the growth of sex tourism whichhas turned certain destinations into “pleasureperipheries”. A much less researched area isthe gendered nature of tourism images andexperiences. It has been suggested that, there42

is a interrelationship between the language ofpatriarchy and heterosexuality and the language oftourism promotion.I propose to focus specifically on these issues withinthe context of gender, tourism and development.The paper will highlight the gendered nature oftourism processes, production and consumptionof tourism experiences, in the context of powerrelations and dominant patriarchal values withinsocieties and between nations, the developedand the developing. The analysis will throw upissues which are significant to understand genderinequalities in tourism processes, which requirespecial critical attention from academics, plannersand policy-makers, and political organisations,as well as open up hitherto neglected areas forintervention by women’s groups. I will illustratethe issues with reference to Goa, a major touristdestination in India.Significance of Tourism in Modern Times:To define a highly complex phenomenon simply,tourism is essentially a leisure time activity,involving some movement, a journey and a periodof stay in a new place/places. To be a tourist, asUrry observes, “is one of the characteristics of the‘modern’ experience. Not to ‘go away’ is like notpossessing a car or a nice house. It is a marker ofstatus in modern societies and is also thought to benecessary to health” [Urry 1990: 4]. The differencebetween pre-modern travel and modern tourism isspelt out by Ning Wang: first, whereas in the pasttourism was a luxury, available only to elite group,in modernity and late modernity, tourism is a massconsumption. Second, in today’s society, there is amassive social organisation or a “tourism productionsystem”. Commodification of tourism is part ofoverall capitalist commodification. Third, while premoderntravel was an occasional event, moderntourism is a mass phenomenon, an institution,“an institutionalised leisure and consumer activitycharacterised by pleasure seeking” (2000: 13-14).It is said to be the “largest peace time movement ofpeople”. Statistics provided by the World TourismOrganisation show a remarkable increase in thenumber of international travellers from 25 millionin 1950 to 425 million in 1990. Since the secondworld war, the growth of tourism industry and itspromotion by international financial organisationsas an agent of economic development andchange has been unprecedented. As the largestindustry in the world, it obviously holds a veryinfluential position in the world economy. In 1994,international tourism produced approximately $3.5 trillion in gross output (6.1 per cent of globalGDP) and employed close to 130 million people, 6.8per cent of workers worldwide. For the same year,the tourism industry accounted for 12.3 per centof consumer expense, absorbed 75 per cent of thetotal capital investment, and paid almost 6 per centof total tax payments [Apostolopoulous1996: 1-2]. Itrepresents 7 per cent of all world exports [Kinnairdet al, op cit:2]. In addition to developments in theinternational tourism market, domestic/nationaltourism is also increasing rapidly partly due to theprevalence of increased leisure time and affluence,as well as the encouragement of tourism in regionsseeking to develop their economies. Overall,tourism has witnessed tremendous growth asa result of increasing affluence in the last halfcentury, more leisure time and disposable income,development of better communication system,information technology, and a culture of travel.Modern tourism industry is international incharacter and becoming increasingly so with rapidglobalisation. The system hinges on a group ofnational and transnational corporate actors andgovernmental and inter-governmental agencies,such as hotel chains, airlines, travel companies,travel agencies, tour operators and internationaltravel organisations [Cohen 1996: 59]. In anothersense, too, tourism is increasingly globalised. “Withtouristic consumerism expanding worldwide andtourists travelling further afield” , Wang observes,“various people, nations, and places are becominginvolved in this touristic globalisation and beingexposed to its positive and negative consequences.No longer can a culture or a people remaininsulated” [Wang, op cit: 2]. Almost every culturalobject or site can be turned into a tourist attractionas more and more regions come within the orbit oftourism, especially international tourism. There isalready speculation about tourism in space.Tourism and Development:During the 1960s tourism was, and continues to be,considered “a passport to development”, for the43

underdeveloped countries. It was seen as a “soft”development alternative for stimulating economicgrowth. Through foreign exchange earnings andcreation of employment, tourism could providean opportunity for people of poorer countriesto increase their income and standard of living.The Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD) spoke of the almost limitlessgrowth potential in tourism. Both the World Bankand the United Nations promoted tourist industriesin developing countries. The UN declared 1967 tobe the International Tourism Year. Tourism waspresented as an easy option for developmentbecause it relied largely on the national resourcesalready present – sand, sun, friendly people – andrequired no vast capital investment. A numberof developing countries embarked upon tourismwithout giving adequate attention to its long-termconsequences. Although since the boom of the1960s, views about the negative social, culturaland environmental effects of tourism have beenexpressed, the enthusiasm of the developingcountries continues to be high. There exists asubstantial body of literature which highlights theadverse socio-cultural consequences of tourism.Even its economic benefits have come underdoubt. Scholars have realised that tourism is nota secure growth industry. It is prone to seasonalfluctuations and is unpredictable precisely becauseit is dependent upon a wide variety of factors, atthe international level, upon which the destinationcountries have little control. Given the nature ofinclusive package holidays where payment is madein advance, the destination countries do not earnmuch foreign exchange [Crick 1996: 21-23]. It hasproved to be more capital-intensive than predicted,nor has employment been stimulated to the degreeexpected. The profits go to the elites, the wealthyand the influential, at the local as well as the globallevels.A deeper structural criticism of modern tourismcomes from dependency and world system theorists.With the growth of modern tourism establishmentinto an international complex of airlines, hotels,travel agencies, transport companies and the like,there is allegedly an increasing domination by thecentre (from industrial countries where the touristsoriginate), of the periphery (the less developeddestinations). “Thus, a dependency syndromeemerges. Tourism becomes identified as a form ofimperialism or of metropolitan dominance in a neocolonialsetting in which the natives particularly thethird world countries are systematically exploited”[Dann and Cohen 1996: 308]. Tourism is thus seenas a mechanism which incorporates the poor,developing countries into an essentially exploitativeglobal economic order.Given that tourism processes are constructed,promoted and consumed in the hierarchical,unequal, global and national systems, women andmen experience tourism and are affected by it verydifferently. Issues of class, race, gender shape andare shaped by tourism processes very differently atinternational and local levels. An illustration of thisis provided by the gendered pattern of employmentgenerated by tourism (both international anddomestic) in the developing countries especiallywith respect to sex tourism. I will deal with them inthe following sections.Employment and the Gender Bias:One of the major benefits of tourism is believed tobe generation of employment for the local peoplein the tourist destinations. While this is widelyaccepted as true, there is less awareness, however,of a gender bias in the nature of employmentavailable to men and women. Studies have shownthat there are gender differences in the type of work,the seasonality of employment, wage structure andso on. In most instances tourism reinforces the olddivision of labour although in some cases a newdivision of labour is also created.In the hotel and catering industry in Britain, forexample, gender stereotyping and sex segregationat different levels of employment activity is evident.“Women work as counter and kitchen staff,domestic and cleaners, while men work as portersand stewards. Over 50 per cent of men employedin the industry are in a professional, managerialand supervisory occupation.”[Kinnaird et al opcit: 16]. A distinct gender division is reported byscholars in the form and extent of flexibility inworking practices. It is more common for men tohave jobs which involve “functional flexibility”. The“operative positions” of cooks, waiting and barstaff, kitchen hands, domestic staff and cleaners44

are overwhelmingly filled by women, majority ofthem as part-time employees. They do not have theopportunity to develop a wide range of skills andexperience to become functionally flexible as fulltime employees who are more likely to be males[Urry 1990: 80].Case studies from other regions have also foundwomen to be employed in less stable, lower paidand lower status jobs. Low skilled jobs are seenas good opportunities for women and ethnicminorities. Sexist and racist social ideologies as wellas existing social stratification systems are foundto be reinforced by tourism services [Kinnaird et alop cit:17]. Data from northern Cyprus, for example,suggests that pressure from family and husbandmay restrict the choice of jobs by women. Forexample, there is a preference for reception work,housekeeping and cleaning rather than work at thebar, as waitress or tour guide. Female participationin business in family run hotels and guest houses isacceptable since “it occurs within the protection ofthe family environment [Scott 1995: 395-96].Evidence from Goa, 1 India, also suggests that ingeneral the low skilled and wage jobs are occupiedmostly by women particularly in hotels. A number ofmigrant girls from Karnataka and Andhra Pradeshare engaged in the sale of small handicraft itemsand as masseurs on the beaches. It is an importantsource of income for them. In addition, a number ofGoan men and women run small shacks serving foodand drinks on the beach. Women/families are alsoinvolved in keeping “bed and breakfast” touristsin their private homes, letting out rooms or a partof the house to tourists, preferably foreigners. Thetourism department encourages people living incoastal areas to keep tourists as paying guests.In most such instances, however, the old genderdivision of labour is not challenged, although clearly,chores like cooking, serving, cleaning, washing,which are unpaid household work of the traditionalhousewife, now become commercialised.Other studies also show that the “providers ofcommercialised hospitality within the private homeare overwhelmingly female…with increasing malerepresentation as establishments become larger,for example, small hotels.” Hosting at home isgenerally perceived as a gendered occupation[Lynch and MacWhannell 2000: 106].An important element of hosting at home is theextension of unpaid household work to paid workwithin the home. The site of work associated withnurture and care for the family is transformedinto one of commercial activity for a stranger,although the personal element does not disappearaltogether. The fact that the tourist, the stranger,is also looking for a “home” and a “homelyatmosphere” away from home, is significant butoutside the scope of this paper. In her new role, thewoman of the house continues to play, to differingdegrees, the quintessential mother, cooking,feeding and looking after the “guest”.The income from running a shack on the beach orhosting at home does enhance the financial andsocial position of the family, and the woman. I wasinformed that generally the income is spent on thefamily. “Even the tip given to the woman goes tothe family. The family may invest the money in a caror a motor bike but not in a washing machine, whichwould make life easier for her.” At the same time,keeping guests at home or running a restaurantdoubles the burden on the woman. While thehusband works only in the restaurant, the wife takescare of the family, “cooks at home in the morning,and then in the restaurant, goes back home to doother chores, and returns to the restaurant to worktill late at night”. Do women acquire control overthe income from these activities or does it becomea part of the family pool, do they experience othertypes of freedom as well, are questions that requirecloser examination. Different regions will showvery different results, depending upon a variety ofother factors like their overall social and economicstanding in the family and community.There are instances of enhancement of women’sindependence, resulting from their incorporationinto tourism generated employment. Evidencefrom Greece, Barabados, Mexico, Ireland and theCaribbean seems to support the above argument.While the traditional division of labour remainsunchallenged and unaltered, the new opportunitiesdo enable women’s labour to enter the publicdomain [Kinnaird et al op cit: 17]. This, of course,has other social consequences which must befurther explored in tourism research. For example,tourism has resulted in greater economic autonomyand power for women in Mexico. The incidence45

for female headed households are found to bedominant in areas where tourism employment isavailable. Tourism develop ments in a region maywell expand the range of choices and freedomsavailable to women, and therefore improve thequality of their lives.In Goa, several persons reported that incomefrom tourism has resulted in greater confidenceand freedom for women, for instance “they goto restaurants, go out with friends and feel free”.Unlike Goan men who develop relationships withforeign women tourists just to be able to go abroad,women may develop contact with foreign men tobe in an equal relationship.Pleasure Periphery and Sex Tourism:Another way in which women are included in thetourism related labour force is sex tourism. The four“s” factors, i e, sun, sand, sea and sex have becomeassociated with tourist resorts in general. Countrieswhich utilise tourism as a strategy for developmentcreate a situation in which women’s sexuality is seenas an object of attraction for the male gaze, bothdomestic, but more so, foreign tourists. Parts ofthe world, especially the developing countries likeThailand, Philippines, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia,Sri Lanka have acquired the reputation of being the“pleasure periphery” for the developed tourismgenerating metropoles including Europe, the US,Japan, and others. The power relations betweentourism generating and the destination countries,and unequal gender relations in both, is the contextin which the increase in international sex tourismcan be analysed. The pleasure seeking, adventurousmale tourist from the affluent, developed countriesand the stereotypical “submissive”, “femi nine”,female from poor underdeveloped countriescharacterise the dominant trend in sex tourism ofpresent times. Which is, of course, not to deny theexistence of sex tourism between the developed,affluent countries.Sex tourism, by and large, involves women [Shawand Williams 1994: 90] although men are also a partof the business, as for instance the “beach boys”in Jamaica. White women are also known to lookfor sex partners when on vacations. This phenomenonexists in Goa as well. Young Goan men areknown to engage in providing sexual service towomen (and men) tourists on a commercial basis.It is suggested that some female tourists are ableto use their economic power to “indulge theirracialised sexual fantasies while away from home,imaging Goa as ero exotic” [Routledge 2002: 206].In some destinations like Kenya, Gambia and severalCaribbean islands, female sex tourists are said to bemore prominent than their male counterparts. Aswomen improve their social and economic position,one may expect more and more female touristsseeking sexual services from male prostitutes orcall boys all over the world.Significantly, however, Pruitt and La Font point out,the term “romance tourism” is used to distinguishthese relationships from those of sex tourism. Here,the commercial character of sex tourism is hiddenbehind “the discourse of romance and long-termrelationship, an emotional involvement usuallynot present in sex tourism”. And neither partnerconsiders their interaction to be prostitution,although others may label it so. Emphasis is placedon courtship rather than the exchange of sex formoney [Pruitt and La Font 1995: 423].Pritchard and Morgan sum up the factors on whichsex tourism is founded. First, the poverty of thepeople which encourages women to enter thesex business. Second, male tourists see women ofcolour as someone more willing and available. Third,the industry is supported by political and economicinstitutions and businesses which encourage mento travel to certain countries specifically to purchasethe sexual services of local women [Pritchard andMorgan 2000: 888]. It is also suggested that menseek sexual service in the developing countriesnot only because it is cheaper, but because thecommercial character of the in teraction betweenthe prostitute and the customer is somewhatdiguised under tenderness, readiness to please,etc, on the part of the prostitute [Oppermann 1999:255].It must be noted that colonialism and militarismencouraged prostitution in many countries evenbefore the modern interna tional tourist appearedon the scene. In present times, however, sextourism has become a mechanism through whichthe govern ments of these countries seek to further46

their national economic goals [Hall 1996: 270].Scholars have pointed to the post-war developmentof the new international division of labour whichradically reconstructed the economies of southeastAsia through their closer integration withinthe global economy. The influx of rural women tourban areas to support their families, the overallmarginalisation of female participation in the labourmarket, their exclusion from the industrial sector,have been factors responsible for their entry intosex business [Shaw and Williams op cit: 91].In Korea the ‘kisaeng’ 2 tourism is synonymous withJapanese oriented tourism prostitution. In 1985,there were an estimated 2,60,000 prostitutes inSouth Korea, the majority of whom came fromeconomically backward rural areas. The Koreangovern ment even congratulated them for their“heroic patriotism”, for contributing towards theeconomic development of their country. Althoughwomen’s groups like the South Korea Women’sChurch Alliance has strongly condemned thepractice, the Korean gov ernment has chosen toignore it so as not to spoil its economic relationswith Japan [Hall op cit: 273, 274].It is common knowledge that the promotion ofsexual services is an important part of marketingThailand as a tourist destination. It is estimatedthat there were between 5,00,000 and a millionprostitutes in the early 1980s. Of course, not allprostitutes cater to sex tourists. Besides, many Thaiwomen become “rented wives”, somewhat likethe kisaeng of Korea, who accompany the tourists,particularly to Holland, Germany and Japan. Anumber of Filipino women are known to travelto Japan and Germany. Most of the female andchild prostitutes in Thailand come from the poornorth and north-eastern regions. Until the end of1980s the government promoted sex tourism as ameans to earn foreign exchange to the extent thatministers openly advocated tourism prostitutionas a means of employment generation. In 1990salthough prostitution for local customers wasmore prevalent, foreign-oriented prostitution wasextremely important to Thailand’s accumulation offoreign capital.Boonchu Rojanasathien, a former vice premierof Thailand and an internationally known banker,encouraged provincial gover nors of Thailand in 1980to make their provinces more attractive to touristsand thereby create more jobs for the people. Hisappeal read as follows, “Within the next two yearswe need more money. Therefore I ask all governorsto consider the natural scenery in your provinces,together with some form of entertainment thatsome of you might consider disgusting and shamefulbecause they are forms of sexual entertainmentthat attract tourists. Such forms of entertainmentshould not be prohibited if only because you aremorally fastidious. Yet explicit obscenities thatmay lead to damaging moral consequences shouldbe avoided within a reasonable limit. We must dothis because we have to consider jobs that willbe created for the people” [quoted from Holden,Horlemann and Pfafflin 1983: 13].There has been a weakening of the sex market inThailand in recent years and interestingly, bothexternal and internal factors are responsible for it.Growing public awareness of the AIDS crisis as wellas the work of women’s protests are important.But changes in Japanese society such as theimproved status of women in Japan, Leheny pointsout, and rapidly increasing number of Japanesewomen travelling abroad has put pressure on thegovernment to change Thailand’s sex market image.In fact, given that women constitute an appreciablylucrative tourism market, since their spendingpatterns result in fewer leakages than men’s do,Japanese women represent the greater potentiallyprofitable demand group. Tourism Authority ofThailand’s designation of 1992 as “Women’s VisitThailand Year” signals such a development [Leheny2003: 380].In response to a growing phenomenon of sextourism through out Asia, a few students’ andwomen’s groups organised them selves againstit. In 1973 the first demonstration took place inSeoul, Korea, where students held banners whichsaid, “Our motherland should not be turned intoa brothel for Japanese men.” In 1981, through histravel in south-east Asia, then prime minister ZenkoSuzuki of Japan was surprised to be confrontedwith strong protest groups in Manila and Thailand.A protest letter prepared by 68 organisationsin the Philippines said, “we would like to forgetJapanese military imperialism. But now instead of47

military uniforms, the men come in business suitsdominating Asia through a pernicious form of socioeconomicimperialism which tramples on the Asianpeoples’ right to human dignity” [O’Grady 1981: 39].That racist and gender inequalities may bereinforced by tourism experience is shown by Crushand Wellings in the case of Lesotho and Swaziland.“Exposure to independent black African throughthe tourism experience, far from diluting raciststereotypes held by white South Africans, tendsonly to reinforce them. Thus blacks are cast in servileposition, throughout the industry…black womenare reduced to the level of sexual objects meantfor the proclivities of white male South Africans…”[Crush and Wellings 1987: 103]. One of the mostsignificant social impacts, the authors note, hasbeen the obvious growth of prostitution in the twocountries. An important factor in their analysis isthe defining context of a regional political economydominated by South America. Not only women,but children, the most vulnerable section, too areinvolved in the sex service. In 1994, 61 End ChildProstitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking ofChildren for Sexual Exploitation (ECPAT) providedthe following esti mates of children in the sexindustry – 5,00,000 in Brazil, 4,00,000 in India,2,00,000-8,50,000 in Thailand, 2,00,000 in Nepal. 3Cheap airfares, the opening of countries onceclosed because of war or other political reasons,and the advent of the internet have providedopportunities for tourist looking for underage sexpartners. In the last few years paedophilia appearsto have increased substantially or at least moreinformation seems to be available now. In the caseof child sexual abuse, class, and race factors seemto be more important than gender. Young boysare as much victimised as young girls. For example,sexual abuse of young boys is more common in SriLanka, while more young girls are abused in India.Modern gadgets like sophisticated cameras andvideo filming equipment are some of the aids usedby the offenders, who are generally white men,although women are also involved.It is reported that international networks of childsex abusers is rapidly increasing. They shareinformation on the “safest” places for child abusein the world. There is also a huge market for childpornography on the internet. India and other southAsian countries are slowly replacing south-east Asiaas the venue of choice for sex tourism given thatthere are fewer legislations against child abuse inthese countries. Also, because European touristsbelieve that AIDS is not as rampant among childrenin India. A large number of tourists are seeking outIndia, the main destination being Goa preciselybecause of the lax legal and security measuresthere. They know that it is easy to escape the localadministration as well as the law. Since Bangkok hasbecome “too hot” for European paedophiles, theyhave turned to Goa and Kerala [Virani 2000: 88].According to Nishita Desai (2001) of Child Rights Goa(CRG), Goa is in danger of becoming a destinationfor sex tourism. Although Goans themselves like todeny it but it is well known that not only migrantwomen but Goan women too are involved in sexbusiness. Women and girls are supplied throughthe hotels, lodges, restaurants to domestic andforeign tourists. They may also accompany the manout of the state for short periods. Majority of theprostitutes are from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka,few from Nepal, Bangladesh, West Bengal, and evencountries of the former Soviet Union. Althoughnot entirely a product of tourism, prostitution hasgot a boost from increased tourism. Studies showthat while sexual exploitation of children may haveexisted prior to tourism in Goa, the number hasrisen due to domestic and foreign tourism. Thoughmigrant children are the worst victims of sexualabuse, local children are also lured by paedophilesunder the guise of providing “better opportunities”[Desai ibid: 14]. The Washington Times in an issuereferred to Goa beaches as particularly favoured bytourists from Europe, America, Australia, Japan andreported that it was set to rival Bangkok in the childsex tourism (p 17).The migrants are usually from the droughtproneregions of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka andMaharashtra. While the adult migrant men areengaged in construction, stone quarrying or scrapcollection work, women and children often workselling trinkets, handicraft items, fruits, nuts, softdrinks to tourists on the beaches. Many work asmasseurs, and come into contact with “friendly”tourists who give them money and gifts in returnfor sexual favours. Between 1984 and 1991 Freddie48

Peats ran a children’s home, taking in orphaned boysand those from broken homes and sexually abusingthem. Peats also used the boys in the productionof pornography and prostituted them to foreignpaedophiles. He was convicted, but many like himhave managed to escape the law. Thanks, however,to the efforts of some organisations like Child RightsGoa and several citizen’s groups the governmenthas woken up to the prevalence of paedophilia inGoa, and begun to take action against it.An important point has been raised by Davidsonand Taylor with regard to the westerner’s desirefor sexual contact with local adults and children.It is structured, according to them, by their“racist constructions of the exotic and the erotic“primitive”, while their racist assumptions aboutcultural “difference” are used to justify and defendtheir sexually exploitative acts. At the same time,for most Goans the fact that the prostituted womenand children are primarily migrants, and “so the‘Other’, makes their fate a matter of indifference”[Davidson and Taylor 1996: 29]. Neither the Goanpeople nor the government regard the problemas serious simply because “outsiders are involvedin it”, who “spoil the name of Goa”. The solution,therefore, is “to throw them out of the state”.Flavia Agnes puts it in the wider context ofexploitative global system, when she writes,“In the global trade-offs, while India is alreadymarked as a place for the supply of cheap labour,lax environmental safety laws and the under-thetabledealings, will it now have another plus – asex tourism attraction? Will the poverty ridden,malnourished children, the most vulnerablesegment of our population, become its fodder,while the state machinery is caught slumbering?”[Agnes 2004: 19]. It is, how ever, also important tonote that not only the exploitative world system,but the unequal gendered societies of both the firstand third worlds, is the context in which gendereddifferences and bias in tourism can be understood.It is significant that the white male tourists alonedo not demonstrate their sexual power over thestereotypical “passive”, “traditional”, submissivecoloured women, but coloured men also focus theirgaze on the “bikini clad”, white women. The objectof tourism consumption, in both instances, is thefemale body. It is common knowledge, for example,that Indian men like to visit Goa for voyeuristic purposes,to ogle at the scantily dressed women, bothGoan and foreigners, believed to be “free”, “funloving”,“permissive” and “easily available”.For Enloe, tourism is profoundly gendered, basedon the ideas of masculinity and femininity in thesocieties of departure and destination. “The verystructure of international tourism needs patriarchyto survive” [Swain 1995: 255]. Crucial to this discussionis the gender bias in the creation of tourismimages and the “interrelationship” between thelanguage of patriarchy and (hetro) sexuality andlanguage of tourism” [Pritchard and Morgan op cit:884].Tourism Images:Pritchard and Morgan (2000) argue, on the basisof analysis of brochures and advertisements, thatlanguage and imagery of tourism promotionalmaterial “privileges the male, heterosexual gazeabove all others”. Studies, although few on thesubject, note that tourism brochure representationof men tend to be associated with action, power,ownership, while representations of women tend tobe associated with passivity, availability and beingowned. They point out that tourism advertisingand the myths and fantasies promoted by tourismmarketing are dependent upon shared conceptionsof gender, sexuality and gender relations [Pritchardand Morgan op cit: 889).Like advertising images in general, tourismadvertising images also invariably represent themale view. The masculine and feminine attributesare defined largely as the adventurous, strong,“macho” man, and the passive, sensuous,submissive woman. The tourism advertisingmaterial is replete with the images of the “erotic”and the “exotic” woman who lights up the fantasyworld of the tourist. For example, Caribbeanwomen are presented in tourism literature assexual mulattoes with free time to enjoy thebeaches and the male visitor. The dominant imageof women in the tourism generating countriesis that of “scantily clad young women in exoticsurroundings appealing to the fantasies of middleaged businessmen who are feeling threatened bythe improvement of women in the North (ibid:891).In China, the government promotes ethnic tourism49

using exotic images of women dressed in traditionalethnic dress even though they have gained somemeasure of economic independence throughtourism enterprise, they remain “exoticised femaleimages” [Kinnaird et al op cit: 18]. The dominantimage of women in tourism material in India is thatof young women, traditionally dressed in everyfinery, submissively welcoming the tourists withfolded hands. In contrast, the rural/tribal womenare shown as both erotic and exotic. In all theseinstances women are represented as the object ofmen’s desire, of male tourist consumption.In most cases the sexual image is quite explicit. Asfor example, “Thailand is a world full of extremes,and the possibilities are limitless. Anything goesin this exotic country, especially when it comes togirls” [Shaw and Williams op cit: 90]. Or “Vietnamawaits you”… and “is as alluring as ever”. Or“India awaits you…the timeless mystery andbeauty of India has been waiting for you for 5,000years. She is an indescribable and unforgettableland only by visiting the country can the truth beexperienced… Everything you desire can be foundin India…every whim will be gratified” [cited inPritchard and Morgan op cit: 897]. A Frankfurtadvertisement stated “Asian women are withoutdesire for emancipation, but full of warm sensualityand the softness of velvet” [Kinnaird and Hall op cit:28]. South-east Asian airlines such as Thai Airlines,Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific have portrayed“submissive” Asian women in their tourism promotionalmaterial. Singapore Airlines ran a campaignof “Singapore Girl – you are a great way to fly” [Hall1996 op cit: 268]. A recent advertisement whichwas hastily withdrawn said, “Go Goa, everythingincluded”.Not only women, even landscapes, places, areexoticised and sexualised, imbued with feminineattributes, meant to attract and gratify the malegaze. The motive of the “virgin” beach is the mostcommonly used. For example, “Niagra is ‘seductivelyrestless’ and ‘tries to win your heart with herbeauty’”. Jamaica is “tempting” and “innocent”,“sensuous”, “seductive”. Fiji offers “waterfallstumbling through virgin forests”; Seychelles offers“seas that were made for pleasure”; Tahiti is called“The Island of love”. Brochures of important traveland tour agencies in Germany represent India as“exotic”, “enchanting/magical”, “colourful”, of“abundant beauty”, “fairy tale scenes”, “romantic”,“India awaits you as an event of colours”, 4 allare images with gender undertones.In the brochures of department of tourism,government of Goa, Goa is imbued with femininequalities. It is described as “irresistible”; with“captivating landscape”; “Goa beckons with itssheer natural beauty”; “the land of dreams dressesherself for yet another occasion. Life here bloomsand surrenders to the reminiscent beauty. Watchthe tall palm trees sway in the cool breeze, while yousubmit your mind to the serene hinterland of Goa.Experience the magic”; “Experience and explore aworld of infinite possibilities”; “the seductive Goancoast is sprinkled with excitement. …All of thisadrenalin rush under the same sun”. Goa is soldfor the “highly playful spirit on the Goan beaches”.The image of a “seductive”, “beautiful”, “magical”,“captivating”, “mesmerising”, “enchanting”,“charming”, place/landscape wait ing for the visitorquite clearly represent a masculinist view.Hedonism and Hospitality:In order to understand the gendered, sexualised,character of tourism processes, it is useful in myview to examine two important ideas, pleasure, andhospitality, which are central to tourism activity.Despite the wide range of tourist motivations itcannot be denied that tourism is about holidays,about unrestrained pleasure. As Urry points out, “itis about consuming goods and services which arein some sense unnecessary. They are consumedbecause they supposedly generate pleasurableexperiences which are different from those typicallyencountered in everyday life…to gaze upon orview a set of different scenes, of landscapes ortownscapes which are out of the ordinary” [Urryop cit: 1].The term “hedonism” is often used to describetouristic activity. To be a tourist is to withdraw,temporarily, from everyday social obligations.Instead of duty and structure, one has freedomand carefree fun, including hedonistic regressionto drugs and nude sun bathing [Crick op cit: 327].And sex may be seen as a part of the relaxation,conspicuous spending, having fun, letting go andexperiencing the “different”. Given that the tourist50

ehaviour is relatively freer and unconstrainedby norms at home, sexual liberties may be takenwithout serious consequences. In fact, behaviourwhich may not be acceptable at home, is totallyaccept able and even expected while holidaying.Crick’s suggestion is useful that the tourists’ worldis constructed of many inversions – from work toplay, normal morality to sexuality, conspicuousspending rather than saving, freedom rather thanstructure and indulgence rather than responsibility”[Crick op cit: 332].Concepts of “liminal”, liminoid” and “liminoidal”have been developed and used to understand theinversionary behaviours of tourists. “Once in aliminoidal state individuals’ behaviours are alteredto a anti-structure…or antithesis of their home environment.”It allows individuals the freedom toexperience that what is not acceptable in the homesociety, or to “enact the inversionary behavioursof the anti-structure” [Currie 1997: 894]. Lett’sinvestigation of sexual behaviour of individuals onholiday led him to conclude that during holidayperiods tourists acquire a sexual licence allowingthem to behave contrary to their normal behaviour[cited in Currie ibid: 89].Relaxation of codes in respect to food, dress,liquor, and even sex during vacations is intrinsicto tourism. Or else what is the point of gettingaway? The unequal power relations between thetourist generating and destination countries, andbetween the sexes, especially the white touristsand the coloured locals, both men and women, onlyencourage this behaviour. On the other side, thedestination countries, in their attempt to promotetour ism, and development, sell an image ofthemselves as ready to provide all kinds of services,including sexual service to the tourist. A discourseof “hospitality” is constructed to attract tourists,both domestic and foreign but especially the latter,with the promise to satisfy every whim/need/desire.Goa for example, is projected as “a perfect host”,where “hospitality is an esta blished tradition” andwhere people are “friendly and extremely happygo-lucky”.The image of the submissive, smilingIndian woman ready to serve every need of thetourist is ubiquitous.Underlying all tourism promotion efforts,everywhere in the world, is the impression createdthat the tourist is more than welcome in the place ofdestination. The offer of friendliness and hospitalityis carried to an absurd extent in a Scottish tourismadvertisement, for example, “Come look under ourkilt. We are friendlier than you think.” It is especiallyso in the Asian countries where there is said to bea tradition of warmth, friendliness and hospitality.However, the use of the term hospitality itselfin the tourism discourse is open to question. Inanthropology, hospitality denotes caring for astranger in order to establish a relation basedon reciprocity and exchange. In the context ofintroduction of financial transaction within thehospitality nexus, as Andrews observes, principlesof obligations and reciprocity are no longerexistent. Therefore, the financial transaction whichcharacterises the nexus between the tourist and thelocal people, euphemis tically called “guests” and“hosts”, remove the real motives behind hospitality[Andrews 2000: 236, 237].Terms like “hospitality”, “guest” and “host”, createan aura of a personalised relationship betweenequals (with positive connotations) around what isa highly commercialised and im personal interaction.It is also significant that the relationship betweenthe “guest” and “host” is an unequal one, giventhat the latter occupies a higher financial positionin purchasing goods and services (ibid: 236). But adiscussion of these terms in anthropological andsociological literature on tourism is not the concernof the present paper.Conclusion:I have attempted to show that tourism processeslike other processes and relations in society aregendered. The gender bias is built into the discourseof tourism practices, images, and activities, which,by and large, privileges the male viewpoint.Although this viewpoint still dominates, it is nottotally unchallenged. Researchers, academics,social activists have questioned the hegemonicmale view of tourism at different levels, althoughtheir voice is still weak. In the light of the fact thattourism processes are expanding rapidly in the fastglobalising world, there is a need to strengthenthese voices.51

Organisations and womens’ groups have taken upthe issue of prostitution in some countries. In Goathere has been an organised protest. The JagrutGoenkaranchi Fauz (JGF), Children’s Rights inGoa (CRG), Bailancho Saad, Annaya Rahit Zindagi(ARZ), has been protesting against prostitution andpaedophilia since the 1980s. The JGF was formed,in their own words, to protect the Goan populationfrom the threats posed by “an indiscriminate,immoral tourism policy being promoted by thegovernment. In which our coastal niches are beingexpropriated and handed over to luxury tourism”[Mayrhofer 1997: 84].Bailancho Saad has protested against tourismrelated prostitu tion and the vulgarised image ofGoan people projected by tourism advertisements.Goa is shown as a land of “wine, women and song”.The tourism department and big hoteliers haveused bikini clad women in their advertisementsand brochures to woo tourists. With the increasingdemand for sun, sea and sex, these sexistadvertisements have seriously distorted the imageof women in Goa and conveyed the message of theireasy availability. This in turn has led to increasingsexual harassment of women in Goa, both local andforeign [Saad Publication 1994].The church in Goa, as in other parts of the world,has openly criticised tourism-related developments.It points out that the self-respecting local people,earlier employed as farmers, toddy tappers,fishermen are being employed in the hotel industries“in servile positions”. “Their wives and daughtersbecome prostitutes or masseuses; their childrenbecome touts, pimps or errand boys” (ibid: 85).Churches from Asia, the Pacific and the Caribbeanhave expressed concern over tourism from thefirst to the third world countries. The World Councilof churches has been extremely critical of the“negative effects of rich tourism in poor countries”[O’Grandy op cit: XIII].It must be noted that tourism-related practices havenot received enough critical attention by politicalorganisations including womens’ groups in India andin many other parts of the world. This is so primarilybecause the ideology which regards tourism as ameans to development in the developing countriescontinues to dominate. Besides, not enoughinformation is available on effects of tourism, giventhe dynamics of power relations between thedeveloping and developed countries and within thedeve loping countries. Much more study, researchand activism is necessary if these processes areto be understood and regulated. The challenge tothis very complex phenomenon must come at thelocal and global levels. For example, struggle tostop sex tourism must be undertaken not only incountries where it occurs, but also in countries fromwhere the offenders come. A demand for greaterparticipation of local people in tourism planningand development must appear in the agenda ofwomens’ movements everywhere, if the rights andinterests of people in tourist destinations especiallythe third world are to be protected in the long run;and if they are to share equally in the benefits thatresult from tourism. Given that the fastest growingdestinations are in the third world countries, thatcurrently about 30 per cent of all internationaltourist arrivals are in them, a great deal of cautionin the management of tourism has to be exercisedby the governments and people of these countries,so that some regions and people do not degradethemselves for the pleasure of others.[Paper presented at the conference on Globalisationand the Womens’ Movement in India, organised byCentre for Women’s Development Studies, Delhi,January 20 to 22, 2005.]Endnotes:* The paper was published in ‘Economic and PoliticalWeekly’, Vol. 41, No. 42, October 21 - October 27,2006.1. Tourism traffic to Goa has risen phenomenally fromapproximately two lakh tourists in 1975 to 14.07lakh in 2001 of which domestic tourists account for11.47 lakhs and foreign tourists for 2.60 lakhs. Goa’sincome from tourism in foreign exchange has goneup from Rs 32.64 crore in 1986-87 to approximatelyRs 600 crore in 2001 which represents a rise of about25 per cent every year. It is estimated that 20 percent of its population earn their livelihood, directlyand indirectly, from tourism activities (Statistics2004, Department of Tourism, Government of Goa,Panaji).52

2. Kisaeng act as companions to Japanese businessmenand travel with them during their visit to Korea.Their role is regarded as an integral component ofthe conduct of Japanese business overseas andmay be linked to a contemporary equivalent of the“comfort women” role that Korean women wereforced to take during Second World War. Kisaengtourism is still a major factor in attracting Japanesemale tourists to Korea.3. Figures are available at www.arches.uga.edu/?haneydaw/twwh/traf.html4. Collected from brochures of travel and touragencies in Germany, including Gebeco, Studiosus,Meier’s Weltreisen, Thomas Cook, Dertour, for 2003and 2004.ReferencesAgnes, Flavia (2004): ‘Paedophilia: Naming the Offence’,The Asian Age, July 13.Andrews, Hazel (2000): ‘Consuming Hospitality onHoliday’ in Conrad Lashley and Alison Morrison (eds), InSearch of Hospitality, Butterworth Heinermann, Oxford.Apostolopoulous, Yiorgos (1996): ‘Introduction’ inYiorgos Apostolopoulous, Stella Leivadi and AndrewYiannakis (eds), The Sociology of Tourism, Routledge,London.Crick, Malcolm (1996): ‘Representations ofInternational Tourism in the Social Sciences’ in YiorgosApostolopoulous, Stella Leivadi and Andrew Yiannakis(eds), The Sociology of Tourism, Routledge, London.Cohen, Eric (1996): ‘The Sociology of Tourism’ in YiorgosApostolopoulous, Stella Leivadi and Andrew Yiannakis(eds), The Sociology of Tourism, Routledge, London.Crush, Jonathan and Paul Welling (1987): ‘ForbiddenFruit and the Export of Vice, Tourism in Lesotho andSwaziland’ in Stephen Britton and William C Clarke (eds),Ambiguous Alternative Tourism in Small DevelopingCountries, University of South Pacific, Fizi.Currie, R R (1997): ‘A Pleasure-Tourism BehavioursFramework’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol 24, No 4,October, pp 884-97.Dann Graham and Eric Cohen (1996): ‘Sociology andTourism’ in Yiorgos Apostolopoulous, Stella Leivadiand Andrew Yiannakis (eds), The Sociology of Tourism,Routledge, London.Davidson, O’Connell and Sanchez Taylor (1996): ‘Tourismand Child Prostitution: Beyond the Stereotypes’ in JPilcher and S Wagg (eds), Thatcher’s Children, FalmerPress, London.Desai, Nishita (2001): ‘See the Evil Tourism RelatedPaedophilia in Goa’, Vikas Adhyan Kendra, Mumbai.Hall, C Michael (1996): ‘Gender and Economic Interestsin Tourism Prostitution: The Nature, Development andImplications of Sex Tourism in South-East Asia’ in YiorgosApostolopoulous, Stella Leivadi and Andrew Yiannakis(eds), The Sociology of Tourism, Routledge, London.Kinnaird, V, U Kothari and D Hall (1994): ‘Tourism GenderPerspectives’ in V Kinnaird and D Hall (eds), Tourism aGender Analysis, Wiley, Chichester, pp 1-34.Leheny, David (2003): ‘The Rules of Play: NationalIdentity and the Shaping of Japanese Leisure’ in Journalof Anthropological Research, Vol 60, No 3, pp 444-46.Lynch, Paul and Sorreen MacWhannell (2000): ‘Home andCommercialised Hospitality’ in Conrad Lashley and AlisonMorrison (eds), In Search of Hospitality, ButterworthHeinermann, Oxford.Mayrhofer, Maria (1997): ‘How They Perceive Tourism,Another Side of the Touristic Coin: An Empirical Study inGoa, India’, Institute for Geography, University of Vienna,Vienna.O’Grady, Ron (1981): ‘Third World Stopover’, The TourismDebate, World Council of Churches, Geneva.Oppermann (1995) : ‘A Model of Travel Itineries’,Journalof Travel Research, 33(4): 55-71Pritchard, Annette and Nigel J Morgan (2000): ‘Privilegingthe Male Gaze’, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol 27, No 4,pp 884-905.Pruitt, Deborah and LaFont, Suzanne (1995): For Loveand Money: Romance Tourism in Jamaica by Annals ofTourism Research, 22(2):422-40.53

Routledge, P (2002): ‘Travelling East as Walter Kurtz:Identity, Performance and Collaboration in Goa’, India,Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 20, 477-98.Scott, J (1995): ‘Sexual and National Boundaries inTourism’, Annals of Tourism Research 22(2), 385-403Shaw, Gareth and Allen M Williams (1994): CriticalIssues in Tourism: A Geographical Perspective, BlackwellPublishers, UK.Swain, M B (1995): ‘Gender in Tourism’, Annals of TourismResearch, 22, 247-66.Urry John (1990): The Tourist Gaze Leisure and Travel inContemporary Societies, Sage, London.Virani, Pinki (2000): Bitter Chocolate, Penguin, India.Wang, Ning (2000): Tourism and Modernity, A SociologicalAnalysis, Pergamon, NY54

Tourism Liberalization, Gender and the GATSMariama Williams, 2002*Introduction:Tourism is one of the oldest areas of economicactivity to be covered under the WTO’s GeneralAgreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Tourismand travel related services account for about 11% ofWorld GDP and employ about 200 million peopleworldwide. They also represent 34% of world serviceexports (UNESCO Courier, 1997). Furthermore,given that there are about 700 million internationaltravellers per year, tourism and travel relatedsectors have become dynamic sources of incomeand a major strategic sector for development inmany countries, especially those in the global South.Tourism and travel related services are still stronglydominated by Northern countries. The mainsources remain Europe and the US, with somenew influx form Asia and Latin America. Almosthalf of world tourists come from six countries inEurope which are also among the world’s top tentourism earners/spenders). The US is number onein tourism spending/earning and the second mostpopular destination. East Asia and the Pacific areexpected to be second in generating tourists in2020. (UNESCO Courier, 1999).The rise in technology, which is critical for successin the tourism and travel sectors, advantages theNorth, allowing for further consolidating of theirstronghold over this sector. The control of core toolsof tourism is found in the North: air travel, hotel,Internet and e-commerce. Increasingly electronictechnology is facilitating the sale and marketing ofairline tickets and hotel accommodations.This is an important context from which toconsider the likely consequences of the growingpush for greater and rapid liberalisation in tourismby the North. Because the central tendency ofliberalization is to reduce the role of developingcountry governments in directing tourisminvestment and policies, serious questions exist asto the future (and the limitations) of tourism as atool for development in the South.The Political Economy of Tourism:Modern international tourism is rooted in thedynamics of colonialism and dependency. AsChachage (1999), Munt (1994) and Naipaul (1978)noted, early nineteenth century tourism focusedon exploration, hunting and trading in colonialterritories. This was a fact of colonial conquest andhence was linked to the issues of the alienationfrom land and natural resources with underlyingethnic racial, class and gender dynamics. Thisform of tourism and its gains were controlled bythe colonial power, tour operators and ownersof steamships and domestic railroads within thecountries. This tourism was also primarily extractiveand depleted natural resources such as skins, ivoryand fauna, in order to sustain the wealthy.The development of mass tourism in the 1950sand 60’s led to the inclusion of the middle classin “fun and sun” adventures in the developingworld. But even the new forms of tourism of the1980’s and 1990s still carry echoes of the past as itis increasingly returning to the theme of exploitingthe “exotic” and nature. This is seen for examplein the development of modern day ‘adventuretourism’—hiking backpacking, trekking and ‘ecotourism.’These forms of tourisms are no more inthe sole control of developing countries nor dothey deplete or extract fewer natural resourcesthan the previous tourism cycle. More visitors meangreater toil on local infrastructure with implicationsfor the lives of the local people. Golf courses notonly utilise arable land but also divert water fromagriculture and local consumption. Elsewhere,other forms of tourism such as cruise shipping,which is reportedly one of the least beneficialtourism industries in terms of inflow of money andthe retention of tourist dollars, contribute to avariety of environmental problems (mainly marinepollution) in terms oil waste and the production ofsewage, garbage and noxious liquid substances.1Today the mechanism and devices of control andaccess to tourist arrivals and the struggle between55

sending and host countries over retention oftourist expenditures are different. But developingcountries still have weak bargaining power vis-àvisinternational tour operators and experiencediscrimination. Ultimately, these countries mustsurvive in an increasingly competitive global tourismsector in which natural competitive advantage isbecoming less and less significant.Tourism is more than ever an information sensitiveindustry which is greatly impacted by moderntechnological innovations such as the Internet,worldwide web and electronic commerce.Unfortunately, these tend to widen the dividebetween developed and developing countries withthe potential for siphoning much of the potentialgains from tourism back to the developed countries.There is growing consolidation and centralization ofthe tools of the tourism trade among a few players.These players, who are primarily based in the North,control the information and online reservationservices.New information technology and networks such asthe Internet therefore have an important affect onthe trade competitiveness of developing countries(UNCTAD 2000). The development and interlinkof tourism and e-commerce is resulting in theslow demise of travel agents; increasing resort toproprietary web pages; on-line one stop shopping;and a more complex tourism product—whichinvolves the consumer being able to customise her/his itinerary. But many travel agents in developingcountries do not have access to the investmentcapital to participate effectively with foreigntourism suppliers.Tourism, Economic Development and EquityIssues:The biggest myth of tourism and developmentis that ‘tourism is quick, cheap and easy, giventhat the basic ingredients are sun, sea, smile andculture’. In its most basic form tourism builds onnature, adventure and culture (New Frontier 2000).Tourism is expected to generate revenue in the formof foreign exchange earnings, increased income,employment and development of infrastructure—all this is expected to arise from the net benefitof tourism receipts. Ultimately, tourism shouldalso generate demand from other sectors of theeconomy such as agriculture, manufacturing andother services. Growth in tourism is also argued tofacilitate foreign capital inflows which reduces theneed for domestic savings and capital accumulation.Tourism can be good for development when itengenders a strong inflow of foreign exchange,and positive intersectoral linkages, which promotegrowth of other sectors. This increases overallincome and employment in the economy. Tourismcan also lead to immiserating growth (there is somegrowth but it is accompanied by rising poverty andunemployment) if the output of non-traded goodsand services the tourism sector requires doesnot increase. Thus the conventional wisdom thattourism is unambiguously good is problematic. First,it does not recognise the drain of resources andloss of revenues abroad. Second, it often ignoresdistributional and other key factors associated withthe goods and services used by the tourists (Grassl,1999). Third, it ignores the social, gender equityand environment impacts of the welfare effects oftourism.The trend towards more and more privatisationand liberalisation may in fact dissipate the benefitsof tourism on development in spite of the widelyacknowledged increasing demand for certain typesof leisure activities and the availability of abundantfemale labour. Thus tourism development may notbe in line with social, sustainable development forsome of these reasons:• yOwnership of resources, which is skewed tothe North and Northern based foreign directinvestment.• yMost small and medium sized businesses,which are the major local players in developingcountries, cannot compete with the large wellfinanced and overly capital endowed foreigncompetitors.y • Problems around land (land grabbing andland speculation. The rapid expansion oftourism is encouraged by the privatization ofgovernment owned assets including parks, andcommunity lands that have traditionally beenthe homes and sources of livelihood for many56

citizens for generations. Privatization andland speculation to establish game reservesor other tourist attractions creates greaterinequality in access to common propertyresources and raises the price of existing realestate. In the worst case it may be associatedwith large-scale removal of entire groupsof people. All of these have the impact ofexacerbating poverty and crime and ultimatelydestabilizing the society.• yEcological/environmental effects.• yGender bias and inequities: trafficking , sextours: women’s health and morbidity.• yPoverty and inequality.• yDisplacement of other sectors, such as declinein domestic agricultural sector.Tourism and Gender: 2The issue of tourism, tourism development andgender equality is multi-dimensional. It rangesfrom the low profile and persistent issue of thelopsided responsibility for social reproduction andcommunity resource management between menand women; the differential and gender-basednature and consequences of access to social andeconomic resources; the pervasive reliance on (andat the same time the invisibility of) women’s labourin the hospitality sector; and the high profile issues ofsex tourism and HIV/AIDS. All women from peasantwomen, indigenous women, working women, oldwomen, young women and girls, and women whohead household are affected to different degree bytourism and tourism development. Men of differentsocial classes are also affected negatively andpositively by changes in the tourism sector. Andmen in poorer classes may also suffer similarly topoor women from the welfare reducing impact ofloss of access to resources. Undeniably, there aresignificant gender biases and inequality in termsof access to employment and physical and socialresources that may predispose women to havegreater vulnerabilities and constraints in enjoyingthe presumed benefits of tourism development.We can demarcate these impacts across fourcategories: 1) Employment in the formal labourmarket, 2) Women’s activities in the informal sectorsand sustainable livelihood, 3) Women’s socialeconomic empowerment (in terms of consumptionand access to resources including governmentservices and 4) Women’s influence and decisionmakingaround tourism development policy.Formal Sector Employment:Like all other forms of employment, access totourism-related employment is gender based. Mentend to predominate in the formal sector of thetourism in some countries in the South. In India,women equal a small percentage of the employed(2.98%), and in Sri Lanka it is higher (14.9%). In theCaribbean and Latin America the percentage issignificantly higher at 35% (Badger 1993). Men andwomen, who are seen as cheaper labour than men,are segregated due to gender stereotyping and sexsegregation into different occupations. Even wherewomen are the main tourism workers, they tend topredominate in the majority of menial, semi-skilled,domestic and service type occupations. For examplein Barbados and Jamaica, women are employed inless stable, lower status work such as housekeeping, reception and other services. Due to lack ofunionization, these jobs require low skill, are lowpaid and have the lowest security of tenure andbenefits (Badger 1993). In some countries men areoften employed as stewards, porters, and tend tobe over-represented in professional managerialand supervisory positions. A recent survey of theliterature on women and tourism by EQUATIONSpoints out the following:In the food sector of the industry women are at thebottom of the hierarchy as restaurant helpers, cooks(not Chefs) and waitresses - all the lowest paid partsof the food sectors. Chefs in fancier restaurantswhere salaries and tips are substantial are more likelyto be males.In the travel sector, women have access andemployment to seasonal, part-time or minimum wagejobs. Women tend to dominate small travel agenciesand the majority are travel agents but men controlthe major sectors: airlines, railroads, hotel chains, carrental companies, travel magazines. Foreign controlareas are also male dominated. (EQUATIONS, 2000)57

The sexual division of labour operates at all aspectsof tourism and travel related industries. Given thecondition of work, generally low pay, lack of benefitsand absence of human resource development inthis area, serious concerns arise about women’slonger-term prosperity. Though increased tourismmay mean more jobs for women questions must beraised about the nature, quality and type of workactivities available; and the differential access ofmen and women to such opportunities. In addition,there is the larger picture of tourism relation towomen’s longer term interests and its potentialfor the transformation of gender inequalities andbiases.Informal Sector Activities and SustainableLivelihoods:In the informal sector gender hierarchies alsoexist. Women dominate in the informal sectorswhere they provide a wide range of services totourists --washing clothes, petty trading, cookingand childcare. The EQUATIONS survey and Badger1993 report point to the fact that there are ‘genderdifferences in the selling of memories (post cardsand souvenir)’. Women are often involved in theproduction of ethnic handicrafts and the marketingof such items while men provide services andsupport women’s home craft production. In somecases while women produce the works and sellthem in local markets, men control the wholesalingin urban centres.Overall, some women in some countries maygain financial autonomy and some measure ofeconomic independence from their participationin informal markets linked to the tourism trade. Inthe EQUATIONS survey examples of Mexico, Kunaof Panama and Sani of Yunan, China are typicallypresented as examples of such gains. But someof the same researchers also noted that womenappear to be invisible and neglected in culturaland historical attractions, though they may figureprominently in advertising, post cards and souvenirs(EQUATIONS 2000).Sex Tourism:Women are often exploited in the marketing oftourism (given existing gender perceptions andstereotypes that dominates social relations in thehost and sending countries). As seen above, even inthe formal labour markets there is the manipulationof the sexual division of labour that shunts womento the lowest paid jobs. Likewise, as noted byBadger (1993) there is much manipulation of genderdifferences in order to ‘feed the fantasy of the maletourist’. Very often this occurs at the benign levelof women being offered opportunities in frontline(hospitality) positions in the tourism industry. Suchopportunities are linked to women’s presumedfeminine qualities of being more sociable and morehospitable than men. But increasingly women aredirectly exploited as sexual playthings and earnersof foreign exchange in prostitution (a traditionalactivity) and now the new explosion of sex tourism.As noted by Badger (1993) ‘sex tourism is nowbecoming one of the ‘steadiest, least seasonal andmost lucrative opportunities for women’. The downside is that it has tremendous health hazards and itcan be dangerous.The issue of sex tourism has been raised as a key issuein the appeal of ASEAN (Association of SoutheastAsian Nations) destinations. This is particularly thecase in Thailand and Cambodia where there is aninflux of young girls who are from Burma, Indonesia,Laos and China who are being exported to workin Thai bars and brothels (New Frontiers 1999). InCambodia, children are often bought and sold likecattle in Bangkok or the beach resorts and thereis an active slave trade in young sex workers (NewFrontiers 1999). Vulnerable women and childrenare preyed upon and girls 13-17 are forced into sexwork; many start as housekeepers and then go toKaraoke bars or nightclubs. The pervasiveness ofsex tourism in Thailand has led to it being referredas ‘Thighlandia’. This trend does not only apply toSouth Asia. Sex tourism is an enduring feature ofCaribbean tourism. While in some cases such asthe gay and paedophilia market the customers areexclusively male, this is not true for the Caribbeanwhere there is high incidence of female customerspatronising male sex suppliers.Women’s Social and Economic Status andEmpowerment:Women’s social and economic status and overalleconomic empowerment are influenced by theirstatus and role in the family and community; theirsocial reproduction responsibilities (as purveyors58

of food and essential services) and their access,ownership and control over their resources.Tourism impacts greatly on all of these, negativelyor positively. In terms of family and community life,tourism can either bring greater access to basicservices (road, water, electricity and sanitation) orit may reduce such access if services are diverted tohotels and resorts or there are restrictions on accessto local resources due to tourism development.For example, it is reported that in Western Samoa,tourism has led to the commoditization of traditionalbeliefs and practices and undermines traditionalcustoms that gave specific well-defined rights andresources to men and women. Through its directimpact on local prices (land and food) as well as itsindirect impact via changes in the exchange rate,tourism can add to women’s social reproductionburden. It certainly will impact their access to andownership of economic resources. Furthermore, iftourism development is promoted via tax breaks forhotels and the construction of tourist attractions,this will divert resources from the social budgetwith negative implications for social services. Allof these have negative impacts on women’s dailylives, work activities, food & nutritional status,and access to education and health care. Thus asFillmore (1994) argues, women often pay the costof tourism disproportionately while reaping few ofthe benefits.On the positive side, increased employmentin tourism can increase women’s financial andeconomic autonomy. Likewise, increased revenuefrom the tourist sector into the governmentcoffers may be available for the promotion ofsocial development. Thus much depends on thegovernments’ ability and willingness to use fiscaland monetary measures to ensure that there issocial development linked to increased tourismdevelopment. Governments would also have totake proactive measure to promote better jobs andworking conditions at all levels of the tourism sectoras well as special policies to promote women’sinvolvement at the higher and more lucrative levelsof the tourism sector. Whether such actions arepossible and chosen by economic decision- makerswill depend on two main factors: the opportunitiesand constraints built into the multilateral tradingsystem which now governs tourism and theactivism of women and other social activists tocreate governments that work in the interest ofgender equity and human development. We willexplore the first issue in next section.Influence, Power and Decision Making:In general, the political and economic forums thatstructure and drive tourism policy and tourismdevelopment are dominated by male economicagents. Few women get to play an active role inshaping tourism policy and practise at an officiallevel. But increasingly, women in their many rolesare finding ways to have an active voice in tourism.The struggle over the nature, extent and pace offurther liberalization in this sector and other sectorsis now ongoing over the liberalization agenda ofthe World Trade Organization. This arena providesa good space for women’s activism on these issueslocally, nationally, regionally and globally.International Trade in Tourism andthe GATS:Implications for Economic Development andSocial and Gender Equality:Thus defined, international tourism is increasinglybecoming a significant part of global trade. It isone of the top five export categories for about 83%of countries in the world. International trade intourism is concentrated in developed countries. Theshare of the South is about 1/3 of total internationaltourism. But it is a fundamental source of incomeand foreign exchanges for a number of Southerncountries. Tourism is lauded for having a higherpositive multiplier spillover effect than mosteconomic sectors. It is widely claimed that for eachjob created in tourism there are 9 jobs generatedin other areas. To date it is the only sector in theservice area where developing countries haveconsistent surpluses.East Asia and the Pacific are the fastest growingtourism areas, but there is a high degree ofconcentration of arrivals and receipts among andwithin the South. Singapore, Hong Kong and Chinaeach have a higher sum of tourist arrivals andreceipts than the sum of Thailand, Indonesia andSouth Asia.59

60Tourism is also linked to other areas of theeconomy: agriculture, land and labour. It is alsoinextricably intertwined with air transportation, themajor means used by tourists arriving in the South(a U.S. $414 trillion industry), and communication.Given this, the liberalisation of tourism has majorimplications for social development and genderequality.Liberalization tends to ‘prioritize global commerceover everything: self-reliance of communities,human rights and health and safety’ (Pera andMcLaren, 1998). Andrea Yoder writes that thereis already a problem in enforcing standards in thetourism industry such as prior informed consentfor local initiatives, and environmental regulations(Yoder 1998). Many of these pro-social and humandevelopment measures are already in conflict withWTO rules. Wallach and Sforza write that WTOorchestrated uniform global standards [which aredesigned by TNCs] to promote harmonisation ofstandards may ‘facilitate the growth of consumerculture, [but they] militate against standardswhich reflect differences in cultural values. Suchdifferences are seen as undesirable because theyfragment the global market’ (Wallach and Sforza,1999).In this context a great deal of attention andimportance must be focused on the currentnegotiations for further liberalization of tourismunder the GATS. According to EQUATIONS, the GATSimpacts tourism via rules and regulations on theproduction, distribution and marketing of tourismservices (mode of supply), tour operators supplyingservices cross-border in other countries (crossborder supply), international visitors (consumptionabroad), the flow of international hotel chains,branches or full ownership of hotel chains andagencies in other countries (commercial presence);and the activities of tour guides and hotel managers(presence of natural persons). It also has impactson air transport and communications.The direct impacts of the GATS as it relates totourism would include:• yThe GATS would allow foreign companies tomerge or take over local companies. This isa threat to indigenous-owned and operatedsustainable tourism initiatives.• yThe GATS would allow upward pressure onthe exchange rates with implications for realwages, price of land and other resourcesas well as for traditional exports such asagriculture, mining and fishing.• yDomestic regulation rules may impactgovernments’ use of taxation policiesto prevent de-industrialisation and deagriculturalization.• yGovernments will not be able to mitigate orlimit the impact of the outflow of repatriatedearnings from FDI, which will result in reducedwelfare.• yGATS may also prove detrimental to eco andheritage tourism development.• yThe GATS also has serious implication for propoortourism that attempts to generate netbenefits to the poor. The core of this strategyis to ‘unlock opportunities for the poor withtourism rather than to expand the overallsize of the sectors. But this requires domesticregulation to remove some barriers to entryand to enhance their ability to participateeffectively in tourism.The economics behind tourism liberalization asdiscussed in section II is based on the idea thattourism will yield overwhelmingly positive benefitson growth on development. But this is based on input/ output studies that show that increased tourismimplies across the board expansion of economicactivity (Grassl, 1999). This ignores distributionalimpacts and forward and backward linkages thatare endemic problems in developing countries’economies. It also does not take into accountthat tourism growth may come with increasedcompetition with other sectors such as domesticagriculture and other export areas. Most of thesesectors are the ones which provide wages forwomen. And, while tourism may bring employmentit is often seasonal and highly exploitative.This discussion raises some important questionsabout the social and welfare impacts of GATS drivenliberalization of tourism. It also points to some

strategic interventions that are important for apromoting more balanced gender and social equityoutcomes of GATS driven liberalization of tourismservices. However, the strategic interventionsdedicated to promoting the long- term strategicgender interest of women are predicated on acertain amount of latitude in developing countriesability to manipulate and regulate the agents,mechanisms and processes of tourism development.The fact that this latitude is constrained not just bythe traditional conflict between the desires andinfluences of national elites and those of the poorbut in the main is circumscribed by regional andmultilateral trade rules makes it critical that theseextra-national policies be fully interrogated for theirsocial and gender accountability. Some importantactions include:Possible Actions Women can Take Globally:• yCall for a moratorium on the GATS tosystematically assess the impact of theGATS, particularly on women, tourism anddevelopment.• yInvite women to become active in the debateon trade in tourism.• yDemand renegotiations of the GATS with theintent to promote economic and social justice,gender equality and sustainable development.• yEncourage the inclusion of genderrepresentatives of civil society at every leveland occasion at which the regulation oftrade in tourism services and other goods isconsidered and negotiated, both nationallyand internationally.• yContinue studying the GATS through theIGTN Economic Literacy Course (www.genderandtrade.net) and other resources.Endnotes:*The paper was published in ‘Tourism Liberalization,Gender and the GATS’, Economic LiteracySeries: General Agreement on Trade in Services,International Gender and Trade Network, 2002.http://web.igtn.org/home/index.php?searchword=Tourism%2C+Liberalizat&ordering=&searchphrase=all&option=com_search1. There are numerous requirements about thedisposal of cruise ships’ debris. For example,sewage should undergo biological treatment andgarbage such as solid waste collection should begiven to trash collection agency at port. Likewise,glass should be crushed and recycled at port.But there is no way to really hold cruise shipsaccountable2. This section relies heavily on the set of articlesin Continuing Saga of Marginalisation: A Dossieron Women and Tourism, EQUATIONS 2000, inparticular, Women and Tourism- Theoretical writingby Vivian Kinnaird and Derek Hall; Exploring thepolitical role of gender in tourism research by LindaK. Richter; Invisible host, invisible guests by MaryFillmore; and Badger 1993Bibliography:Badger, Anne, 1993. Why not acknowledge women.EQUATIONS, 2000Caribbean Development Bank, 1996. A study to assessthe economic impact of tourism selected CBD BorrowingMember Countries. ARA consulting Group Inc/ SystemsCaribbean Ltd/Ione Marshall/KPMG BarbadosCazès, G., 1972. Le rôle du tourisme dans la croissanceèconomique: reflexions à partir de trois examplesantillais. Revue Touristique 27, 93-98 and 144-148Chachage, C.S.L. 1999. Globalization and Transitions inTourism in Tanzania, Nordic Africa Institute 1998/1999Copeland, B.R., 1991. Tourism, Welfare and De-Industrialization in a Small Open Economy, Economica58, 515-529.EQUATIONS, 2001 Trade in tourism through the GATS:Interests of Developing Countries at Stake.EQUATIONS, 2000 Continuing saga of Marginalisation: ADossier on Women and Tourism. www.equitabletourism.org and info@equitabletourism.orgFillmore, Mary. Women and Tourism: Invisible Hosts,Invisible Guests. EQUATIONS 200061

Grassl, Wolfgang, 1999. Tourism and Economic Growthin the Caribbean, Mona School of Business, University ofthe West Indies, JamaicaKinnaird, Vivian. Understanding tourism processes: AGender Aware Framework. EQUATIONS, 2000Kinnaird, Vivian and Hall, Derek, 1996, Women andTourism -Theoretical Writing. Tourism Management vol.17, No. 2Naipaul, R., 1978. North of South: An African Journey.Andre Deutch, LondonOrganization of American States (OAS), 1994, EconomicAnalysis of Tourism in Jamaica, Wash, D.C: Departmentof Regional Development and Environment.Pattullo, P., 1996. Last Resorts: The cost of tourism in theCaribbean. London: Cassell.Pera and Mc Laren, Globalization, Tourism &Indigenous Peoples: What you should knowabout the World’s Largest “Industry”. RethinkingTourism projectPleumarom, Anita, 1999. The Hidden Costs of the NewTourisms – A Focus on Biopiracy, Third World Network(TWN) Briefing Paper for CSD7, No 1, 1999Taylor, B.E, Morison, J.B. and Flemming, 1991 TheEconomic Impact of Food Import Substitution in theBahamas. Social and Economic Studies vol. 40, 45-62.Wallach, Lori and Sforza, Michelle, 1999 The WTO: FiveYears of Reasons to Resist Corporate Globalization.Seven Stories PressWorldWide Fund for Nature (World Wildlife Fund) WWW2000 Preliminary Assessment of the Environmental &Social Effects of Liberalisation in Tourism Services WWFInternational Discussion Paper FebruaryUNCTAD 2000 Electronic Commerce and Tourism: NewPerspectives and Challenges for Developing Countries.Trade and Development Board 27 July. TD/D/COM.3/EM.9/2.UNCTAD 1998 International Trade in Tourism-RelatedServices: Issues and Option for Developing Countries.TD/B/COM.1/EM.6/2UNESCO Courier 1999 www.unesco.org/courier/1999_08/uk/dossier/txt13.htmYoder, Andrea. 1998. Sustainable Development,Ecotourism, and Globalisation: Are They Compatible?Unpublished paper. Univ. of California, IrvinePleumaron, Anita, 1999. Foreign take-over of Thailand’sTourism Industry: the Other Face of Liberalization. TWNBriefing Paper for CSD7, No. 2Rao, Nina. Symbols Victimhood. EQUATIONS 2000Richter, Linda K. Exploring the Political Role of Gender inTourism Research. EQUATIONS, 2000Roe, Dilys and Urguhart Khanya, Penny, Pro-poorTourism: Harnessing the World’s Largest Industry forthe World’s Poor Opinion, International Institute forEnvironment and Development and RING.Seifeert-Granzin, Jorg and Jesupatham, D. Samuel, 1999Tourism at the Cross Roads: Challenges to DevelopingCountries by the New World Trade Order . Equations(Bangalore/India), Tourism Watch (Leinfelden-Echterdingen/Germany) and epd-Entwicklungs Politik(Frankfurt am Main/Germany62

Tourism and its Impact on Gender:A Case Study of GoaAnita Haladi, 2005*Introduction:Goa, a small state on the western coast of India, haswitnessed a tremendous growth in tourism sincethe 1970’s. Though tourism began in an informalmanner in the early 60’s, the real; spurt in touristarrivals began in the 70’s. Today, the contributionof the tourism sector to the economy of Goa in SDPterms is second only to mining. Goa crossed theone million tourist mark in 1994 and the growth inthe inflow of tourists, both domestic and foreigncontinues. The Government of Goa declaredtourism as an industry in the year 2000. Tourism islargely perceived as an engine for growth for theeconomy of this state.If tourism growth has to optimize benefits to thelocal population, there is an urgent need to assessits impact on different target groups. Who benefitsand who bears the cost of tourism are questionsthat are equally, if not more important than, howmuch has Goa’s economy benefited from tourism.Tourism is an industry that has an impact oneconomic, social, environmental and politicalconditions and on gender relations. For anyeconomic activity to be considered as importantand meaningful, an assessment of its impact onthe lives of people needs to be carried out. Mostoften, we tend to highlight the economic benefitsof tourism from a growth-centered perspectiveinstead of a people-centered perspective. As soonas policies for tourism begin to be shaped, theemphasis shifts away from people to profits. Today,the government in Goa seems mainly concernedwith visualizing new products and new players in thesphere of tourism. Given this scenario, the impactof tourism on gender receives the least priority andis completely ignored by people in general and bypolicy makers in particular.Women constitute a significant proportion of thetotal population of our state (Population of Goa 1.3million according to the 2001 Census). In addressingthe issue of tourism, we cannot simply ignore whatis happening to our people and women because oftourism. It has been amply proved by researchersand activists that economics and politics influencegender relations. The need for gender equality doesnot need over emphasis. If a policy impacts peopleand gender relations, we need to make a seriouseffort to understand how this happens and how wecan create policies that improve gender relationsand the status of women.Studies show that women have benefited fromtourism in some ways. Tourism being a laborintensiveindustry has created employmentopportunities for all including women and ILOestimates that 46% of the total workforce in tourismconsists of women. However, studies also tell usthat in developing countries, women only earn 70%of the wages that men earn from tourism. Like in allother sectors, gender stereotypes and traditionallydefined gender roles are responsible for thehorizontal and vertical gender-based segregationof the labor market. Lesser education, lesseropportunities for skill development and training,lesser access to credit, a lower health status, alower socio-economic status and, the invisibilityof women in policy making contribute to womenreceiving lesser benefits from tourism. Internationaltourism that is market-driven necessitates highcapital investment that tends to be controlled bypowerful/vested interests that are characterizedby a lack of concern for the well-being of localcommunities and women.Tourism today is an integral part of modernconsumerism. As leisure and wealth increase,tourism consumption also increases. Marketing oftourism has become increasingly competitive andhas resulted in enhancing gender stereotypes thatdepict women as passive, dependent and available.63

64Tourism brochures, including the ones prepared bythe tourism industry in Goa, have used women assexual and exotic markers. Despite disclaimers fromthe authorities responsible for this distortion in theimage of women, Goa has been marketed as a landof Sea, Sun, Sand and Sex. Goa like Thailand andSri Lanka, has witnessed an increase in sex-tourismand also an increase in crimes against women andchildren (both local and tourist).The growth of tourism in Goa has also led todestruction of traditional occupations and theenvironment. Resource allocation has becomeskewed in favor of the tourism industry and landalienation is a serious concern (See “Fish Curryand Rice”, Goa Foundation, 2002). The impactof a skewed developmental approach thatdisregards implications for the people has beenwell documented by many. However, in the lightof the growing emphasis by the Government ontourism as an engine for growth in Goa, one needsto make an effort to research on its impacts on thepeople and on women in particular. Since 1995 (4 thWorld Conference on Women, Beijing), gendermainstreaminghas been adopted as a strategyfor gender equality. The main aim of gender mainstreamingis to incorporate a gender perspectivein all policies at all levels and at all stages by policymakers.Due the importance of assessing the impact oftourism on women and gender relations, I havebeen conducting a micro-study in Calangute,Candolim and Baga (popular destinations inNorth-Goa) and in Cacra (a village predominantlyinhabited by indigenous people) in the state ofGoa. .The purpose of this study is to understandthe nature and extent of impact of tourism onwomen in Goa. My presentation includes some ofthe primary findings of my ongoing research andattempts to trace the growth of tourism in Goa andits socio-economic implications at the micro level. Ihave relied on both primary and secondary sourcesof information for my research. This paper wouldtherefore focus on the following concerns relatedto tourism and gender in Goa:• yThe growth of tourism in Goa• yThe employment potential for women intourism• yThe socio-economic problems related totourism and its impact on gender• yEvolving strategies to combat the negativeconsequences of tourismThe Growth of Tourism in Goa:Goa which was liberated from 451 years ofPortuguese rule in 1961 became the 25 th state of theIndian Union when it was conferred statehood onthe 30 th of May, 1987. A tiny state in India on thewestern coastline, Goa has an area of 3702sq.kms.The State’s population according to the 2001 Censusis 1.34 million. Although Goa joined the Nationalmainstream 14 years after India’s independence,the tourist traffic to this state has registered aphenomenal growth from 0.2 million in 1975 to 1.57million in 2004.Given below are statistics that show the growth intourist traffic to Goa from 1985 to 2004:TABLE IYearDomestic ForeignTourists TouristsTotal1985 682575 92667 7752121986 736548 97533 8340811987 766846 94602 8614481988 761859 93076 8549351989 771013 91430 8624431990 776993 104330 8813231991 756786 78281 8350671992 774568 121442 8960101993 798576 170658 9692341994 849404 210191 10595951995 878487 229218 11077051996 888914 237216 11261301997 928925 261673 11905981998 953212 275047 12282591999 960114 284298 12444122000 976804 291709 12685132001 1120242 260071 13803132002 1325296 271645 15969412003 1725140 314357 20394972004(Jan - 1367223 205212 1572435Oct)Source: “Tourist Statistics 2004, Goa, India”, Departmentof Tourism, Government of Goa, 2004.

From the table given above, it is evident that thetourist traffic to Goa (both domestic as well asforeign) has been steadily increasing over the years.The average duration of stay for domestic touristsis 5 days as compared to foreign tourists who stayin Goa for 9 days on an average. Out of the totalnumber of foreign tourists visiting Goa, 43% comefrom the U.K. and the rest are from Europe, Russiaand the U.S.A. Almost 50% of foreign tourists arriveby charter flights the number of which has increasedfrom 24 in 1985 to 532 in 2004. The Governmentand more specifically, the Department of Tourismhas started an aggressive marketing campaign topromote tourism and more specifically, to attract alarger number of foreign tourists to the state. TheEconomic Survey 2003-04 of the Government ofGoa states that, “Though Goa is a very small stateboth in terms of area and population; it contributessignificantly to the national exchequer. Goa receivesover 10% of foreign tourists visiting the country and15% of the nation’s foreign exchange earnings fromtourism are generated in Goa annually”.Towards tourism promotion, the government hasplanned several initiatives including strengtheningmarketing strategies, beach development andsafety measures, heritage conservation and theregulation of water sports. The master plan fortourism mentions proposals for at least two golfcourses, seven more resorts, four food parks,recreational and amusement parks and offshorecasinos. However, the measures as those includedin policy documents have failed to mention anyspecific initiatives for environmental protection/promotion or any specific measures to generateemployment for the local population. Genderconcerns are certainly not reflected in any of thepolicy initiatives.for women in the tourism sector in Goa. Accordingto government estimates, nearly 20% of the totalemployment in the State is generated in the tourismsector. However, government documents do notcontain any kind of statistics related to how muchemployment has been actually generated in thetourism sector. In Goa, people find employmentin travel agencies, as tour operators, the transportsector (taxis and motorcycle taxis, tourist buses), inshops and cafes, Bakeries, laundries, beauty salons,boutiques, cybercafés, the entertainment businessand event management, as travel guides, rentingrooms and vehicles, in shacks along the beach, etc.In the coastal belt of Calangute and Candolim alone,there are 790 shops, 35 travel agencies, 72 shacks,849 bars/restaurants, 560 room rentals, 453 largeand small hotels and guest houses, 2 art galleries,3 dental clinics, 8 pharmacies/ drug stores, 14bakeries, 18 supermarkets, 28 camera/photo shops,and 30 beauty parlors.The Hotel industry is perceived as a major source ofemployment by the local population. In Goa thereare 414 hotels which include 11 (5 star deluxe), 3 (5star), 2 (4 star), 19 (3 Star), 24 (2 star), 19 (1 star), 1(heritage category) and 14 (run by the Goa TourismDevelopment Corporation), among others.Given below are some of the primary findingsthat are an attempt to quantify the extent ofemployment for men and women in one of thesectors namely, the hotel industry in Goa:Employment Potential for Women in Tourism:Tourism is projected as a labor-intensive industrythat has a multiplier effect on employment andincome. Being a heterogeneous, multi-segmentedindustry it offers employment to people in a varietyof sectors. Employment is created in sectors bothdirectly and indirectly related to tourism.One of the objectives of this ongoing research hasbeen to ascertain the potential for employment65

Name of the Hotel Category LocationTABLE IINumber of MaleEmployeesNumber ofFemale EmployeesTotal Number ofEmployeesRonil Beach Resort 2 Star Calangute 141 09 150Fort Aguada BeachResort5 Star Deluxe Sinquerim 267 35 302Majestic 3 Star Porvorim 94 06 100Angels Resort 3 Star Porvorim 67 11 78Hotel Mandovi 3 Star Panjim 138 08 146Goa MarriottResort5 Star Deluxe Panjim 280 50 330Perola do Mar 1 Star Calangute 10 02 12Carmo Lobo Resort 1 Star Candolim 20 05 25Alor Holiday Resort 2 Star Calangute 55 05 60Mapusa Residency - Mapusa 20 20 40Hotel Delmon 2 Star Panjim 66 06 72Aldeia Santa Rita 3 Star Candolim 47 01 48Falcon Hotel 2 Star Calangute 40 10 50Santiago Resorts 2 Star Calangute 65 02 67Casa Sea Shell 1 Star Candolim 11 00 11Maria Rosa 2 Star Calangute 40 00 40Magnum Resort 2 Star Calangute 43 02 45Dona Alcina 3 Star Candolim 72 08 80Hotel Check in 1 Star Panjim 06 00 06Hotel Neptune 1 Star Panjim 05 03 08Hotel Arcadia 1 Star Panjim 05 01 06Hotel Rajdhani 1 Star Panjim 28 07 35Hotel Virashree 1 Star Panjim 05 01 06Hotel Sohni Inn 1 Star Panjim 01 01 02Hotel PritiInternationalKenilworth BeachResortBogmalo BeachResort2 Star Mapusa 25 02 275 Star Utorda 140 45 1855 Star Bogmalo 298 55 35366Horizon Beach3 Star South Goa 38 12 50ResortNote: These are primary findings and the ongoing study proposes to cover 10% of the hotels in each category.

From the table given above we can see that out ofthe 28 hotels covered so far, the total number ofpersons employed is 2328. The number of men whoare employed (2202) far exceeds the number ofwomen (306) in the hotel industry in Goa. (86.8% ofthose employed in this industry are men comparedto women who are just 13.14% of the total).A study conducted in North Goa by “BailanchoSaad”, a women’s organization in 2000, revealedthe following:• yThe total number of women who findemployment in the tourism sector is muchlesser as compared to men.• yThe type of employment that women find isdepends more on their personal appearanceand conversational skills as compared to theireducational qualifications.• yEmployment in this sector is seasonal,contractual and is characterized by a high laborturnover.• yWorking hours are long and irregular.• yWages during the off-season are considerablylower than during the peak season.• yMost of the women have given up traditionaloccupations in agriculture and fishing tofind jobs in the tourism sector. Governmentstatistics reveal that between 1991 and 2001,the percentage of cultivators and agriculturallaborers in the workforce decreased by 26.2and 19.3 respectively and that the percentageof workers in the household industry and otherworkers has actually increased by 43.3 and 45.6respectively (Economic Survey, 2003-04, Govt.of Goa).• yThough there is equal pay for equal work,women find employment in lower positionsand thus end up earning much lesser than menfrom tourism.• yMost of the respondents did not havespecialized training / education directly relatedto tourism.Women Seeking Employment in Male DominatedAreas of Work: A Case-Study:The following is a case-study of a young womanfrom a tribal community in Goa. Seema comes froma socio-economically deprived community and hasfought her way through most of her life to becomeone of the first women to acquire a heavy motorvehicle license. She always dreamt of getting ajob as a bus driver in the state –owned transportcorporation. However, her dreams were shatteredas her application was rejected on the groundsthat giving a job to a woman would set a trend thatwould reduce job opportunities for men a sectorthat has been traditionally male-dominated!Refusing to give up her dreams, Seema is fightingfor her rights together with a women’s organization(Bailancho Saad) in Goa. Today, she drives a jeepthat ferries tourists to a popular tourist site that isonly accessible by road. However, she continues toface ridicule from other transport operators whocontinue to pressurize her hoping that she will giveup!Observations during the course of my researchhave also revealed the following:• yThe number of women in the hotel industry issignificantly lower than men.• yWomen are mostly employed in semi-skilledor unskilled jobs and have lesser opportunitiesthan men to find employment in the tourismsector in Goa.• yWomen are mostly employed in the front officeand house keeping departments, are employedon a contractual basis and consequentlyreceive lower wages than men.• yThere are 146 travel agencies and 91 touroperators in Goa. However, even cursoryobservation reveals that most of the jobs intravel agencies are occupied by men. Thenumber of women in managerial positions isinsignificant and those who do find jobs hereare employed as front office or secretarialassistants.y • The transport sector is totally dominated bymen.67

68• yEven in tourism related businesses like shops,shacks, cafes, and restaurants etc that aremostly owned and operated by men, womenare employed in lower end jobs where theirwages are lower than men.• yTourism continues to attract young girls andboys who often drop out of high school towork in low paid jobs in this sector. (The dropout rate is 42.21 for students from standardI-X).• yToday only a very small percentage of thestudents consider obtaining training/educationin tourism related skills as an option beforeseeking employment. Even if they considertourism as an employment option, they preferto begin in semi-skilled/unskilled jobs.• yGovernment statistics (Economic Survey,2003-04, Govt. of Goa), reveal that from theyear 1991 to 2001, the percentage of womenmarginal workers has increased from 3.8 to 7.5whereas, that of main workers has decreasedfrom 16.8 to 14.8. Thus there has been anactual increase in the number of women casualworkers in the state.• yTourism does not provide steady employment.The maximum numbers of tourists visit onlyfour out of the eleven talukas (administrativedivisions of the state) and so the benefits areconcentrated in these areas.Even if we are to accept the argument that tourismbestows economic benefits by way of generatingemployment, it is evident from the data andfindings mentioned above that the total numberof job opportunities for women in the tourismsector is very low and is characterized by genderstereotyping and discrimination. We can thereforesafely conclude that the net benefits to womenfrom tourism are extremely low.The Socio-Economic Problems related toTourism and its Impact on Gender:When we try to understand the implications oftourism for the people living in tourist destinations,it is important to look beyond the obviouseconomic benefits like foreign exchange earnings,revenues and employment generation. The socioeconomicproblems generated by tourism haveto be understood and possibly quantified if a trueassessment is to be made. Some of the majorconcerns related to tourism development in Goaare as follows:1. Migration and its Implication for the People of Goa:Goa has witnessed an increase in migration sincethe early sixties. However, the extent of migrationhas definitely increased since the mid-eightiesentirely due to tourism. Since attaining statehoodin 1987, Goa embarked upon massive infrastructuraldevelopment for the purpose of tourism promotion.Goa has a fairly high literacy rate and there has beena gradual shift in preference for skilled and nonmanualjobs by the educated youth. The increaseddemand for manual labor is met by people whomigrate to the state from neighboring areas wherethere is a scarcity of employment opportunities.People from other states are brought in by laborcontractors who do not take responsibility forproviding the workers with decent facilities forhousing and sanitation. Consequently, there hasbeen an increase in urban slums where migrantmen and women lead a vulnerable and marginalizedexistence due to the conflict between them and thelocal population.In addition to construction labor, the coastal areashave attracted migrants who come to Goa duringthe tourist season to sell handicrafts to tourists.Men, women and even children sell their wares totourists in order to make a living. These families livein make-shift huts and are constantly harassed bythe police and by the locals who perceive them as athreat to their own businesses.Besides workers who migrate to the state to satisfythe demand for manual labor, there are an increasingnumber of wealthy people from other parts of Indiaand foreign tourists who have migrated to Goa.Wealthy businessmen have invested capital in thestate and own the larger business concerns (Most 5star hotels, casinos, entertainment centers etc, areowned by people who have migrated from outsidethe state), thereby taking a larger share in the profitsgenerated by tourism. It is the latter category ofmigrants who pose a threat to the interests of thelocal population in the state.

Migration has thus led to a conflict over resourcessuch as land, food, water and, housing. Besidesthe conflict over resources, there has emerged aconstant tussle over employment opportunities(for skilled/semi-skilled and unskilled jobs) betweenthe local youth who are grappling with growingunemployment and the migrants who vie for jobsboth in the tourism and non-tourism sectors.2. Tourism and Escalating Prices:With the boom in tourism, the number of touristssometimes exceeds the total population of the state.The demand for food, transport, entertainment andother resources that is generated during the peakseason pushes the prices for essential commoditiesupwards. The economy of household which ismainly managed and sustained by women facesmanifold problems that are rightly perceived asdetrimental to the economic and health status ofpeople, specially women. Though it is argued thatrising prices benefit the sellers/producers, theactual benefits are shared by many in the marketingchain, thus leaving serious questions about the netgain when compared to the high consumer priceindex (the CPI for industrial workers in 2001 for Goawas 555 compared to 458 for the rest of India) thatplaces tremendous pressure on the economy ofhouseholds in Goa.3. Lack of Sustainable Alternatives to Tourism:The economy of Goa today largely depends ontourism and mining for its sustenance. Thoughefforts have been made to work out alternatives,these have not been rigorously pursued and hencecontinue to be largely obscure in the developmentalstrategy of the state. The emphasis in all policydocuments is on tourism and very little attention ispaid to the possibility of developing other sectorsas alternatives to tourism. Traditional occupationsare constantly under threat either due to the lackof attention by the state or due to tourism itself.Attempts by the big hotels to privatize beaches andcutting off access to the beach has led to problemsfor traditional fish workers. Even as recently as lastmonth, huts used by fish workers to store fishingboats and nets were demolished by the state tomake way for beach expansion plans to supporttourism at Colva (a popular destination in SouthGoa). Tourism is therefore considered as the onlyoption for generating employment by the locals.Goa has also witnessed a large scale out migrationby men to other parts of India and out of India insearch of employment. There are many householdsheaded by women who bear the burden of familyrearing and nurturing entirely on their own.4. Tourism, the Commercialization of Culture and itsImplications for Women:The culture of Goa has been erroneously representedas that of the Catholic upper caste elites. The tourismindustry has further appropriated and strengthenedthis image to market Goa as a state that symbolizesnostalgia for its colonial past. In almost all tourismrelated literature Goa is characterized as femaleand is sold to potential male consumers (tourists).Advertisements by the private hotels, airlines andeven the government have depicted women in aderogatory manner seeking to commodify womenas objects waiting to seek gratification from maletourists. In 1993, at the Berlin Tourism Fair, aGovernment of India audio-visual depicted twobeaches in Goa sandwiched between erect nipplesof a white woman’s breasts. Women’s organizationwho have been protesting such distorted andderogatory advertisements claim that womenin Goa have been subjected to increased sexualharassment, violence and prostitution as a result.Western travel magazines have also reportedlyused this gendered marketing strategy to promoteGoa as a destination where “you can leave yourguilt behind at the moment when you travel andindulge in your wildest fantasies”. In addition to thegrowth of violence against women perpetrated bythis form of sexist advertising, it has also promoteda market for sex trade that has resulted in increasedtrafficking of women to the state. Prostitutionnetworks have proliferated along the coastal beltand with the help of sophisticated technology havemade detection and prosecution more difficult forlaw enforcement agencies.The commercialization of culture can also bewitnessed in the manner in which local customsand traditional events have been appropriatedby the government and the tourism lobby. The socalled Goan dances and culture that are on displayat hotels, on boat rides and the state sponsoredcarnival are examples of the attempt to use womenas baits to attract tourists! Goa has been thuspainted as land of tolerant, peace loving people,69

westernized, easy going and a land of fun, frolic,festivals and feni (locally brewed liquor). Peoplevisiting Goa (both domestic and foreign tourists)when asked about what attracts them to Goa; oftenreply that it is the “wine and women”.Goa has also witnessed an increase in domestictourists who come to Goa to ogle at toplesswomen sunbathing on the Goan beaches. Thoughnudism on beaches is prohibited by law, one oftenencounters topless or semi-nude men and womenon the beaches who become targets of voyeurismthat often translates into sexual harassment.In addition to the commercialization and erroneousdepiction of culture, the promotion strategies usedby tourism players have contributed to increaseddrug and alcohol abuse by both the tourist andthe local youth. Rave parties are characterized bythe availability of cheap liquor (due to lower statetaxes), easy availability of drugs and the open useof drugs and alcohol by tourists, entice the youthwho participate in these events.5. The Environmental Impact of Tourism:The government’s plan for tourism promotion hasnot included either a Cost-benefit Analysis or anEnvironmental Impact Assessment. The Plans havecontinued to ignore the need to assess the carryingcapacity of the state while promoting tourismexpansion. Tourism has generated a variety ofenvironmental problems which include:• yThe diversion of water for the use of hotelsand for construction that has left the localsto face a severe water crisis that places asevere burden on the women in these areas.Water from wells in villages is transportedby water tankers to the tourism belt to meetthe growing need for water. The continuousdraining of water from wells has resultedin wells becoming dry due to the loweringof ground water levels. The proposals toconstruct more resorts and golf courses wouldonly heighten the problem of water scarcity.• yThe tourist belts of Calangute, Candolim andColva do not have any sewage treatmentfacilities. Studies submitted to the governmenthave shown that the sewage in the areas hascontaminated groundwater aquifers that posea serious health hazard to people who livehere.• yThe garbage generated by hotels and touristswho visit the coastal areas is enormous andcreates a severe burden on the meagerresources that have been allocated by thegovernment for its disposal. The coastal areashave garbage strewn all over (plastic and nonbiodegradablewaste).• yGoa has also become a recognized partycenter and the coastal areas are subjected todeafening noise generated by all-night partiesand events that are regularly held on thebeach.• yRampant construction of hotels andconcrete structures has flouted all norms andregulations. The coastal belt of Calangute,Candolim and Baga has been converted intoa concrete jungle thereby destroying thenatural beauty of these places and creatingimpediments to traditional occupations liketoddy tapping and fishing.6. Goa: The Next Pedophile Destination? Think Again!Since the early 90’s, Goa has also witnessed agradual but definite increase in pedophilia. TillFreddy Peats was convicted of child sexual abusein 1996, very few in Goa were even aware of thepossibility of such acts of violation against children.The Freddy Peats case threw up many questionsamong which was whether this was an isolated caseor whether the malaise of pedophilia had indeedbecome widespread in Goa.When a small group of child rights activist studiedthe problem, it became evident that pedophilesposing as tourists have been visiting our state andabusing our children by taking advantage of theirvulnerability and weak laws that make detectionand prosecution extremely difficult. The continuousand deliberate attempts by the government anda majority of Goans to push the issue under thecarpet had contributed to the growth of tourismrelated child sexual abuse. The problem has beenwell researched and documented (“See the Evil”,Nishtha Desai, 2001).70

Due to the prolonged battle waged by child rightsgroups and women’s organizations in the State,the Government has had to finally acknowledge theproblem and has enacted the Goa Children’s Actthat includes specific provisions to protect childrenand to prosecute the violators. Child Rights Activistshave elicited support from the local communitiesresiding in the tourist belt to protect all childrenfrom pedophiles. The message that now goes outto all visitors is: “Tourists are welcome, Pedophilesare not!”Evolving Strategies to Combat the NegativeConsequences of Tourism:Ever since the Government declared tourism as anindustry and put forward a ‘master plan” to promotetourism, questions have been raised by citizensand NGOs about its implications for the people.Protests have been made against the environmentaldegradation, destruction of traditional sourcesof livelihood, commercialization of culture, thepromotion of golf courses and casinos, illegalconstructions, privatization of beaches, againstissuing more licenses to bars, pedophilia, etcThe protests have been led by the affected villagersand have been often supported by NGOs like theGoa Foundation, Jagrut Goenkaranchi Fauz (Armyof Vigilant Goans), Bailancho Saad, Children’s Rightsin Goa, Jan Ugahi, and Bailancho Ekvott, citizen’scommittees, freedom fighter’s associations andothers.The following demands were placed before theGovernment by concerned groups and citizens in1997: (See: “Fish Curry and Rice”, Goa Foundation,2002)• yTourism promotion should not distort theimage of Goa, its people and specially women.• yA ban should be imposed on granting anyfurther licenses for the production and saleof alcohol. Bars should be regulated. Drinkingshould not be allowed on buses, in marketplaces and on the streets.• yNo permission should be granted to casinoseither on land or sea and gambling should beprohibited.• yThere should be a code of dress and behaviorfor tourists in order to prevent disrespect tolocal traditions and culture.• yThe Government and the Tourism lobby cannotexpand tourism at the expense of the localpeople.• yThe Master Plan for Tourism should beplaced before the people for comments andsuggestions.These groups have successfully thwarted attemptsto violate environmental norms, to privatizebeaches, to commercialize the carnival, to promotegolf courses and casinos in the state of Goa.Strategies used have included mobilizing affectedpeople and the general public, using the mediato promote awareness, producing alternativeliterature on tourism related issues, lobbying withsensitive legislators, holding protest marchesand sit-ins, organizing a people’s carnival whereinawareness about the dangers of tourism wasgenerated, etc.Villagers Protest the Licensing of Bars and TheConstruction of A Water Sports Facility in Cacra:Between 1999 and 2001, the villagers of Cacra (atiny fishing village consisting of 45 houses with apopulation of approximately 450 people from thetribal community), came out in protest against thelicensing of a bar which they perceived as a nuisanceto the village. The women in Cacra believed thatthe bar was responsible for promoting alcoholismamong male members of their community andthat it was impacting the lives of all women in thevillage. Consequently, they elicited the supportof a women’s organization (Bailancho Saad) andapproached the authorities with a protest petitionand forced the bar to close down. Goa has a liberalalcohol policy to support tourism in the state.Licenses are freely issued and lower taxes onalcohol enable even the poor to consume it. Similarprotests have been organized by women in othervillages in Goa.In 2001, the owners of a 5 star deluxe hotel in NorthGoa, began constructing a jetty for a proposed watersports facility in Cacra, without even bothering to71

obtain the necessary permission from the villagepanchayat (local self-government institution at thevillage level). The construction began at a rapidpace and alarmed the villagers, especially the fishworkers whose access to the sea was restrictedand whose fishing nets were damaged. The hotelowners had also dug a well in the area to drawwater for the construction without consulting thevillagers. Constant pumping of water from this wellresulted in the lowering of water levels in the wellused by the village. The villagers approached thepanchayat and sought an explanation. With thesupport of NGOs they lodged their protests andfinally approached the Chief Minister of Goa whowas forced to ask the hotel to stop constructionimmediately!It is important to note that in both these instances,the women in the village were proactive in theirprotests as they perceived the developments intheir village as those that impacted and threatenedtheir lives.Conclusion:From all that has been said above, it is evidentthat tourism has generated many problems in Goa– problems that impact the lives of women bothdirectly and indirectly. In order to make developmentequitable and meaningful, it is imperative thatevery plan, proposal or policy be based on a clearunderstanding of the possible impact these wouldhave on the status of women. Women’s groups inGoa have been continuously partnering with theconcerned citizens and groups within and outsideGoa, to evolve strategies to combat the negativeinfluences of tourism on gender. Researchers andpolicy makers need to develop a gender-sensitiveinsight into the developmental models that arecurrently practiced. The above paper is a modestattempt to begin the journey towards such anunderstanding.Endnotes:* The paper was presented during the session on‘Traveling Women in Asia’ at the ‘9th InternationalInterdisciplinary Congress on Women, Women’sWorlds 2005 (WW05)’ on 23.6.2005 organized byKorean Association of Women’s Studies (KAWS) andEwha Womans University at Seoul, Korea.Bibliography:Alvares, Claude, “Fish Curry and Rice”, Goa Foundation,2002Bailancho Saad, “In the Name of a Game: The stakes inGolf”, 1993Bailancho Saad, “Culture Vultures: A Critique of theCommercialization of Carnival in Goa”, 1993.David Wilson, “Paradoxes of Tourism in Goa”, in, “TheTransforming of Goa”, ed. Norman Dantas, The OtherIndia Press, 1999.Diocesan Pastoral Council, “Tourism in Goa: ItsImplications, 1987.Department of Tourism, Govt. of Goa, “TouristStatistics-2004”Hemmati, Minu (Ed), “Gender and Tourism: Women’simpact and participation in tourism”, UNED-UK, 2000.Hugh and Colleen Gantzer, “Discovering Goa”, MediaTransasia India Limited, 2001.Mario Cabral e Sa, “Goa Tourism: Astride a Tigress”, inGoa Today, Vol. XXXVIII No.8, March, 2004.Martins, Roland, “For a Humane Tourism” in Seminar,,543, November, 2004.Martins Sabina, “Cognizance of Non-Cognizance: Reporton Registered Crimes against Women in Goa”, Goa StateCommission for Women, July 2000.Rao, Nina, “Women and Tourism”, paper presented ata workshop organized by Institute for Management inGovernment, Thiruvananthpuram, 21-23 rd July, 1997.Thomas Bryn and Douglas Streatfield-James, LonelyPlanet: Goa,”Lonely Planet Publications, London, 2000.Vikas Adhyayan Kendra, “Facts against Myths: Myths onTourism”, Vol. II # 7, October, 1995.Websites:www.earthsummit2002.orgwww.unidadgenero.comwww.goadesc.org72

SECTION 03Women’s Engagement with Tourism- Issues and Concerns73

Women in Bangalore’s Hotel IndustryEQUATIONS, 2010*1. Introduction:Women in India, like in almost every nation, makeup the poorest of the poor, constitute amongst themost marginalized, exploited and disempoweredsections of society, and face repeated violationsof their basic human rights. Gender equality andwomen’s empowerment have been asserted to behuman rights and a pre-condition for social justice.Women’s movements all over the world, includingIndia, have fought for it. They have challengedexisting gender relations and patriarchal systemsto reframe the development dialogue. They haveargued for including women’s rights and women’sroles as active participants and beneficiaries in thedevelopment process.The need to address gender discrimination isseen in large global processes and mainstreamdevelopment efforts. Recognising women’scentrality in development processes, the UNMillennium Development Goals (MDG) argued thatone of the main development challenges faced bythe world today is that of the condition of womenand decided to ‘promote gender equality andempower women’. MDG also addresses “the equalrights and opportunities of women and men” andpledges “to combat all forms of violence againstwomen and to implement the Convention on theElimination of All Forms of Discrimination againstWomen” (CEDAW). 1 With the approach of the 30thanniversary of CEDAW, the 15th anniversary of theBeijing Platform for Action, the 10th anniversaryof Security Council Resolution 1325 2 on Women,Peace and Security and the 10th anniversary of theMDG, the question arises: have women been trulyempowered? Has gender equality been achieved ordoes it continue to be a distant goal?The United Nations World Tourism Organisation(UNWTO) launched a new Action Plan for theempowerment of women through tourism in March2008 as part of MDG’s aim of gender equality.When UNWTO chose the theme of women andtourism for the year 2007 it was for the first time,since 1980, that the UNWTO focused its attentionon the issue of women in tourism. “Tourism isa sector of the economy that not only employssignificant numbers of women, but providesenormous opportunities for their advancement,”stated Secretary General Francesco Frangialli, inhis customary message on World Tourism Day - 27September 2007. The tourism industry positionsitself as a major employer of women globally andan industry that is women friendly.A strong argument in favour of tourismdevelopment is that it generates employment atdifferent levels due to the wide range of servicesand products it requires. Undoubtedly, there ismerit in this argument. However, it is important tounderstand what kind of employment women haveaccess to in tourism. Tourism does provide a rangeof activities where women can participate andalso creates opportunities for entrepreneurshipdevelopment. Global data on numbers of womenand men working in tourism-related professionssuggests that the organised tourism sector is aparticularly important sector where 46 % of theworkforce comprises of women (in general, 30-40%of the workforce is women) (ILO 2007). Of the dataavailable for the years between 1988 and 2005, itappears that there has been a broad increase in theparticipation of women in the tourism industry at aglobal level.However research and the stories of womenengaged in tourism around the world has shownthat it is an industry that is far from being genderjust. As in many other sectors, there is a significanthorizontal and vertical gender segregation of thelabour market in tourism. Horizontally, women andmen are placed in different occupations - women areemployed as waitresses, chambermaids, cleaners,travel agents, sales persons, flight attendants, etc.,whereas men are employed as barmen, gardeners,construction workers, drivers, pilots, etc. Vertically,75

the typical “gender pyramid” is prevalent in the The present study aims to investigate thetourism sector - lower levels and occupations relationship between tourism and employment ofwith few career development opportunities being women in relation to the hotel/ hospitality industrydominated by women and key managerial positions in Bangalore, as a part of the formal tourismbeing dominated by men. 3 Early advocates of industry.tourism viewed tourism employment as a positive2. Objectives and Background of the Study:way of integrating under-privileged subgroups ofsociety into the mainstream economy. However, We decided to interrogate the claim “Tourism opensthese have tended largely to reinforce an existing doors for women” to understand through one casesexist, ethnic and caste-based system of social study what opportunities the hotel sector werestratification. In tourism particularly, women’s roles providing to women in terms of employment? Is thein economic production cannot be understood tourism industry creating possibilities for womenwithout reference to the cultural context of to achieve independence and empowerment inwomen’s structural position in society and the economic and personal terms? What role does andhome. 4can tourism play in the struggle for equality, equityand empowerment of women?With India’s tourism industry on the path ofexpansion, government is encouraging investment The study decided to focus on the hospitality sectorin tourism in the country. To encourage women’s in the tourism industry, as part of the organisedparticipation in the tourism industry and provide sector in Bangalore. It focussed on understandingtraining opportunities for the same, the Ministry the opportunities available to women in the hotelof Tourism (MoT), Government of India initiated sector- career options, growth options, incentivesthe scheme like ‘Project Priyadarshini’. The Project given, social securities available, job satisfaction,‘Priyadarshini’ was launched on December 9, 2005 equal opportunities available in the work space etc.with the aim to bring in women in greater numbers These issues are viewed under the general workingin the core area of tourism at all levels. It aimed to conditions in the hotel sector with a specific focusemploy women in non-stereotypical areas in the on gender related conditions, policies, guidelinesIndian travel sector, like driving taxis, becoming and legislations.guides etc. It also provided for training for selfdefence,vehicle repairing and knowledge of other The study decided to also look at the formativerelated domain. While launching the project the stage: college-level educational facilities available tothen Minister of Tourism, Ms Renuka Chowdhury female students to attain comprehensive specialisedhad said that, “The whole idea behind Project skills necessary to join the hospitality sector inPriyadarshini is to address the key issue of gender the formal tourism industry. These specialisedbias in our society. The gender ratio in India is courses range from Bachelor of Hotel Managementgetting more skewed by the day. In many pockets (BHM), 6 months trade diploma courses to 4 yearsof states like Rajasthan and Punjab, for instance, bachelor’s degree and even masters programs. Infor every 1,000 men, there are only 800 women. the last decades, a variety of hospitality coursesIf this isn’t alarming, what is? We shout from the have opened all over India. The interaction withrooftops about caring for the girl child. But in reality the students was intended to understand thewomen in our society are perceived as a `burden’. facilities available and the motivation of the femaleSo the ministry is doing its bit by economically and students: why do they study hotel management,psychologically empowering them through this what do they believe they can and will achieve inscheme.” 5 Talking about the Priyadarshini Project, the future, etc. Attention was also given to the ratioMr. K.L. Das, Regional Director, Delhi, MoT said, of male and female students joining these colleges.“Integrating gender perspectives into tourism isparticularly important as the tourism industry is As a first step, the female students in hotelone major employer of women and offers various management courses were interviewed andopportunities for independent income-generating their responses analysed in consideration ofactivities for them.” 6 their background, motivation, expectations and76

goals. As a second step, the study focussed onthe female employees in the hotels. This includedtheir percentage of representation in this sector,educational background, economic and socialbackground, motivations, aims, achievements andpossible sacrifices for their career. Both results wereevaluated, with the aim to examine if the students’expectations matched with that of the experiencesof the women employees in reality and also to findout what in reality the picture currently looks like.3. Methodology:This paper is based on qualitative data collectedthrough interviews with a range of people from thehotel sector and colleges of hotel management,data from tourism research papers, and secondarydata collected from media articles.3.1 Research Questions:The main research questions that this study centredon were:• yBackground information about the hotels,including interviews with hotel management.This included the ratio of male to femaleemployees in general and at different levels ofemployment; women’s career options, growthoptions, salary structure, gender-relatedpolicies and benefits, working conditions,social securities, job satisfaction and equalopportunities in the workplace.• yPersonal interviews with female employees.Each employee interviewed was asked to givespecific personal information such as familybackground, place of birth, family status, levelof education, employment status and workexperience. The interview covered questionsabout their motivations in joining the hotelsector and their personal experiences in theworkplace. The discussions involved issuesincluding equal opportunities in the hotelsector and general working conditions suchas hours of work, employment contracts andpolicies relating to female employees. Matterssuch as employers’ expectations of femaleemployees and discrimination- includingsexual harassment, were also discussed.The researcher also tried to find out theirperceptions of the societal opinion aboutwomen working in the hotel industry, includingthose of their male colleagues.• yInformation about the courses in hotelmanagement colleges, including interviewswith college faculty. The required informationconsisted of availability of the course andcareer prospects for the hotel managementstudents.• yPersonal interviews with female students. Thestudents were first asked to share personalinformation about themselves such as familybackground and place of origin. The interviewthen covered topics such as their motivationto enrol in a professional tourism course,consideration in deciding career options in thetourism industry, favourite subjects on thecourse, future hopes and plans with respectto career and personal life, assessment ofcareer opportunities, growth prospects,perceptions about equality in employment, theexpectations of employers and social attitudestowards women’s employment in the hotelindustry.3.2 Research Design:Primary Source DataTen hotels were visited in order to collect qualitativeand quantitative data. The hotels ranged frombudget to five star luxury hotels and includedindependent as well as chain hotels. In addition, sixcolleges of hotel management in Bangalore werevisited.127 people were interviewed in total. 63 peoplewere interviewed through personal interaction/conversations and focus groups, and the remaining64 participated through questionnaires.The types of people interviewed were as follows:• yHuman Resources (HR) and other hotelmanagers. Firstly, the HR Manager of everyhotel was approached for permission tobe interviewed in order to understand theHR policies of the respective hotels, and tointerview the female employees. Backgroundinformation about the hotel, its policies77

and working conditions were discussed.Permission to interview women employeeswas requested. In two cases, interviews withother male department managers were alsoundertaken.• yHotel employees. 34 female employeesfrom various hotels were interviewed. Only27 agreed to give face-to-face interviews;the other 7 employees responded via thequestionnaire. Initially the aim was to alsointerview some male employees, however dueto some research challenges, 7 it could not berealised.• yHotel Management College faculty: Theprincipals and department heads of thecolleges were a important source ofinformation. They supplied all the requiredinformation about the subject-optionsavailable to students and the career scope forhotel management graduates.• yHotel Management College students: 15personal interviews were undertaken and 25students filled in questionnaires in order togauge their opinions on the employment ofwomen in the hotel industry.• yKarnataka Tourism Office employee. Onlyone interview was possible in order to obtaininformation about government schemes andtraining provisions for women who want tojoin the tourism industrySecondary Source Data:• yNewspaper articles. Media articles of the lastthree years were reviewed in order to getan overview of the expansion, employmentpatterns and trends of the hotel sector, as wellas upcoming issues• yOther sources. Several websites and bookswere referred to concerning relevantlegislation, policies, schemes, impending billsand other documents, for an overview of thelegal framework with respect to employmentin the hotel sector.3.3 Data Collection:The data was collected via:• yQuestionnaires. These were used to collectdata from the students. The same methodwas initially planned to be used for obtaininginformation from female hotel employees.However, this could not be realised due toobjections raised by the HR managers in mostof the hotels. This restriction led to a limitednumber of interviews with women employeesinstead.• yGuided interviews. These were the mainsource of information collected. Most ofthe interviews were conducted face-toface.Interviews with hotel managers andfaculty members were conducted inside theirworkplaces and the students were interviewedon campus. With respect to the employees,while some had to be interviewed in frontof their managers, others were interviewedoutside the hotel during their lunch breaks.• yFocus groups. Depending on the context andsuitability, a few interviews were conducted ingroups of two to five people.3.4 Research Challenges and Limitations:• yA major challenge of this study was gettingthe participation of the hotel sector in termsof finding representatives (HR managers andgeneral managers) who were willing to bepart of the research and to be interviewed.In most cases, initial email and telephone callapproaches were not responded to and hotelmanagers were uncooperative or refused togive interviews. Accessing hotel employeeswas particularly difficult, since most HR andgeneral managers refused to grant permissionto the researcher to talk to their staff. In a fewcases, where permissions for interview weregranted, the HR manager insisted on attendingthe interview. This possibly came in the way ofa more open conversation with the employees.y • Language barriers made conversations withsome hotel support staff difficult. 878

• yAs only female employees were interviewed, inthis section the term “employees” refers onlyto female employees.• yAll of the interviews with hotel employeeswere conducted during their working hours;therefore many of them could spare only alittle time to be interviewed.• yThe availability of data about governmenttraining provisions in the hospitality sectorand tourism industry, with a focus on femaleemployment, was nearly non-existent.3.5 Data Analysis:Apart from the background information collectedthrough the literature review, this study is basedon the interpretations of the interviews conducted.Broadly, following themes are covered to seekopinions of the respondents.1. The perception about women working in hotels2. Being a woman in the hotel industry: burden orbenefit?3. Working women in the hotel industry4. Working mothers in the hotel industry5. Measures to ensure physical safety and prevent6. Sexual harassment of employees in the hotelindustry7. Working conditions of women in the hotelindustry8. The hotel industry as a career choice for women-How and why?4. Employment of Women in the Hotel Industryin India:4.1 BackgroundAccording to a recent study, “Gender Equality andWomen’s empowerment in India”, undertaken by theMinistry of Health and Family Welfare, Governmentof India, in addition to education, employment canalso be an important source of empowerment forwomen. 9 Employment is considered an importantmeans of women empowerment as it providesfinancial independence, alternative sources ofsocial identity, and exposure to power structuresindependent of kin networks (Dixon-Mueller, 1993).Nonetheless, early marriage, child bearing andlimited access to education limit women’s ability toparticipate in the labour market, particularly in theformal sectors. By contrast, male gender roles arecompatible with employment and men are typicallyexpected to be employed and to be bread winnersfor their families. Not surprisingly, men dominatemost formal labour markets. National FamilyHealth Survey (NFHS)-3 conducted in 2005-6 foundthat, among all women aged 15-49, 43% had beenemployed at any time in the past 12 months withthe majority of them being currently employed. Bycontrast, 87% of men in the same age group havebeen employed in the past 12 months. It was alsoobserved that most employed women work forsomeone else, away from home, and continuouslythroughout the year; about one in three women donot receive monetary compensation for their workor receive at least part of their payment in kind.Most employed women work in agriculture; only7% work in professional, technical, or managerialoccupations. 10Tourism being a labour-intensive activity, it doesprovide a range of activities where womencan participate and also creates opportunitiesfor entrepreneurship development in touristdestinations. The tourism industry represents abig economic sector and its environmental andsocial impacts are obvious and have been welldocumented. Integrating gender perspectives intothe discussion of tourism is particularly important asthe tourism industry is a major employer of women,offers various opportunities for independentincome generating activities, and at the same timeaffects women’s lives in destination communities.Global data on numbers of women and men workingin tourism-related professions suggests that theorganised tourism sector is a particularly importantsector where 46 % of the workforce is women (ingeneral 30-40% of the workforce is women) (ILO2007). Of the data available for the years between1988 and 2005, it appears that there has been abroad increase in the participation of women in thetourism industry at a global level. 114.2 Literature Review:Corresponding to the growth of the tourismindustry, the hospitality sector is seen to be on agrowth path in India. Today it is India’s third largestindustry, employing 9.5 million people. 12 During79

the year 2006-07, the industry’s revenue was Rs.604.32 billion, an increase of 21.27% on the previousyear. In 2010, the industry is expected to touch Rs.826.76 billion. 13 In the context of this growth, it isestimated that “...there is an annual demand fortwo lakh trained human power” 14 to service theindustry. To meet this demand, there is a greatneed for professional education and training. Tomeet this, many colleges of hotel managementhave opened up all over the country in the last twodecades. In 2008, India had 175 hotel managementtraining institutes, from which around 18,000students have graduated. 15Despite this great need, the number of womenemployed in the formal tourism sector in India isnot very high, although the number is increasing,according to many of those interviewed.The literature review is now structured in the samecategories as the questions and themes posed tothe interviewees.4.2.1. General Employment Scenario in the HotelIndustry:Global recession has adversely impacted severalIndian industries, especially hospitality. Witha downswing in revenues, hotel managementcompanies have decided to tighten their beltsand right size their workforces as well as theremuneration packages drawn by them. Theseare the findings indicated by the 2010 India SalarySurvey Report. 16 Excerpts from the 2010 India SalarySurvey indicate that the median salaries of positionsacross the hotel hierarchy have seen dramaticmovements. While declines have been observedacross departments, Resident Managers havebeen the worst affected with a 46 per cent declinein the median salaries. HVS observes that thoughthe position is not being rendered redundant, it iscertainly experiencing a strike-off from the hierarchyof several hotel companies across India. SeveralResident Managers have known to have beenpromoted with no replacements being proffered.The survey however does show an increase insalaries of Departmental Heads across Front Officeand Food & Beverage, thus indicating a renewedrequirement for quality professionals to guidethese revenue producing areas more efficientlythan earlier. The rise in the salaries across the Foodand Beverage domain may also be attributed to theemergence of quality stand-alone restaurants andfood chains that are recruiting hotel professionalsfrom the said department at extremely competitivepackages. 17 According to the Survey, for otherdepartmental head positions, the decline in salarymay be attributed to either or a combination of thefollowing reasoning:Salary rationalisation across all Department Headpositions, movement of people within the companyby means of internal promotion, which has providedthe promoted employee a larger span of control withnotional hike in overall compensation, recruitmentbeen undertaken at lower compensation levels thanbenchmarks redundancy of positions emergencebudget and economy hotels that have significantlylower compensation trends as compared to firstclass or luxury hotels. 18There is rising discontent amongst the employeesin the hotel industry. The Bangalore Jilla HotelKarmikara Sangha (the Bangalore District HotelEmployees Union), which is affiliated to theCentre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), urged theKarnataka Labour Department to fix the minimummonthly wage for workers in the hotel industry inBangalore at Rs. 10,000.” 19 According to the sangharepresentatives, Bangalore had become a costlycity to live in. Prices of all essential commoditieswere on the rise such as house rent, electricity andwater charges and the cost of education. The StateGovernment had not revised the minimum wage ofhotel employees for eight years. The sangha urgedthe Government to order hotel managements tofix a minimum wage of Rs. 10,000, plus DearnessAllowance. They alleged that lodges, restaurantsand star hotels were recruiting workers on contract,depriving them of the notified minimum wage,weekly off, annual leave, bonus, healthcare underthe ESIS and Provident Fund benefits. The fate ofworkers in the many clubs in Bangalore was nobetter. They urged the Government to abolish thesystem of contract labour.The general working conditions in hotels affect thework of both men and women. However since thisstudy focuses on the employment of women in thehotel industry, working conditions pertaining only80

to women will be analysed in this section. Workingconditions in this context include remuneration andthe terms of employees’ contracts, such as workingextra hours.Considering these informally extended workinghours and almost non-existence of overtimepay, are salaries in the hotel industry adequatecompensation for the given time and effort?Beyond that, does it pay back the investment ofthree to four years of expensive studies? An articleby Express Hospitality talks about the “High coursefees in comparison to low pay packages” 20 whichsubsequently discourages students to join theindustry.One article headline put the situation as “Five-starcareers (but only) one star salaries”. 21There is certainly a need for a wage increase forhotel workers, especially in Bangalore, where themedian salary of an employee is among the lowestin the country, with an average wage of Rs. 25,000a month. 22With respect to equal pay, Article 39(d) of theConstitution of India declares, “the State, inparticular, shall direct its policy towards securingthat there is equal pay for equal work for bothmen and women”. 23 In order to recognise theseprinciples, the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, whichwas already mentioned before, was implemented.The Act guarantees equal pay for equal workirrespective of sex. 24As already discussed, the hotel industry falls underthe Shops and Commercial Establishment Act1961. The Act aims to provide for the regulationof working conditions in shops and commercialestablishments in the state of Karnataka. 25 Detailedspecifications about conditions, like working hours,overtime, salary as well as safety measures etc., aredefined in the individual standing order of everyindividual establishment.4.2.2. Perception about Women Working inHotels:Public opinion has a significant impact on thedevelopment of a society, and it simultaneouslyreflects all relevant change and progress. Fromthis perspective, it was deemed necessary to get adeeper understanding of the current public opinionof the study topic.From ongoing media discussions, one gets a sensethat in India women are now beginning to holdsenior managerial positions in the workforce.For many of these women, “the sky is not thelimit”. 26 One article says that in the past, women“were discouraged to join the ‘immoral world ofhotels’” and “parents were unwilling to allow theirdaughters to work late hours and night shifts”. Butperceptions are changing.In 2005, approximately 50.16 lakh women were partof the active workforce in the organised sector, ofwhich 41.77% worked in the private sector. 27 Thequestion arose as to how much of this organisedsector women work force working were actuallyemployed in the hotel industry, which for manyyears was a male-dominated area.Opportunities for women in the hotel industry: Thesky is not the limit!As mentioned earlier, the hospitality industry isconsidered to be one of the largest industriesin terms of employment in India. Furthermore,it is one of the fastest growing industries andhence there is a constant increase in demand foremployees. 28 According to an article, “…there willbe a 45% increase in the number of five-star hotels inthe [Indian] Capital in the next two years. In othermetropolitan cities such as Bangalore, Mumbaiand Kolkata, there will be a growth of 25% in thehospitality industry by 2010.” 29The mass media portrays employment in the hotelsector as one where anyone can have a greatcareer. Job prospects for both men and women aregrowing and the sector provides limitless growthopportunities. In particular, “women have multipleopportunities, to suit their skills and temperament, asthe industry is geared towards personalised service.They can fit into any role in the hotel industry (...)81

One cannot generalise the prospects and it is solelyup to an individual to reach great heights.” 304.2.3. Being a Woman in the Hotel Industry:Burden or Benefit?“A woman is naturally endowed with skills thatare advantageous to the hospitality industry suchas relationship building, and good communicationskills. The very concept of being hospitable to a guestis ingrained in a woman and comes naturally to her.Being more skilled at multi-tasking, a woman’s abilityto balance work priorities with family and householdresponsibilities provides her with an edge, especiallyin an industry where work timings may be erratic.” 31This statement is typical of the many viewsexpressed in the media about the employability ofwomen in the hotel industry. Women are believedto be better hosts and caretakers and hospitalityis considered as their natural talent, since mostwomen take care of families and home. Also, it isperceived in the industry that women are moresoft-spoken, attentive, patient and better withcustomer relations than men. Certainly, someof these perceptions can be true, but do theyindicate gender stereotyping, segregation or evendiscrimination? Furthermore, do female employeeshave access to all departments, even those whichrequire less ‘female attributes’? In other words, dothey have equal opportunities?The research took into consideration the issue ofthe gender-specific vulnerability of women. Studieshave shown that working women are vulnerable tosexual harassment and are subject to discriminationwith respect to opportunity and remuneration.Women working in the hotel industry are widelyperceived to be vulnerable to physical abusebecause their work involves a lot of interaction withhotel guests and they have to work at night. Theresearch conducted queried the welfare policiesand protection measures provided to femaleemployees by their hotel employers.4.2.4. Working Women in the Hotel Industry:According to a study, 32 since the number of womenwho choose a career in the hospitality industryhas been increasing, women’s status is of moreconcern than ever. It was reported that some 41percent of hospitality managers were women(Diaz & Umbreit, 1995), and by examining hotelshaving over 500 rooms, the study found that only2.6 percent of those properties’ managers werewomen. The numbers of women in general managerpositions were even fewer (Wood, 1998). A look atthe statistics of the women in top management(general manager) positions in the lodging industryillustrates the situation, only 10% of the AmericanHotel and Motel Association (AH & MA, 2004) werewomen.Researchers have identified a number of factorsthat function as barriers to women’s careeradvancement. These included glass ceiling,gender discrimination and sexual harassment,organizational culture, and work and family conflict.• y Glass Ceiling: The glass ceiling refers toinvisible, generally artificial, barriers thatprevent qualified individuals, e.g. women,from advancing within their organizationsand reaching their full potential (Knutson &Schmidgall, 1999). The term was popularizedin the 1980s when it became a significantconcept in the workplace in the United States. Itdescribes a tendency for women and minoritiesto be over represented in the lower levels ofan industry, but underrepresented at seniorlevels. Even though great strides have takenplace in recent years, there remains room forimprovement. 33y • Gender Discrimination and Sexual Harassment:Woods and Kavanaugh (1994) found that morethan 80 percent of men and women perceivegender discrimination and sexual harassmentin the workplace as an ongoing problem.According to their research the reasons whymost women graduates left the hospitalityindustry was due to gender discriminationor sexual harassment. Sexual harassment issimply not basing employment decisions on anindividual’s acceptance or rejection of sexualadvances. Another form of sexual harassmentis the creation of an intimidating, hostile, oroffensive work environment. Repeatedly staringprovocatively and making off-colour jokes orremarks also are considered sexual harassment(Woods & Kavanaugh).82

• y Organizational Culture: Recent research hasconcentrated on masculine organizationalculture as an explanation for the glass-ceilingphenomenon, that is, organizational cultureforms a barrier for women’s careers. Studiesalso have reported that there are only smalldifferences between the management styles ofmale and female managers. These differenceshad decreased to the extent that these cultureswere more male-dominated (Eagly & Johnson,1990). Many investigations have concluded thatwomen in senior management positions haveadapted their behaviour to emulate traditionalmale styles (Brownell, 1994). 34• y Work and Family Conflict: In recent years,research has shown that work-family conflictalso affects women’s career advancement.Mallon & Cassell (1999) found that theexpectation of long hours was a significantbarrier to seeking promotions for many womenin the industry (Mallon & Cassell, 1999). 354.2.5. Working Mothers in the Hotel Industry:Most women in India, like in many other parts ofthe world, are expected to maintain a balancebetween work responsibilities and home duties.As a result, the pressure endured by them doubles.In addition to this, if the woman is a mother, thepressure triples. This part will therefore focus onthe multiple responsibilities of a working woman.The legal aspect of family-friendly policies will beclarified. The next part inquires whether and howhotels offer benefits to their female employees,such as family-friendly working hours, part-timeemployment, flexi-time, maternity leave andprovisions for child care.The Employees’ State Insurance Act 1948 does“provide for certain benefits to employees in caseof sickness, maternity and employment injury andto make provision for certain other matters inrelation thereto.” 36 It defines maternity leave andcash benefits for pregnant women. The existingwage-limit for coverage under the Act, is Rs.10,000per month. Women who earn more than thestated maximum wage will not be covered by theEmployees’ State Insurance Act, but is under theprovisions of the Maternity Benefits Act, 1961. Bothacts regulate employment of women before andafter childbirth and provide for 12 weeks of paidmaternity leave, medical bonuses and certain otherbenefits. While the benefits under the Employees’State Insurance Act fall under the principles ofinsurance and therefore require contributions of theemployer and the employee, the Maternity BenefitsAct is an employer’s liability scheme. Therefore, theemployee does not have to pay any contributionstowards the maternity benefits. 37 38Unlike women in the private sector who have84 days of maternity leave, women employed inthe government sector have been entitled to 135days since 1972 and in September 2008, this wasincreased to 180 days with pay. Furthermore, unpaidleave granted in continuation with maternity leavecan be extended to two years for these women. 39Bringing “corporate sector and private firms underthe purview of this law” 40 was discussed but thisattempt apparently failed.In 2006, the Ministry of Women and ChildDevelopment announced the introduction of apolicy that will make it mandatory for private andpublic organisations to provide working motherswith child care facilities in the form of crèches andday-care centres. 41 However information aboutthe continuation of this policy is scarce. Aroundthe same time the Rajiv Ghandi Crèche Scheme forChildren of Working Mothers was introduced. Thescheme provides assistance to NGOs for runningcrèches for infants and sanctioned 804 new crèchesin the state of Karnataka between 2006 and 2007. 42It appears that changes are happening in orderto better support working mothers and thegovernment especially seems to be aware ofthe need for benefits. But has the hotel industryadopted any of these changes? What kind ofbenefits for working mothers do hotels provide?“Workplaces have traditionally been designed keepingmen in mind, with long hours and the expectationof total commitment to work” 43 the hotel industrybeing no exception. If employers want to build aloyal female workforce, they would have to investin family-friendly policies. Unfortunately, it seemsthat hotels are not family-friendly workplaces.As it often requires a 24/7 commitment, the workis impractical with unsociable and long hours,83

84sometimes including a six day week with work onweekends and holidays and a lot of shift work andovertime.It would appear that hotels do not currently havevery family- friendly work policies. This does notonly refer to women, but to men as well. Still, thereis a huge difference, as for women, “…their dutiesas moms still take precedence.” 44 They are not onlythe birth-givers but also the expected caretakers,as there is no concept of paternity leave existing inIndian law. 45 The lack of a father’s opportunity totake responsibility, the lack of childcare provisions,the lack of an adequately long maternity leaveand the lack of family-friendly working hours areshortcomings that are not only evident in the hotelindustry. “That coupled with the absence of anyencouragement from the government agencies toenforce laws that make work places women friendly,has made the ride a not-so-smooth one for the city’sworking moms.” 464.2.6. Measures to Ensure Physical Safety andPrevent Sexual Harassment:Women are more likely to face different forms ofviolence and discrimination in their everyday andworking lives than men. The Indian governmentprovides a set of rules and regulations to protectwomen in the workplace.Section 66 of the Factories Act 1948 effectivelybanned women from working night shifts, by statingthat no woman shall be required or allowed to workin any factory beyond the hours of 6 am to 7 pm.This was the law until 1999, when the Mumbai HighCourt passed an order allowing women to work inthe Santa Cruz Electronic Processing Zones duringthe night. Following this, the High Court of AndhraPradesh withdrew Section 66 of The FactoriesAct 1948, claiming it to be unconstitutional. Thisdeclaration was upheld, because Section 66violated the fundamental right to gender equality,discriminated women on the grounds of gender andinterfered with the fundamental right of petitionersto carry out their right to practice any professionor to carry on any occupation, trade or business.The Madras High Court in this regard made severalprovisions for the safety and security of women andthe preservation of their dignity and honour beforedeclaring Section 66 of The Factories Act 1948unconstitutional. The provisions included:“…employers should prevent and deter any sexualharassment and provide procedures to resolve,settle or prosecute any such act; the employersshould maintain a complaint mechanism, includinga complaint committee headed by women and halfthe members of the committee should be women;women should be employed only in batches, of notless than ten or not less than two thirds of the totalnightshifts’ strength; separate work sheds, canteenfacilities, all women transport facility, additional paidholiday for menstruation period, medical facilitiesshould also be provided besides two or more womenwardens to work as special welfare assistants; theemployer shall provide proper working conditionswith respect to work, leisure, health and hygieneand there should be proper lighting in and aroundthe factory where female workers may move, thereshould be security at entry and exit points of factoryand at least twelve consecutive hours of rest orgap between shifts; the employers should sendfortnightly reports to the inspector of factories aboutnight shifts including any unwanted incident and alsoto the local police station.” 47Finally, the Factories (Amendment) Bill 2005was introduced by the Union Government in2005. The amendment allows women to work infactories between 7pm and 6am, but only on thecondition that their employer ensures their safetyand protection through occupational health andequal opportunities policies, dignity and honourprotection, and transportation to the nearest pointof residence. 48However the hotel industry does not fall under thejurisdiction of the Factories Act but is under theShops & Commercial Establishments Act 1961. Eventhough the government has discussed bringinghotels under the jurisdiction of the Factories Actand a rising demand from hotel industry employees,the Labour Ministry “finally buckled under pressurefrom the powerful lobby of hoteliers. This had left theindustry under the Shops and Establishments Act.” 49A change would have meant an improvement inthe working conditions of hotel employees asthe industry would have had to fix proper shifts,pay overtime, ensure workers’ health, safety andwelfare facilities. 50 Gender-related safety measuresare an important issue in the context of thisstudy; since they are not included in the Shops &

Commercial Establishment Act 1961, the provisionsof The Factories Act were taken as the standardagainst which the realities were compared.In light of the rising numbers of women workingin the business process outsourcing sector (BPO),in 2007 the Karnataka Government renewed thedebate about women working night shifts byplanning to revoke an existing provision of theLabour Act 1961. The provision banned womenworking night shifts beyond 8 p.m. in shops andcommercial establishments and hotels. Theseestablishments would, “have to re-schedule theworking hours of their women staff to ensure thattheir duty hours do not stretch beyond 8 p.m. withthe State Government deciding to strictly enforce,from July, the provision banning night shifts forwomen.” 51 This decision was taken because ofseveral complaints about sexual harassment duringnight shifts. As may be imagined this holdingprovoked “…an outcry among women groups,which called the move regressive.” 52 ‘The ExpressIndia’ quotes many women activists calling this“open discrimination” 53 and ‘The Hindu’ quotes anAssociation of Women Entrepreneurs of Karnatakamember saying, “Women are vulnerable to violencebut it does not give the government the right to banthem from working at night.” 54 Under pressure, thegovernment decided to revoke the ban in May 2007.A big step towards equal opportunities for femaleemployees in the hospitality industry was taken inSeptember 2008, when the Karnataka High Courtlifted constraints on the employment of womenin bars and restaurants. The court denouncedRule 9 of the Excise Rules and Section 20(2) of theKarnataka Excise Act 1965, which both prohibitedemployment of women in bars, as violating theConstitution. 55Studies find that sexual harassment is stillendemic, often hidden, and present in all kinds oforganisations. Yet it is still not always viewed as aproblem, which has to be systematically tackled.The issue is of concern for both women and theemployers as studies show that sexual harassmenttouches lives of nearly 40-60% of working women. 56In 1997, sexual harassment was for the first timerecognised by the Supreme Court in India ashuman rights violation and gender based systemicdiscrimination that affects women’s right to lifeand livelihood in the case Vishakha vs. State ofRajasthan. 57 The Court defined sexual harassmentvery clearly as well as provided detailed guidelinesfor employers to redress and prevent sexualharassment at workplace.Vishakha guidelines apply to both organizedand unorganized work sectors and to all womenwhether working part time, on contract or involuntary/honorary capacity. The guidelines area broad framework which put a lot of emphasison prevention and within which all appropriatepreventive measures can be adapted. One veryimportant preventive measure is to adopt a sexualharassment policy, which expressly prohibits sexualharassment at work place and provides effectivegrievance procedure, which has provisions clearlylaid down for prevention and for training thepersonnel at all levels of employment. However theimplementation of these guidelines remains poor.Under the growing demand for a specific legislation,the National Commission for Women (NCW) inassociation with Ministry of Women and ChildDevelopment (MWCD), Government of India in 2006drafted the Sexual Harassment of Women at WorkPlace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill,2006. NCW taking into consideration the feedbackreceived from the Ministry of Law and Justice andfrom civil society organisations, revised the 2006 Billand proposed “Prohibition of Sexual Harassment ofWomen at Workplace Bill 2010”. According to theNCW’s proposed Bill “sexual harassment infringesthe Fundamental Right of a woman to gender equalityunder Article 14 of the Constitution of India and herRight to life and live with dignity under Article 21of the Constitution which includes a Right to a safeenvironment free from Sexual Harassment.” 58 It alsoflows from the international “Convention on theElimination of all forms of Discrimination AgainstWomen (CEDAW)”ratified by the Government ofIndia in July 1993, which recognizes the right toprotection from sexual harassment and the rightto work with dignity as universal human rights.Salient features of the proposed revised Bill inJanuary 2010 are as follows:85

• y The Bill proposes a definition of sexualharassment, which is as laid down by theHon’ble Supreme Court in Vishakha v.State of Rajasthan (1997). Additionally itrecognises the promise or threat to a woman’semployment prospects or creation of hostilework environment as ‘sexual harassment’ atworkplace and expressly seeks to prohibit suchacts.• y Section 2 (a) provides protection not only towomen who are employed but also brings anywoman who enters the workplace as students,research scholars, patients, client, customer,apprentice, and daily wageworker or in ad-hoccapacity. Section 2 (f) has broadened the scopeof the definition of employee which includesa person employed at a workplace for anywork on regular, temporary, ad hoc or dailywage basis, either directly or by or through anagent, including a contractor, with or withoutthe knowledge of the principal employer,whether for remuneration or not, or workingon a voluntary basis or otherwise, whether theterms of employment are express or impliedand includes a domestic worker, a co-worker,a contract worker, probationer, trainee,apprentice.• y Section 2 (I) (v) includes “Unorganized Sector”which shall come within the meaning of“workplace”, means all private unincorporatedenterprises including own account enterprisesengaged in any agriculture, industry, trade and/or business and includes sectors. This sectionbrings unorganised sector within the ambit ofprotection.• y Employers who fail to comply with theprovisions of the proposed Bill will bepunishable with a fine which may extend to Rs50,000. Since there is a possibility that duringthe pendency of the enquiry the woman maybe subject to threat and aggression, she hasbeen given the option to seek interim relief inthe form of transfer either of her own or therespondent or seek leave from work.• y The Bill provides for safeguards in case of falseor malicious complaint of sexual harassment.However, mere inability to substantiate thecomplaint or provide adequate proof would notmake the complainant liable for punishment.• y Through the implementation mechanismproposed, every employer has the primaryduty to implement the provisions of lawwithin his/her establishment while the Stateand Central Governments have been maderesponsible for overseeing and ensuring overallimplementation of the law. The Governmentswill also be responsible for maintaining data onthe implementation of the Law. In this manner,the proposed Bill aims an elaborate system ofreporting and checks and balances, which willresult in effective implementation of the Law.Though the NCW had recommended coveringdomestic workers under the proposed Bill,however, the Government has decided to excludedomestic workers from the definition of employee.On 7th December 2010 the Government introducedthe Bill in the Lok Sabha. Civil society groups acrossthe country raised concern over the exclusion ofdomestic workers as they are the most vulnerableto sexual harassment and atrocities like verbalinsults, physical assault, less pay and over work. Itis hoped that the Bill will come into effect takinginto consideration the revised sections and clausesproposed by the NCW and the National AdvisoryCouncil.4.2.7. The Hotel Industry as A Career Choice forWomen- How and Why?“It’s not just engineering or medical degrees thatyoungsters are chasing these days. With prospectsof self-employment and jobs, many are opting for adiploma in Hotel Management…” 59The hotel and hospitality sector has become apopular choice for those looking for employmentoptions. Currently, the younger generationconsiders a degree or diploma in hotel managementto be the best way to enter the hotel sector.Besides the common education loans providedby banks, every student is eligible to apply for86

scholarships or partial or full tuition fee waiverswhich some colleges offer to students fromweaker economic backgrounds. Furthermore,some colleges gave financial support to studentsfrom hotelier or defence family backgrounds andothers gave admission preferences to scheduledcastes, scheduled tribes and further backwardcategories. 60 However, the financial aid programsoffered are very limited.5. Interview Results: From Hotels5.1 From Managerial Staff5.1.1. Women in the Hotel Industry:According to the HR managers, 50% of those witha hotel management background join the highendhotels, five stars and above. This is primarilybecause of better career prospects, higher paystructures and greater work prestige. On thequestion of profile of the women employees,interviews with several HR managers confirmedthat employment of women in the hotel industryis still mainly restricted to front-office, back officeand housekeeping. Nevertheless, women seem tohave good opportunities when it comes to a careerin these positions. The managers sounded positivein saying that there is a positive change predictedtowards employing women in male dominateddepartments like food and beverages.Only one of the visited hotels gave overtimecompensation through compensatory timeoff. Others said that there arises no need forcompensation as employees only worked for theregular nine hours, including a one-hour lunchbreak.5.1.2. The Perception about Women Working inHotels:Interview responses show that women are still aminority in the employment scenario in the hotelsector. The male managers, who were interviewed,seemed to hold biases in their perception ofwomen’s employment in the hotel sector. Askedabout the possible causes of the very low or nonexistentnumber of women working in their hotels,the answers from male senior hotel managersincluded:“Very few women apply as they are discouraged fromjoining the hotel sector”“it is not essential to have women employees”“There is simply no need for women in this sector, thehotel always ran perfectly without them” 61“Girls are causing problems and therefore it’s notgood to have them in the workforce. They aremaking friendships with male workers and then theconcentration of the work goes down.” 62Some of the managers thought that the demand forfemale employees was on the rise. One HR managereven said that at present, female job applicants arepreferred over male applicants, where they heldequivalent qualifications and experiences. Oneof the factors that emerged from the interviewsthat the growing hospitality sector has a constantdemand for skilled and unskilled workers, whichincludes women.5.1.3. Being a Woman in the Hotel Industry:Burden or Benefit?The response to this section in terms of equalopportunities and remuneration was foundarbitrary. As all the hotel managers uniformlyand emphatically said that the hotel gives equalopportunities to both genders whereas they haveaccepted earlier that women employees are mainlyconcentrated in front office, back office and housekeepingjobs.5.1.4. Working Mothers in the Hotel Industry:Due to the 24/7 nature of the sector, most hotelswere not very open to the idea of part-timeemployment, as it would not meet the work profileneeds of most positions. Neither was flexi-time anopportunity. Some hotels employed women onbreak shifts 63 which means work during the busyhours of breakfast, lunch and dinner. These breakshifts are rather an extra burden than a relief, as theemployee is on a kind of standby for the whole day.With regard to Maternity Benefit Act 1961, only oneof the visited hotels offered an extra month of leavefor women in special or difficult situations as wellas the option to extend maternity leave through87

accumulated leave days. In this case, a womanhad the chance to stay with and take care of hernewborn child for up to five months.None of the hotel provided child care facilities inthe form of crèches or day care centres.5.1.5. Measures to Ensure Physical Safety andPrevent Sexual Harassment of Employees in theHotel Industry:Many hotels do not allow female employees to donight shifts. While physical protection is given bythe hotels, policies concerning sexual harassment,gender discrimination etc. is negligible. Only oneout of all the visited hotels had an anti-harassmentcommittee. All others had no sexual harassmentpolicy. The managers explained this deficiencyby saying that there was never any occasion thatrequired implementation of such policy. They didnot see any need for such policy and saw even lessneed to set up a redress mechanism / complaintscommittees, a mandatory body as per Vishakhaguidelines. The HR managers explained that theHR department would look after problems relatedto any harassment. All the HR departments wereheaded by men and only one department actuallyemployed a woman. It seemed that most of theHR managers did not want to talk about thistopic. When the question was raised, many ofthem reacted defensively and claimed that sexualharassment was not an issue in their hotel.5.2 From Female Hotel Employees:The number of women employed in the hotelindustry was observed to be generally much lowerthan that of men. This phenomenon was identifiedduring the interviews. We were informed thatfemale employees represented a maximum of 25%of the workforce in the formal hotel sector. Womencomprised on average 10% to 15% of staff in four tofive star properties, and the number dwindled withthe category of the hotels.The researcher felt it was important to understandwhat female employees in the hotel industrybelieved was the perception of Indian societyabout their profession, is a female hotel employeeaccepted in society nowadays, does she getsupport from her social environment, at home andat work, and do they approve of and appreciatetheir profession?5.2.1. Perception about Women Working inHotels:The responses from the employees towards thisquestion turned out to be very diverse.Positive Perceptions: 34% said they believed thatthe reputation of women employed in the hotelindustry had improved in the last decade. In thewords of an employee with 10 years’ experienceof working in the hotel industry (and thereforewitness to many changes):“Now it [working in the hotel sector] is very wellrespected. When I started, it was not (…). Before,[when it came to women working in the hotel] theyused to think twice, but now it is a good exposure.Everybody is having a good exposure in this sector.(…) I didn’t like to start myself. When I started evenI thought twice. I had to struggle, fight for yearsagainst many odds and then I’ve come up. But nowthere is a vast change to what it was ten years back.Now it is good.”According to another employee who has beenemployed in hotel for over 20 years: “…Previouslyvery few ladies would come to work in the hotelindustry. But now, the scenario has changed,especially in the cities. They [women] are equallyconsidered like men.”Quite a number of newly-employed employeesagreed to these statements.Another opinion was that the respect and reputationtowards female hotel employees generally differedbetween those living in rural and urban areas. Theimpression amongst the employees was that “Inmetros, people are much more open, but restrictionscontinue to exist in rural areas.”Negative Perceptions: Nearly 25% of the employeesinterviewed believed that the general reputation ofwomen employed in the hotel industry is still quitebad. According to a female hotel trainee: “[Women’swork in the hotel industry] is not respected and Idescribe it with sugar coated words.”88

An assistant training manager, working for the lastfive years said: “According to the Indian culture,females shouldn’t work in the hotel industry. Peoplehere are not very open. Even for that matter, whenI had to start, my parents were actually against medoing the hotel management course. The Indianmindset is like that hotel is a sector where womenare not meant to be [employed], in any kind ofjob. Especially when it comes to accommodation,people here think that many things happen.According to a house-keeping executive withexperience of working in hotels for more then 20years, “In the remote areas, people do not think highabout women employed in hotels. They think thesewomen are of bad character. However, in urban areas,people these days do not hold such perceptions.”The Age Factor: The acceptance of the professionalso differed amongst different age groups. Whilethe younger generation looked at the hotel sectoras a lucrative and respectable employment avenue,it was not the same with the older generation.According to a sales manager:“…the thought [female should not work in thehotel industry] actually is not with the youngergeneration. The younger generation do not hold anysuch preconceptions. [It is a prejudice of] mostly thepeople of older generation, those who are abovefifties as they belong to that generation who hadfaced restriction themselves.”Respect vis-à-vis Position of Power: An importantcriterion for respect towards women’s work in thehotel industry is the position that a woman holds inthe hotel. In this context, a banquet sales executivesaid: “If you are in a higher level, ok, fine. But if youare in a lower level there is no respect.”Prejudices and Misconceptions: The range ofprejudices and misconceptions are varied:“…they think we girls have to look pretty and haveto speak to the guest and that’s it.”“…it [work in the hotel] is not really accepted asgraceful.”“…they believe if you are working in a hotel you areselling alcohol or you are involved in loose activities.”“Some of them still think it is a very unsafe workingarea for a girl and not appropriate.”When asked about the glamour associated withworking in the hotel industry, one employeeresponded it “is not as rosy as it seems.”“I think men get it in their head that if you wear ashort skirt or you are working in an industry like thisyou would be easily approachable”.Social Support Structure: Most of the employeessaid that their families supported their careerchoice. A few voiced the concerns that their familieshad and the difficulties they had to face. Accordingto the experience of an assistant training manager:“…nowadays, they [parents] are supporting me verywell. Before they were like ‘What do you do overthere? Why do you work so much?’”Some held the view that while studying hotelmanagement is still not appreciated, working for thehotels are gradually being accepted in the society.Some statements from interviewees - “During myschooling I wanted to do hotel management butthen, of course, my parents were not too ok withhotel management, so I had to do something else.But at the first chance I got, I joined work in the hotel.I wanted a straight road, they didn’t allow me, and soI took a round road.”“In India, when a girl studies hotel management it isnot really accepted as graceful. But, when she entersthe job, people are more open because it is a job, youget paid for it. …”5.2.2. Educational Background and CareerGrowth Opportunities:What was noteworthy was the low number ofemployees who actually held a hotel managementdegree. Most of the employees interviewed did nothave a degree or diploma in hotel management orany other course related to the tourism industry.Some said that they could not opt for hotelmanagement course because of the high cost89

factor associated with such courses. From all ofthe interviewed women employees, only 26% hadstudied hotel management; 44% had other degreessuch as Bachelor of Commerce or Arts and 24%had left school after the tenth or twelfth grade.19% of the interviewees with other graduationdegrees were in managerial posts. Only 5% of thefemale employees without any degree worked asexecutives. It was interesting to find people withvarious degrees and education level working in thehotel industry.63% of the employees agreed with the claim that thetourism industry- including the hotel sector- ‘opensdoors for women’. They said that the hotel sectorhas immense career growth options because “newjobs are always getting created.”33% stated that growth depended on differentfactors. Educational background is perceived as animportant factor in terms of being able to avail ofopportunities and in determining the position inwhich a woman worked:“If you have a proper background of study, then itis easy and nowadays many women are studying andthere are a lot of women candidates”“I think the only opportunity for growth that awoman has is only if she is really well-educated. Forsomeone who is not so educated, maybe not.”“There are opportunities, but you have to be verysmart.”A few of the employees expressed their desire tocontinue their studies in order to achieve a betterposition in the sector. A telephone operator whohad not taken the final exam of a graduate degreein Commerce said:“I am doing my studies again. The subject I havefailed, I want to do again and I want to do MBA. (…)I need more income, the salary part, that’s why. If Istudy more, at least I get to do a better job profile.[What I get now is] good but I want better than this.”Like most sectors, in the hotel sector, the betterand more specialised an education one has, thebetter and higher a position one can get into. 67%of the female employees with a hotel managementbackground held management positions. Withrespect to the need of educational background,especially for female employees, one industrytrainee explained that:“…you need to put in a lot yourself so that you getthe experience and then you move up. But I don’tthink that any woman would be working 10 to 15years and then looking for a promotion. I have seen alot of guys do that... women cannot put in that muchtime…”A quality professional educational backgroundwas perceived to always have an added edge overthe number of years of work experience. On anaverage, the employees interviewed did not havemany years of work experience. 66% had workedfor less than five years in the sector. Confirmedby the HR managers, the female workforce in thehotel sector is clearly young, mostly below 30 yearsof age.Even though it seems to be easy for women toenter the hotel industry, a further analysis of theissue of career growth opportunities is essential.The interview focused on the opportunities forpromotion available to female employees- a criticalcomponent for career growth. As mentionedearlier, the industry demands an investment of alarge amount of time and effort from its employeesin order to prove their efficiency. In this context, anemployee who is a working mother and had joinedthe industry two years ago said:“The disadvantage of a woman is that you can’t stayback till 12 pm even when your work demands it.Maximum time you can stay back is till 8pm or 9pm.But men can continue staying back at work space forlong hours, sometime as late as 1am - 2am. That is avital limitation for most women employees.”“Being a working mother is really tough. I do my best,but it is difficult for me sometimes. It’s like a burdenyou can say. We can’t do all the things, house andhere [hotel]. Sometimes we feel tired. But we have tobe good in whatever we do, in work or in housework.That’s the way it is.” 64“No family time. I have absolutely no family time.” 6590

On the question of equal opportunity, theemployees had different opinions from that ofthe hotel managers. For them, being a woman inthe hotel industry has its burdens and benefits.According to some of those interviewed, womenare most suited to roles that require interactionwith guests because they are assumed to benaturally welcoming and hospitable. One frontoffice assistant explained:“Because guests will interact with a girl more andthey look to a girl for a smile. If a guest is comingin a bad mood, if we smile he feels good.” Anothersaid, “Women should be presentable to attract theguests.”This viewpoint supports the perception that womenextend hospitality “from home to hotel.” 665.2.3. Working Mothers in the Hotel Industry:This section addresses the issue of how womenhandle being both mother and employee. 47% ofthe employees were working mothers. 18% of themhad children over the age of 12 years and only 6%had more than one child. At management level, sixout of nine women had children. Therefore, theaverage number of working mothers is quite high inthe hotel industry.Most working mothers were employed on generalshifts and not expected to work late hours. Therewere mixed opinions of this practice. For example,one working mother said, “I feel that the employersare a little softer on the women. Keeping in mind thatwe have family obligations, we have to run a home.So there is a little more leeway.”On the other hand, an industry trainee stated, “Assoon as an employer knows that a woman is marriedand she has a family to look after, I think they wouldnot burden her with so much work…I don’t say thatin a nice way, because he understands that she has afamily to look after. I am not saying that because heis concerned. It is more like, ‘Ok, fine, anyway she isleaving at six”.Only 13% of the employees with children workedgeneral shifts. Most women with young childrenrelied on day care help from their mother, motherin-lawor live-in domestic help. The importance offamily support was said by one of the employees,“It’s manageable because support system is therefrom my in-laws. That’s the main advantage how Ican manage everything.” An assistant sales managersaid, “My mother manages my child. She stays withme. Otherwise, it is not possible. I couldn’t have doneit, if I had no support back at home. Then, working inthe hotel would not have been possible.”Some interviewees talked about women leavingwork after having children. According to them sincepart-time work was not encouraged by the hotelmanagements and maternity leave is very short,many women decide to take a longer break in orderto spend more time with their child, as did a few ofthe working mothers interviewed.A few respondents said that when taking extendedmaternity leave, a woman cannot be sure about herre-entry into work and it is quite likely that she willhave to take a lower position. In this context, one ofthem complained about her difficulty in getting backinto work, “I took the maternity leave for 7 month,not for 3 month. So somebody else was recruited inmy position. So, when I came back and I could not jointhe same hotel again. Only three month they keepyour position for you. (…) I struggled to get a newjob for nearly two and a half month.”Others spoke about the sacrifices women had tomake when concentrating on a career, They said, “At least more than 50% of the managers are withoutchildren. There are very few who will manage abalance. Most of them are still single or at leastwithout children.” One assistant training managerwho did not have children said, “… now, at theposition I am in, thinking of a child would be mysecondary priority. Because it will cut off my career.”Most of the women managers interviewed wereworking mothers. However, the general view wasthat majority of women managers were unmarried.One of them stated, “…in hotel industry most of thewomen in top positions who I have seen, at least 40%,are not married.”Another reason for women leaving work is marriage.As we have seen before, female work participationin the hotel industry still does not have the bestreputation in Indian society. It was reported that91

92often the husband did not agree on the wife’sprofession and would ask her to leave the job in thehotel, as had happened to one of the interviewees.One employee with a BHM background explained,“…in an Indian arranged marriage scenario, peoplewould like their daughter in law to have studied a BScor a B Com, but not BHM.”These mentioned reasons for women retiring fromwork early might also explain the average youngage of female employees noted earlier. As themajority of the interviewed female employees wereunder the age of 30, the assumption can be madethat many women leave the hotel industry whenthey get married and have children.The work/life balance of these employees alsodepends on the department they work in and theexpected hours of work pertaining to their roles.“It depends on what you have taken up, on thedepartments you are working for. That is how thetiming goes.” 675.2.4. Measures to Ensure Physical Safety andPrevent Sexual Harassment of Employees in theHotel Industry:As previously mentioned, only a minority of thewomen interviewed worked night shifts. This wasbecause it was not compatible with their family lifeand because some hotels did not want to providethe mandatory physical safety measures for themto work nights. This was generally the case in thelower categories of hotels. Most four and five starestablishments did have some women workingnight shifts. These women are provided withprovisions such as transportation to their residence.The conditions of transportation varied, however.Some hotels made sure that female employeestravelled home in an all-female environment witha GPS to keep track of their whereabouts, whileothers did not. Furthermore, the timings of dropoff/pick up provided by the hotel differed. Only onehotel would arrange to transport female employeesany time after 8pm, while the others would notoffer a driver before 10pm or 10:30pm.Most hotels were found to be maintainingreasonably good safety and security measureswithin the premises. Even though this provisionwas basically a necessity for the accommodatedguests, it was also an advantage for the femaleemployees as some of them mentioned that theydid not feel insecure at work, “…we have all thefacilities over here and all the security. Even when I donight shifts, I can go alone at 1 or to 2am downstairsto the cafeteria.”Another employee said, “…hotel is a very secureplace (…) the people outside always think thatsecurity is the negative part of the industry, but no,it is not. It is a very good industry (…). From eveningshift onwards the hotel provides facilities to dropthe ladies back and pick up those who work in nightshifts”.But when these personal safety measures fail, dothe employees complain to the HR departments orinstead they keep the matter to themselves?A conversation with another independentresearcher who is working on a survey (separatelyfrom this one) on sexual harassment in hotelshas been very informative in this context. Herobservation during her research to the abovequestion showed, “There are many employees whokeep it to themselves. According to them the HR isnot very keen on seeing the fact (…) I found most ofthem only sharing it to their colleagues, but not tothe HR. They feel that the HR won’t accept the factthat sexual harassment happens in their hotel. Theywill say, “No, it will be your mistake. It is because ofyou. It’s about how you put yourself across.” so thefemale do not confide to anybody else except theircolleagues.”During interviews conducted by us, half of theemployees said that they would definitely complainto the HR department. Amongst the rest, 12% saidthat they would not complain but instead probably“just cry and leave the job”, another 35% were notsure about how they would react.Interestingly, many employees interviewedbelieved that if harassment should ever happen tothem, it would be because of the way they carriedthemselves. As some employees explained-“We feel that in India if a women stands up for herselfand she is confident enough to defend herself thenshe is safer”

“…it’s just how you keep yourself away from it. It(happened to me once and it) I did not elevate it tothe authorities. It’s just on the basic level, how youhandle people”“…we should know how to present ourselves in thework place. We know there are two different gender,male and female. Female is always the weakersection…”One of the interviews said that, “…with anymale colleagues, I maintain some distance. I startinteracting with them only after I know them well.I believe, if I try to be too close, they are likely tointerpret it differently. So I always keep some distancewhen I interact with my [male] colleagues.”Most employees we spoke to were not aware ofany sexual harassment policy in their hotel, and,what the policy entailed. While 52% admitted tohaving no information at all, 31% claimed that theyknew about it. Only 17% of those interviewed saidthat they knew of gender related policies in theirhotel, but were clueless about the specificities ofthose policies.5.2.5. Working Conditions of Women in theHotel Industry:Being a service sector that operates 24/7, theexpectation from the workforce in the hotelindustry is generally high. According to one of theinterviewees, “12 hours a day is expected from you.The least you can do is eleven hours. If you go belowthat or even leave on time, they think you have notcompleted your work (…) If you need to grow, youhave to be there at least 12 hours. The manager needsto see you all the time.”33% of the employees interviewed said that theyregularly worked extra hours; between one andthree hours extra was said to be normal. An assistantsales manager complained, “Ahh, working hours arebad. I do very long hours...” There are surely manyemployees who follow their scheduled hours, butprobably not the ones who were looking for careeropportunities in the hotel industry. Those who arefocused on a career in the hotel industry will haveto give long working hours, as this is seen as proofof commitment to one’s job, and helps prospectsfor promotion.Almost all of those interviewed felt that there wasno gender discrimination in terms of pay. Onlyone employee felt there was a difference. Furtherinformation could not be obtained from the saidemployee, because of the presence of the HRmanager during the interview. When questioned,the HR Manager did not show any willingness todiscuss the issue.Another issue for consideration was the kind ofemployment contract the employees worked on.As per the information obtained during interview,80% were permanently employed, even thoughsome were still on probation, which lasts sixmonths. In contrast to the rest of the employees,those in higher positions usually went immediatelyinto permanent employment. The other 20%worked on contract; they were not employed atthe managerial level and worked on so-called ‘fixedterm’ contracts. According to their performance,their contract is then extended, terminated, orturned into permanent employment (which seemedto be the most common case). Most employeesand managers saw a fixed term contract as anotherform of probation period. It was considered to be ofdisadvantage for the employee and an advantagefor the employer as termination is easier, lessbenefits and leave is required to be given.5.2.6. The Hotel Industry as a Career Choice forWomen- How and Why?Most of the employees interviewed were not verycritical of their managers and male colleagues. 6860% said that they were respected and supportedby their male colleagues and 64% felt that theirmanagers treated them equally to their malecounterparts.Hotels were found to be a melting pot for peoplefrom many educational background and level –open to people with different qualifications andexperiences. Most of the employees we spoketo said that the decision to join the hotel industrywas self made and not because someone elsepersuaded them to join. The spectrum of reasonsand motivations behind these decisions were wideand diverse. 44% were interested in tourism, 37%did not have any special interest of working in thetourism industry and the remaining 19% developed93

an interest in the intercultural aspect of tourismand the opportunities of working abroad while theyworked in the hotel industry.5.3 From Hotel Management Colleges:Hotel management is taught at various institutesin India and Bangalore offers a great choice ofcolleges. Most of them offer a three to four yearbachelor course for which the admission fee rangesfrom around Rs. 45.000 to over Rs. 100.000 a year.According to the principals, teachers and thestudents, the training in the hotel managementcolleges puts emphasis on an all-round educationand development of the students, and thereforeoffers a wide range of potential fields of work.The BHM students are not only trained in kitchenand housekeeping but also in subjects such asaccountancy, sales and marketing, law etc. andthereby they can enter all kind of industries. Themost common employers of the hotel managementgraduates, besides hotels, are airlines, cruise shipsand the colleges themselves, also hospitals, largesoftware companies and others.5.3.1. Hotel Management College Students(Only female students were interviewed.So, students refers only to female students.)The ratio of women studying the hotel managementcolleges was not much different from the ratio ofwomen working in the visited hotels. Both had amaximum of 25% participation of women. This canbe one of the reasons of relatively low number ofemployees’ working in the hotel industry havingdegree in hotel management.All the BHM students interviewed felt that theyhold better opportunities for employment andcareer prospects in the hotel industry than the non-BHM degree holders. Aware of their advantageousposition some of them said, “It is a stepping stoneand with the degree you know where you are going.What is possible, you know.” and “I think it dependson the degree that we have, we will be promotedmuch faster”5.3.2. Perception about Women Working inHotels – From the Eye of the Students:81% of the students said that they believed thathotel industry has immense employment potentialfor women and the sector provides opportunitiesfor women to achieve economic independence.One of them explained, “For the employees, thehotel industry is [a great employment opportunity]because new jobs are always there.”19% of the students were not sure about workopportunities in general, as they believed them tobe dependent on different factors.34% of the students interviewed said that thereputation of women employed in the hotel industryhad changed positively in the last century and mostof them had family support in choosing their fieldof study. One of them said, “I think, nowadays thehotel industry is quite good for women.”Others were less positive. They felt that peoplefrom older generation and those from non-urbanbackground still have reservations about womenworking in the hotel industry. One of them said,“A large part of our society, at least 70%, have veryconservative opinions... especially, the older peopleand those from rural background...” According to afinal year student, “Many of the people don’t havea good idea about the girls that work in the hotel.They think they don’t have a good character andgood background. Most people who do not knowthe industry, they have a general mindset that theindustry is not good for girls. But this is for the peoplethat don’t know about it. They just have a generaloverview so they think the girls [employed in thehotel industry] need to look pretty and need to speakto the guests and that’s it.”On the issue of favoured areas of work in thehotel industry, 52% of the students expressedtheir preferences to work in food and beverageproduction or service. They talked about their planto get into the kitchen or bakery and a few intobar and service. However, a ‘reality check’ throughour interviews with the employees showed that inpractice these departments were predominantlymale dominated.5.3.3. Being a Woman in the Hotel Industry:Burden or Benefit? – The Views of the Student:85% of the students clearly expressed that theywere unsure of gender parity in allocation of work94

in the hotel industry. They felt that while men hadliberty to work in any section/service in the hotels,when it came to women, certain specific work inspecific departments are allocated to them. Incertain departments, especially those which arepredominantly male dominated, women have tostruggle hard to be recognised and acknowledged.A student with six months industry training said,“…females are given the light jobs and males aregiven the heavy load jobs. Since we can’t do heavywork, so all the paperwork and stuff are given to thefemale employees to do”.Another student with work experience expressedthe opinion that the kitchen is not the right workplace for women.” Work in the hotel kitchens,according to the students involved “physical strainand therefore do not match the work profile ofwomen”. However, other students did not look tobe convinced of this argument and considered thispractise to be “discriminatory” and “an insult totheir skills and capabilities”.The students said that according to their seniorsfrom college, who have already joined work inthe hotel industry, the managers are not veryencouraging about women working in servicesother than the front desk, housekeeping and guestrelationship.5.3.4. Working Mothers in the Hotel Industry-Perception of Students:The students had various views about work lifebalance.Being worried about managing family and work,one of them said, “You can not keep a family and thehotel industry together. At least for a female it is notpossible. Hotel asks a lot from you.”Another student was of the view that, “I don’t thinkboth is possible. I think all the females will take timeout after marriage. That’s what I would do because itis not easy.”Few others were a bit more optimistic. Theyplanned to achieve a good position in their careerbefore taking a break to start a family. Few of theirobservations were like, “It’s really difficult. I will haveto do it [the career] before I decide to get marriedand then, when it is all settled I can come back andjoin a good post. So I built up a career first and then Ijoin back later.”“I think once your career succeeded, you obviouslythink of a family. But that is only after a successfulcareer. I think you can find a balance. Initially out ofcollege you will focus on a career. So you make sureyour career is on high and then think of family.”5.3.5. The Hotel Industry as a Career Choice forWomen- How and Why? – the Students Voices onWhy They Decided to Study Hotel Management:The students spoke about various reasons fordeciding to study Bachelor of Hotel Management –a professional course aimed at developing trainedmanpower for hotel industry. Apart from the generalmotivation to do hotel management studies wespecifically asked them if they had special interestin the tourism industry that had made them take upthe course. It was asked if the fact that the hotelindustry is part of the growing tourism industry andtherefore opens opportunities on the internationalmarket was an important aspect in their decisionmaking.Specifically, their interest in interculturalexchange and the opportunity to work abroad weretaken into account. 72% of the students consideredthis to be a decisive aspect, since they would like tohave the opportunity to work abroad or generallylike the idea of interacting with different peoplefrom various cultural backgrounds. In the contextof this question the students also added thatthe growth which the tourism industry in India isundergoing was another key factor for their choice.According to them growth in the tourism industryleads to growth in the hotel industry and this leadsto greater job opportunities. According to many ofthem, “The motivation was because this industryis on a hype nowadays and there are employmentopportunities.”Some said they were inspired by their family. Oneof them said, “My parents are both in the hotelindustry and they own a restaurant. Because of themI got inspired.” Another student said, “My dad didthe same course. He inspired me to join.” There werealso inspirations from others like, “I got inspired bymy cousin brother, who works for the Taj (a IndianHotel chain) in the front office.”95

There were also few who said that they took upthe course as they did not want to do graduationin commerce or science stream of subjects andwanted to do professional degree in somethingdifferent.The responses were the following:“There are hundreds and thousands of engineers outthere. A normal student only thinks of engineering ormedical, they can’t think of something else. I wantedto do something different. I had not seen anybody,none of my friends or my family in this industry.”“From a very long time I have been very interestedin learning about food and varieties. I always likedcooking and so wanted to join a field where I can cookvarious things.”What was appealing to many students was that thecourses are very practical, creative and interactive:“In this particular degree course you study manyfields under one roof. You get to study about law,about nutrition and many other subjects. This helpsyou to build independent perspectives and good foroverall development.”“We do all the courses, a bit of everything and a lotof self development, [for example] how to carryyourself.”According to another student “[I took up hotelmanagement] because it is more practical than othersubjects.”“Basically, I wanted to do something that is differentand very interactive, something that’s fun learning.”“I love interacting and dealing with people, so Ithought this might be very interesting for me and sofar I have really enjoyed it.”With the multi-disciplinary nature of the courses andthe resulting broad range of work opportunities inmind, many students did not see their career limitedto jobs only in the hotel sector.However, the spirit sounded dampened amongsta group of students from final year who had justcompleted a six-month industrial training. Some oftheir views were the following:“You probably will find some girls that want to joinhotel industry. But, after studying so much no onewants to work in an industry where one needs to giveat least 12 hours every day. The related compensation/pay is also not high”.“…as long as you don’t have a lot of passion aboutworking in a hotel... one cannot work there”.“I also actually don’t want to work in a hotel, becauseI want to specialise in bakery. The problem aboutthe hotel industry in India is that they do not carewhat the candidate’s specialisation is on. They justdump you wherever they need you. All the peoplethat I know in the hotels- they have specialised insomething and they are working on something else.”This particular observation of students of final yearcoupled with what some of the employees had tosay about the pattern of employment in the hotelindustry calls for further research and probe.6. Conclusions:As the majority of data collected was from theemployees and students, most of the importantfindings of the research arise from these twogroups. There were several points on which theywere in agreement and others in which it was clearthat the students’ perceptions of women workingin hotels did not match the reality confessed by theemployees interviewed.The following are the main findings of the interviews:• y It is a significant finding that both employeesas well as students felt that the reputation ofwomen employed in the hotel industry hadchanged positively in the last decade. Thishas more to do with the overall change inthe society, general broader perspective andacceptance amongst people in urban areas.y • Women with various degrees and educationlevel worked in the hotel industry supportingthe finding that the hotel industry providedmultifarious employment opportunity toall, including women. It did not call for any96

homogenous group of people to support itsfunctioning. However, it has impact on theircareer growth.• y The hotel management degree providesthem an edge over others who do not havethe degree, however, it seems to mostlyimprove their accessibility to job opportunities.It has little to do with the position ordepartments they will be placed in. Theindustry seems to regard gendered traits likeage, their presentability more than educationqualifications.• y 33% of the female employees interviewedsaid that they regularly worked extra hours;between one to three hours extra was said tobe normal. In contrast, only one of the visitedhotels gave overtime compensation throughcompensatory days off. The others said thatthere would not be any need for compensationsas the employees would only work for theregular nine hours, which included a one-hourlunch break.• y Majority of both employees and studentsbelieved that “Tourism open doors forwomen” and there are opportunities forgrowth. However, under this context it wouldbe important to find out why some final yearstudents who had the opportunity to intern inthe industry sounded disgruntled. The same alsoapplies with respect to the observations fromemployees who said that women are seen inspecific roles in the hotel industry. They are notencouraged to work in departments like food& beverages, and the kitchen. To attract moreprofessionals to work for the hotel industry, thehotel industry needs to seriously brainstorm onthe issue and stop such discriminatory practices.• y The major motivation to work in hotel industryamongst the employees was very similar tothe motivation of students taking up degreecourse in hotel management. According toboth the groups the constantly growinghospitality sector has a constant demand forskilled and unskilled workers, which includeswomen, thereby increasing the employmentopportunity.• y No different from trends in other areas, mendominate the upper employment levels asmanagers, professionals and technical persons.In the middle sector, there is considerablenumber of women -primarily in clericalpositions. In the lower sector again there arewomen, working as maids and waitresses.Though the typical “gender pyramid” isprevalent in the hotel sector also, there is a slowshift towards recognising women’s ability tohandle managerial posts.• y While most women are still employed assubordinates, with limited career developmentopportunities, the equation seems to bechanging. With more and more women fromcities and towns opting for higher education,in general the number of working women isgradually on the rise. It is especially evident inthe service sector, including hotel industry.• y Lack of support for working mothers in formof crèches or day care facilities are foundto have implication on the career growth ofwomen employee as well as students. Theyboth opined that it is difficult to manage bothresponsibilities, therefore the career breakis often the only option before them. Withthe present system where employees haveto privately arrange for child care, workingon general shifts was the only option left towomen. Also, they shared that there is nosurety that they will get the same positionafter getting back from leave. Majority of theinterviewed working mothers said that childcarecentres and crèches would be of great use tothem and their peers, as most of them hadyoung children. Under the condition that allemployees are required to work for long hours,the hotels should provide childcare facilities.• y The industry has found to have preventiveapproach when it comes to provide safetymeasure as most of the hotels did not allowwomen to work in night shifts. As a result, theyare forced to work on general shifts which mayhave implication for their career growth.y • Non-formation of sexual harassmentcommittee, lack of awareness among staff and97

indifferent attitude of HR manager towards theissue of sexual harassment is a major concern.• y There is a need to organize awarenessprogrammes for hotel staff to enable themto look at the issue more sensitively. Hotelsand other organisations in the hospitality andtourism need to have sexual harassment policyand implement its mechanisms as per theVishakha Guidelines of the Supreme Court. It is amandatory requirement.• y Long working hours result in women findingit very difficult to bring in a work –homebalance. The general work and family spacedivision amongst men and women are graduallyundergoing change but calls for much socialdeconstruction to bring about a social equity.Therefore it can be said that even though many‘doors have been opened’ already, conscioussupport from the industry will enable women in thehotel industry to ‘walk through’ all of them.Endnotes:* This research was primarily by Kerstin Dahmen whointerned with EQUATIONS (May-July 2009) andsupervised by Ananya Dasgupta. Research supportfrom S Vidya, Surabhi Singh and Rosemary Viswanath1. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly, 55/2.United Nations Millennium Declaration; www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm2. Security Council Resolution 1325 was passedunanimously on 31 October 2000. Resolution (S/RES/1325) is the first resolution ever passed bythe Security Council that specifically addressesthe impact of war on women, and women’scontributions to conflict resolution and sustainablepeace. http://www.peacewomen.org/un/sc/1325.htmlData retrieved in May 20103. Gender and Tourism : Women’s Employment andParticipation in Tourism, Summary of UNED –UK’sProject report4. Women in Tourism, Realities, Dilemmas andOpportunities, EQUATIONS September 2007,http://www.equitabletourism.org/stage/files/fileDocuments379_uid10.pdf5. “May I help you?’ Neeta Lal, Business Line, http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/life/2006/01/20/stories/2006012000110200.htm Data retrieved in June20096. Ibid7. See Research Challenges and Limitations.8. The researcher was German and spoke fluentEnglish, but does not know Kannada or any otherIndian language.9. Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in India,Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Governmentof India, National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3),India, 2005-06, undertaken by International Institutefor Population Sciences, Deonar, Mumbai – 400 088,www.nfhsindia.org/a_subject_report_gender_for_website.pdf10. Ibid11. “Women in Tourism- Realities, Dilemmas andOpportunities”, EQUATIONS, September 2007.http://www.equitabletourism.org/stage/files/fileDocuments379_uid10.pdf12. “A Lucrative Career Option”, Prof. (Dr.) P.K. Dutta,Government Employment News, June 2009. http://www.employmentnews.gov.in/career_details-alucrative-career-option-190.htmlData retrieved inJune 200913. “Hotel industry is poised for a new growth phase”,Financial Express, March 2008. http://www.financialexpress.com/news/hotel-industry-is-poisedfor-a-new-growth-phase/286542/Data retrieved inJune 200914. “Hospitality sector to offer 2 lakh jobs yearly”, DSuresh Kumar, Times of India, April 2008. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2966983.cms Data retrieved in June 200915. “Hospitality sector to offer 2 lakh jobs yearly”,D Suresh Kumar, Times of India, April 2008.Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2966983.cms Data retrieved in June 200998

16. ‘2010 India Salary Survey Reports’ by HVS,May 26, 2010, Hospitality Biz India.Com, http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=8216&sid=12 Data retrieved in October 2010.17. Ibid18. Ibid19. “Hotel workers demand minimum wage of Rs.10,000” The Hindu, Dec 10, 2008, http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/10/stories/2008121054070400.htm dataretrieved in June 2009.20. “HCE India releases 2008 salary survey”, SiddharthChoudhry, Express Hospitality, August 2008. Source:http://www.expresshospitality.com/20080831/market25.shtml data retrieved in June 2009.21. “Five-star careers, one-star salaries”, Rashmi Bansal,Readiff Get Ahead, July 2006. Source: http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2006/jul/25rashmi.htmdata retrieved in June 200922. Salary Survey for Industry: Hotel and HospitalityManagement (India), Pay Scale, 2008. Source: http://www.payscale.com/research/IN/Industry=Hotel_and_Hospitality_Management/Salary23. Article 39(d) of the Constitution of India.24. Handbook of Law, Women and Employment,Surinder Mediratta, Oxford University Press.25. For details view the Karnataka Shops and CommercialEstablishment Act, 1961. Source: http://164.100.80.70/acts/ACTS%20E/163e.pdf26. “Salutations and Celebration”, Reema Sisodia,Express Travel World, September 2007 Source:http://www.expresstravelworld.com/200709/india%27sincrediblewomen01.shtml Data retrieved inJune 2009.27. A Handbook of Statistical Indicators on Women2007, Ministry of Women and Child Development.http://wcd.nic.in/stat.pdf28. “Hospitality sector poised for significant growth”,V. Jayanth, The Hindu, January 2008. http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/01/stories/2008010156471500.htmData retrieved in June 2009 and “Hospitality sectorin India expected to grow to $275 bn”, EconomicTimes, April 2008. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Hotels__Restaurants/Hospitality_sector_in_India_expected_to_grow_to_275_bn/articleshow/2921004.cms Dataretrieved in June 2009.29. “Booming industry throws open exciting avenuesfor IHM grads”, Aliyah Shahid, Livemint, The WallStreet Journal, June 2008. Source: http://www.livemint.com/Articles/2008/06/12000007/India8217s-Best-Colleges.html data retrived in June 200930. “Extending hospitality from home to hotel”, RashmiPradhan, Hospitality Biz India, March 2009. Source:http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=3792&sid=5 data retrieved in June 200931. Ibid32. Factors Affecting Women’s Career Advancement inthe Hospitality Industry: Perceptions of Students,Educators, and Industry Recruiters, by Yan Zhong,M.S. A Dissertation in Family and Consumer SciencesEducation, Submitted to the Graduate Facultyof Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfilment ofthe Requirements for the Degree of Doctor ofPhilosophy, December, 2006, http://thinktech.lib.ttu.edu/bitstream/handle/2346/1136/Zhong_Yan_diss.pdf?sequence=133. Ibid, page 1834. Ibid page 2335. Ibid Page 2436. Employees’ State Insurance Cooperation.Source: http://esic.nic.in/37. Handbook of Law, Women and Employment,Surinder Mediratta, Oxford University Press.38. According to Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, it appliesto every establishment being a factory, mine orplantation [including any such establishmentbelonging to Government and to every establishmentwherein persons are employed for the exhibition of99

equestrian, acrobatic and other performances] withmore than 10 employees. The State Government canwith the approval of the Central Government, aftergiving not less than two months’ notice in the officialGazette, declare that all or any of the provisions ofthis Act shall apply also to any other establishmentor class of establishments, industrial, commercial,agricultural or otherwise.According to Section 5 of the Maternity BenefitAct, 1961 every woman shall be entitled to, and heremployer shall be liable for, the payment of maternitybenefit at the rate of the average daily wage for thesix weeks immediately following the day of delivery.The maximum period for which any woman shall beentitled to maternity benefit shall be twelve weeks,that is to say, six weeks up to and including the dayof her delivery and six weeks immediately followingthat day.39. “Office Memorandum by the Government of India”,Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pension,September 2008. Source: http://india.gov.in/govt/studies/estt.(l).pdf40. “New mums to get 6 month off”, Vineeta Pandey,DNA, October 2007. Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_new-mums-to-get-6-monthsoff_1126382data retrieved in June 200941. “Women-friendly policies”, Amrita Nandy Joshi,Times of India, August 2006. Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/Women-friendly-policy/articleshow/1917285.cms dataretrieved in June 200942. Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche Scheme for theChildren of Working Mothers, Ministry of Womenand Child Development. Source: http://wcd.nic.in/RajivGandhiCrecheScheme.pdf43. “Women-friendly policy”, Amrita Nandy Joshi, Timesof India, August 2006. Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/Women-friendlypolicy/articleshow/1917285.cmsdata retrieved in June200944. “Work environ insensitive to working mothers”,Rutujawakankar, Express India, May 2008. Source:http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/workenviron-insensitive-to-working-mothers/307927/dataretrieved in June 200945. “Paternity leaves, a boon for new dads”, DeccanChronicle, February 2009. Source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/headlines/paternity-leave,-boon-new-dads-140 data retrieved in June 200946. “Work environ insensitive to working mothers”,Rutujawakankar, Express India, May 2008. Source:http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/workenviron-insensitive-to-working-mothers/307927/Dataretrieved in June 200947. Nightshifts for Women: Growth and Opportunities.A Research Study, The Associated Chambers ofCommerce & Industry of India, undated Source:http://ncw.nic.in/pdfreports/NIGHT%20SHIFT%20FOR%20WOMEN.pdf48. The Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2005.49. “Bring hotels under Factories Act”, The Hindu, June2008. Source: http://www.hindu.com/2008/06/03/stories/2008060359360400.htm data retrieved inJune 200950. “Hotel Industry included under Factories Act”,Economic Times, January 2008. Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Hotels__Restaurants/Hotel_Industry_included_under_Factories_Act_/articleshow/2696291.cms data retrieved in June 200951. “Ban on night shifts for women will hit hospitalitysector” The Hindu, May 2007. Source: http://www.hindu.com/2007/05/05/stories/2007050512830400.htm data retrieved in June 200952. “Shift in K’taka night shift policy”, DeepaBalakrishnan, IBN Live, May 2007. Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/shift-in-ktaka-night-shiftpolicy/40556-3.htmldata retrieved in June 200953. “Night shift ban on women is open discrimination”,Express India, May 2007. Source: http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=86219data retrieved in June 2009100

54. “Withdrawal of night shift ban welcomed”, TheHindu, May 2007. Source: http://www.hindu.com/2007/05/15/stories/2007051518730300.htm dataretrieved in June 200955. “Karnataka HC allows women to work in bars”,Indian Express, September 2008. Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/karnataka-hc-allowswomen-to-work-in-bars/365419/data retrieved inJune 200956. “Sexual harassment at work”, Neeta Raymond,Combat Law, Volume 2, Issue 3, August-September2003. Referred from India Together, http://www.indiatogether.org/combatlaw/vol2/issue3/harass.htm57. 1997(7) SCC.32358. The Prohibition of Sexual Harassment of Womenat Workplace Bill, 2010. Source: http://ncw.nic.in/PDFFiles/sexualharassmentatworkplacebill2005_Revised.pdf59. “Hospitality sector to offer 2 lakh jobs yearly”,D Suresh Kumar, Times of India, April 2008.Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2966983.cms data retrieved in June 200960. Scheduled caste and scheduled tribe categories arepopulation groupings that are explicitly recognizedby the Constitution of India.61. Male general manager of a budget hotel.62. Male HR manager of a four-star hotel.63. If an employee works break shifts, he/she is onlyrequired during the busy hours, for example thehours of breakfast, lunch and dinner in a restaurant.Thus, the working hours expand throughout the dayeven though it is only an eight-hour workday.64. Female executive with a 2 and a half year-old childand six years in the industry.65. Female assistant with a 3 and a half year-old childand three years in the industry.66. “Extending hospitality from home to hotel”, RashmiPradhan, Hospitality Biz India, March 2009. Source:http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=3792&sid=5 data retrieved in June 2009.67. Female executive with a 10 year-old child and 10years in the industry.68. To gain an understanding of this, it needs to beconsidered that the experiences of trainees are notequivalent to the experiences of employees. Thefirst reason might be that they joined the hotel fora period of only six months, and therefore wereunable to get a long-term inside view of workingin hotels. Secondly, they probably always kept thestatus of trainee and thus were not perceived asequal, and finally yet importantly, they visited all thedepartments in the hotel, including the kitchen. Sincenone of the employees interviewed held a kitchenposition, the trainees’ statements about the workclimate in this department cannot be compared withthe opinion of any employee. Therefore, we can relyonly on the students’ experiences considering thekitchen department.References:Reports, Documents, Papers and StudiesUNWTO Message by Francesco Frangialli, Secretary-General, World Tourism Day - 27 September 2007, Source:http://www.travel-exhibitions.com/news/WorldTourismDay-27September2007.pdf“Empowering Women through Tourism. News from theWorld Tourism Organization UNWTO”, quote of Mrs.Nilofar Bakhtiar, UNWTO Special Advisor on Womenand Tourism, World Tourism Directory, March 2008.Source: http://www.unwto.org/media/news/en/press_det.php?id=1881Toolkit for Women, Gender and Tourism :Women’sEmployment and Participation in Tourism, Summary ofUNED –UK’s Project report http://www.earthsummit2002.org/toolkits/women/current/gendertourismrep.html“Travel and Tourism Economic Impact, India 2009”,World Travel and Tourism Council. Source: http://www.wttc.org/bin/pdf/original_pdf_file/india.pdfWomen’s Empowerment, Gender Equality, and theMillennium Development Goals- A WEDO Information andAction Guide www.gedef.org/RESOURCES/Web%20Links/MDGtoolkit_eng.doc101

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly, 55/2.United Nations Millennium Declaration; www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htmTourism, gender and equitable development,Dr. T T Sreekumar, www.twnside.org.sg/title2/resurgence/207-208/cover5.docWomen in Tourism, Realities, Dilemmas and Opportunities,EQUATIONS September 2007, http://www.equitabletourism.org/stage/files/fileDocuments379_uid10.pdfGender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in India,Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government ofIndia, National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3), India, 2005-06, undertaken by International Institute for PopulationSciences, Deonar, Mumbai – 400 088, www.nfhsindia.org/a_subject_report_gender_for_website.pdfSalary Survey for Industry: Hotel and HospitalityManagement (India), Pay Scale, 2008. Source: http://www.payscale.com/research/IN/Industry=Hotel_and_Hospitality_Management/SalaryConstitution of India, V.N. Shukla, Revised by MahendraP. Singh, Tenth Edition, Eastern Book Company.Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (Bare Act)The Employees’ State Insurance Act 1948 (Bare Act)Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 (Bare Act)“Factors Affecting Women’s Career Advancementin the Hospitality Industry: Perceptions of Students,Educators, and Industry Recruiters”, by Yan Zhong,M.S. A Dissertation in Family and Consumer SciencesEducation, Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of TexasTech University in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirementsfor the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, December,2006, Source: http://thinktech.lib.ttu.edu/bitstream/handle/2346/1136/Zhong_Yan_diss.pdf?sequence=1“Sexual harassment at work”, Neeta Raymond, CombatLaw, Volume 2, Issue 3, August-September 2003. Referredfrom India Together, Source: http://www.indiatogether.org/combatlaw/vol2/issue3/harass.htmThe Sexual Harassment of Women at WorkPlace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal)Bill, 2006. Source: http://ncw.nic.in/PDFFiles/sexualharassmentatworkplacebill2005.pdfHandbook of Law, Women and Employment, SurinderMediratta, Oxford University Press.“Office Memorandum by the Government of India”,Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pension,September 2008. Source: http://india.gov.in/govt/studies/estt.(l).pdfGandhi National Crèche Scheme for the Children of WorkingMothers, Ministry of Women and Child Development.Source: http://wcd.nic.in/RajivGandhiCrecheScheme.pdfNightshifts for Women: Growth and Opportunities. AResearch Study, The Associated Chambers of Commerce& Industry of India, undated, Source: http://ncw.nic.in/pdfreports/NIGHT%20SHIFT%20FOR%20WOMEN.pdfThe Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2005Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishment Act,1961 (Bare Act)102

Women speak! Women’s Engagement withCommunity Based & Nature Based TourismEQUATIONS, 2009*Tourism has always had a link with women. Masstourism claims that it employs more women thanmen and women are often seen as the face oftourism, quite literally, as they appear in travelbrochures as the ubiquitous image of warmth,welcome and hospitality.When understanding tourism growth in naturalresource rich areas we have been particularlyinterested in understanding how the growth oftourism engaged, impacted, helped or hinderedwomen. To what extent did tourism actually provideopportunities for empowerment? To what extentdid it change stereotypes and gender injustices?Were women able to break the shackles of religiousor social prescriptions related to their role andrelative power by engaging in tourism as comparedto more traditional roles and settings? What wasthe nature of women’s participation in tourism? Towhat extent did they influence decision making andthe nature of tourism? Did they gain – economically,socially, and politically? Have they been able tochallenge patriarchal structures and demand equalparticipation and benefits from tourism? How didtourism impact their lives? What are their concerns& dilemmas and in what ways have they engaged orwish to engage with tourism?To explore these questions, we have attempted togather together and amplify the voices of womenin different spaces which we heard in the course ofour interactions with communities engaging withtourism.To do this we present case studies of nature based(and in most cases community based) tourismand examined it through a gendered lens. Theobservations and insights are derived from moregeneral contexts and were not specific to researchaddressing gender issues.Mountain Shepherds Initiative, Uttarakhand: 1Mountain Shepherds Initiative (MSI) is a communityowned and operated ecotourism initiative basedin Uttarakhand. It attempts to engage with thelocal communities and their youth to harness thepotential of tourism in the larger interest of thelocal community. The initiative is a result of the longstruggle of communities in the Nanda Devi BiosphereReserve for control over land, forests and naturalresources. MSI works with vision of developing amodel for tourism that is sustainable and definedby the local and indigenous communities residingin the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. The MSI hastrained local youth in mountaineering and trekking,instructions and mountain search and rescue fortaking tourists groups on expedition. Anothertourism component of MSI is the homestays thatthey provide to tourists in collaboration with localcommunities in areas like Lata and Tolma.“The Mountain Shepherds story begins in Lata, avillage situated in the Niti Valley. The people of theNiti Valley belong to an Indo-Tibetan ethnic groupknown as the Bhotiya. Those in the Niti Valleybelong to the Marchha and Tolcha groups and havetraditionally gained a livelihood as transhumantshepherds, traders, or farmers. In the 1970s, Bhotiyacommunities were at the forefront of the famousChipko movement 2 that saw village women led byGaura Devi to save their forests. From 1998 to thepresent, they have persisted in their efforts to regainaccess rights to the Nanda Devi National Park. Withthe creation of Uttarakhand state and its emphasison the tourism sector, this movement gave birth tothe Nanda Devi Campaign in Lata village. Sparkedby the urgent need to ensure local control of thetourist trade, the campaign issued the progressive2001 Nanda Devi Biodiversity Conservation and EcoTourism Declaration to guide its future. In 2003,the Indian government made a major revision tothe park rules that had strictly governed the Nanda103

Devi protected area for over twenty years. A partialreopening began allowing 500 visitors to enter asmall segment of the park’s core zone every year,although the peak itself would remain off limits.”MSI was formerly inaugurated in 2006 in thevicinity of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve. Itis located both in the context of a wider socialand environmental struggle. A 2006 InauguralWomen’s Trek marked their first foray into thetourism business, attempting the challenging taskof establishing a community-owned operationin keeping with its aspirations for a futurewithout human exploitation and environmentaldegradation.” 3Women’s participation in the tourism initiativeof MSI is largely prescribed by social norms - theroles that women are allowed to participate inare decided by the community first and then theirfamily. Therefore women’s participation in tourismis not only gendered but also decided primarilyby the family and community and this is acceptedby women. The participation of girls in tourismis at a very nascent stage in Lata village, and itis too early to say if this will enhance women’sparticipation in decision making within the familyand the community in the future. Though girls arebeing trained in mountaineering it has not meantthat families are sending their daughters on regularexpeditions. The family and community has clearlydifferent norms about what ways the daughtersparticipate in tourism as compared to the freerhand that sons have to decide if they would like tobe involved in the tourism project of the MSI.Apart from their traditional roles of carers withinthe family and thus caring for the visitors, thiscommunity based initiative also relies on women’straditional skills in carpet weaving. Thus traditionalknowledge and skills are the basis for includingwomen into the tourism loop. Most tourisminitiatives often end up employing women in areaswhere they need least additional training andcan leverage on socially prescribed or traditionalknowledge and skills such as care giving. In theMSI case, on the contrary though women are notprimarily involved in looking after the guests sincethe youth trained by the MSI cater to the tourists,the payment for using the homestays by tourists ishanded over to the landlady (i.e the women). Witha range of Rs. 150- 250 per day in Tolma and Latarespectively going to women directly it is a positivemove that acknowledges their contribution (for theuse of the place as well as the labour in keeping itclean and providing bedding for tourists). To someextent it also recognises the time intensive natureof women’s work who being involved in agriculturalactivities are less likely to have the time to engagewith tourists.Women are also involved in the production ofsouvenirs during the winter months. They producesmaller hand woven mats for yoga or meditationpurposes. Tourism provides a market for theirproduce and thus an alternate income particularly tothose households that are not providing homestaysor involved in any other ways in tourism. It is anattempt to provide tourists with local souvenirs;relying on their traditional knowledge of weavingand knitting and by enhancing their skills throughthe introduction of vegetable dyes.The MSI being community based has a strongerelement of community support when compared tomany other tourism initiatives that are introducedwithout much local participation.The greater participation of men in tourism activitiessuch as trekking and mountaineering whichincludes working as instructors, search and rescuevolunteers, cooks and guide for tourists groupshas also meant a diversion of responsibilities inagriculture work earlier handled by men to women.The women are loaded with the usual householdresponsibilities and in addition because the menare away, the entire load of caring for children,collection of fuel wood, fodder and water takethem in the hilly terrain.Further more, the peak harvesting season is also themain tourism season and this has resulted in menbeing away for tourism linked activities leaving thewomen to shoulder a greater (physical) workloadat this time. It is interesting that this incursion ofwomen into men’s traditional (gendered) areasis not objected by the community, but they aremore unwilling to “allow” the women to engage inactivity which is more externally-oriented.104

Sunil Kainthola who coordinates MSI in Dehradunshared a story of one of the MSI youth Raju whosemother told him in a “friendly” manner: “You havetaken my husband with you, you have also takenaway my two sons into tourism. Now it will rain anymoment. Our grain will get spoilt unless we harvestit. Then what will we eat? There is no one to workwith me – so now you come with me to the villageand work with me.”Thus women’s additional load directly and indirectlybecause of tourism ends up fetching them verylittle direct economic benefit – in the form ofadditional earnings– but loads them with additionalwork – all of which is neither measured, valued norcompensated for in economic terms.From another perspective given the exploitativenature of tourism with respect to thecommodification of women and abuse, thecommunity at Lata has taken into account the risksthat women are likely to face when tourism makesinroads into their spaces. The community (bothmen and women) who decide the norms thenbecome the buffer to decide which roles it wouldlike to see its women in, given their knowledge andskills. The Bhotiya women were at the leadershipof the Chipko movement in asserting their rightsto natural resources. Whether this assertion hastranslated to their choice of ways of incomegeneration is not very clear or evident yet. Somefamilies have allowed the daughters to be trainedin mountaineering and related courses but tourismled business activities is new for the communitiesand may also explains the absence of women inbusiness activities.With the MSI core competence and product beingadventure tourism in the Himalayas the organisationhas greater involvement of boys and less of girls. Incertain areas like Uttarakashi women like BachendriPal 4 are role models for women taking up training inmountaineering and instructorship. While girls arebeing encouraged to train in becoming instructorsit is a physically demanding role and this aspectseems to draw more boys. Beginning with trainingprovided by the forest department in 2004 and thatprovided by MSI in 2006, girls have gone on threetreks since 2006 with exclusive women’s groupsas well as in mixed groups (of boys and girls) withtourists.MSI has also taken a firm stand on guiding thecommunity about the roles where women mayhave opportunity but increased vulnerability toexploitation by tourists. It has created a spacefor discussing about what roles women would becomfortable in taking up rather than just going bythe demand of the tourism industry which can beexploitative when unchecked. The opportunity totrain girls in mountaineering was a step forward,but the decision was that girls would accompanywomen only groups. This was seen as a via mediabetween the complexity of developing spaces forwomen to participate in tourism, recognising therisks in terms of sexual harassment they may facefrom male tourists while accompanying them ontreks and balancing this risk, with the desire to buildtheir capacity for leadership and management rolesthat have not been socially encouraged so far. Inthe future MSI foresees the participation of womenin souvenirs, exclusive as well as mixed trekkinggroups, as instructors after they complete theirMethod of Instruction and in managerial roles.Andamans and Nicobar Islands:The Andaman & Nicobar Islands (A&NI) are a groupof picturesque islands and islets lying along a longand narrow arc in the south-eastern part of the Bayof Bengal. While relatively isolated until the earlytwentieth century, these islands of breathtakingnatural beauty gained slowly in popularity as atourist destination. As in many other parts of thecountry, tourism has been identified a prioritysector for development in the Islands, particularlythe Andamans. The Andaman and Nicobar Islandsharbour a rich biodiversity with high endemicity,making them an internationally acknowledgedhotspot for biodiversity. Large areas of coral reefs,which hold significance as the last pristine reefsin the Indian Ocean, lie outside protected areas,with very little protection efforts going into them.The mangroves are also known for their diversityof various marine organisms. Over the years, theswampy areas in lowland evergreen forests havebeen almost totally destroyed by conversion toagriculture and open swamps have also beendrained in a number of places, making this anincreasingly rare habitat. It is clear that any furtherecological degradation will have an adverse impactnot only on the unique biodiversity of its fragilecoastal ecosystems but also on coastal fisheries andtourism.105

The Andaman Islands are home to fourindigenous tribes: The Great Andamanese; theOnge, who inhabit the Little Andaman Island;the Sentinelese, who have long inhabited NorthSentinel Island and the Jarawas, in the interior andwest coast of South and Middle Andaman. Duringthe British colonisation, house sites and agriculturallands were allotted to “convicts” who had beenjailed at the Cellular Jail. In 1925, around 45 Karenfamilies from Burma were brought to clear theforest. Between 1947 and 1971, as part of a policymove of the Indian Government to meet labourrequirements in the Islands, people from then EastPakistan, West Bengal, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh,Tamil Nadu and Bihar were settled in the Islands.Post 1970s, the A&NI have seen an unplanned influxof people from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh andBihar, whereby the annual growth rate of this influxhas far exceeded the average decadal growth ofpopulation in the Islands (approximately 4.8% p.a).Settlement and thoughtless “civilisation” attemptshave lead to the decimation of the original tribalpeople and they are confined to reserves withuneasy relationships with the settlers. Among thosewho came in, the diverse profile and stakeholdinghas led to some tensions raising the issue ‘whobelongs to the Islands and who does not’.While the islands have witnessed a steady growthin tourist numbers along with the steady pushof the A&NI administration to being the touristsback to the islands post Tsunami in 2004 has ledto an increase in the number of proposals forintensive tourism development particularly in theAndaman Islands. This includes huge investmentin infrastructure, improved connectivity andconcessions on LTC for domestic tourists. However,these plans, like earlier ones, are not based on howtourism operates in and impacts the Islands, and donot consider whether ground realities support theassumptions that these plans are based on.In 2008 EQUATIONS along with partnerorganisations undertook a comprehensive researchstudy to examine the status of tourism, its existingand likely impacts and the likely impacts of proposedtourism development plans. 5While the level of tourism activity in the Andamansis high, women are involved in comparatively lowprofile jobs like running petty shops for selling fishand fruit. Men constitute the majority of the workforce in tourism establishments 89.3% are maleand only 10.7% is female. 6 Thus women in generalhave lower employment opportunities even withintourism much like in other sectors.Tourism has affected the lives of the women in theIslands, whether they are associated with it directlyor not. One success story is of three women – RajniIka, Pandiamma and Kanti Tirku – who got togetheras members of a self-help group to start an eateryin Havelock Island in December 2006. They arein contact with the guides in Port Blair who refertourists to their eatery. They make a profit ofRs 12,000 a month which is shared between thethree of them. The usual problems of the island,such as acute shortage of water and rising pricesof vegetables need to be dealt with, but they arehappy with the change in their lives that tourismhas brought in.However, the tale is not all good for other womenon Havelock Island. Nirmala Rao is a widow whoworks as a daily wage worker. For her, tourism isan added burden to her daily problems. Becauseof increased tourism activity she finds the prices oftravelling by autorickshaw (a three wheeler) haverisen tremendously. During the peak tourist seasonboat tickets to Port Blair are hard to come by.Concerns are voiced by women about risingland prices and the disillusionment of the youth.Arathi Roy, a housewife of Havelock says, “Thegovernment has brought us here (as settlers).Now they are allowing foreigners to get land here.In the future the government may sell out on us”.She also fears that children and youth will imitateforeigners in behavior and mode of dress. Thelevel of education of the youth tends to be low.While tourism is the only sector on the Islands thatincreases opportunities, by opening up jobs liketaxi driving and guides, she also raises an alarm bydrawing attention towards the increasing habit ofdrinking alcohol, with easy availability in the Islands.“Prostitution could be a serious problem in thefuture”, she fears.106

Endogenous Tourism Project: 7The Endogenous Tourism Project-Rural TourismScheme (ETP) is a joint project of Governmentof India-Ministry of Tourism and United NationsDevelopment Programme (GoI-UNDP) to supportthe rural tourism initiatives of the GoI which wouldserve to create sustainable livelihood opportunitiesamong low income communities living in rural areasthrough the setting up of alternative models oftourism. The GoI-UNDP Project Document clearlylocates this project in context of developmentand social justice, ethics, sustainable humandevelopment, elimination of poverty, addressinginequalities and inequities. Thus a unique featureand indeed core principle of the ETP is to examineand take further the links between tourism anddevelopment.” 8While the ETP project was aimed at the economicobjective of making livelihoods sustainable andemployment generation through community basedactions, it also aimed at empowerment of women,marginalised communities and youth, as well asgender equality through a convergence betweenthe economic and social issues. EQUATIONS wascommissioned in 2008 to review the ETP in anattempt to garner in a participative manner theexperiences and learning of this large scale andambitious effort. We highlight in the section belowaspects that relate to the role and impacts onwomen. 9When tourism is introduced into rural communitieswith the aim of social and community empowerment,it is often assumed that communities arehomogenous in an economic and social sense. Ourstudy of the community based tourism projects inseveral rural sites found that when tourism aimsfor empowerment by involving women in strongpatriarchal societies it creates social tensionsbetween the two sexes. When women take ona greater role in tourism activities and begin todemand a greater role in decision making in thesetraditional and conservative societies, it challengesthe “superior” role that patriarchy assigned to men.Patriarchal norms, caste and gender are centralto define the nature of participation of women intourism. These social norms define whether womencan actually take up roles of influence and decisionmaking, even if these roles are architectured intothe project.Hodka, near the astoundingly beautiful and starkRann of Kutch (a cold Desert) in Gujarat, is anextremely conservative community where thewomen lived in pardaa 10 in the hamlets. When themodel of tourism that the community could engagein was first debated, the idea of homestays wasstrongly resisted by the communities. They did notwant the tourists to come to stay in their village. Thecommunity decided that their engagement withtourism would be in the form of a resort outside theboundaries of their hamlet – which ensured a kindof containment of the dangers of tourism, alongwith a desire to reap its benefits!Their norms were not only about women and clearlywere about preserving strongly held cultural norms– many of which were also deeply patriarchal. Theyalso felt that tourists should not be scantily dressedin shorts. Consuming alcohol was forbidden intheir society and so they didn’t want the visitors tocome and have alcohol and expose their youngergeneration to this habit. 11While Hodka has many elements of a successfulforay into tourism women who were initially apart of the Hodka Paryatan Samiti left this VillageTourism Committee (VTC) - due to social taboosand pressures resulting in the management of theShaam-e-Sarhad resort being completely male.There is an institutional framework within the ETPthat seeks to address gender issues by challengingexisting power structures, but the social structuresproved too hard to break through. The strongresistance by the men towards the participationof women in any of the decision making forums inHodka was evident. Although a group of womenare involved in the plastering and designing onthe walls of the resort, women, largely have beendenied access to any decision making body.In Raghurajpur, near Puri-Orissa, a temple andcrafts village, the Raghurajpur Heritage & TourismCommittee (RHTC – village tourism committee)is completely devoid of women. When the subcommitteeswere formed, women were not evenconsulted. They were conspicuously absent in all107

the sub committees except for one, the sanitationcommittee! Despite the presence of a women’sgroup in the village it is not represented in the RHTC.Similarly at Lachen in Sikkim there was a lackof participation of women in decision makingstructures and process related to the project.This is also due to the fact that under the Dzumsa(form of local self governing body) structure thescope for participation and decision making ofwomen is generally low. In contrast, in Chitrakote,Chhattisgarh, tribal dominated area women havea leadership role to play in the implementationof the ETP. Here there was a special effort by theimplementing agency to build capacity, empowerwomen and to mobilise their participation in thefunctioning of the Village Tourism Committee.Often women’s contribution to family income isseen as marginal and their work as unskilled. Thuseven in tourism though women are involved inskilled tasks like craft production, they continueto be seen as unskilled while men’s contributionis considered skilled owing to the genderedperception of men as bread winners of the family. InRaghurajpur for instance women contribute equallyin the production of the crafts like Pattachitra(traditional Orissa paintings on palm leaves) whichis the main and often only source of livelihood tomany in the village. The women do all the labourintensive ground work but the men are perceivedto have the skills to do the finer aspects of the craft.In reality the women are no less creative in theirartistic excellence, but this is not acknowledged.Women are not a homogenous group withina community. Access to tourism activities andbenefits is defined also by the social hierarchy ofcaste (which is invariably linked to class). Caste andclass act as gatekeepers allowing certain sectionsof women within community to participate whileexcluding others. E.g. in Naggar (Himachal Pradesh),the VTC’s bias towards upper caste women does notgo unnoticed. When the community was asked tochoose three members from each ward, they haveinvariably chosen women from the more affluentupper caste families believing they would be in abetter position to represent and understand theimplementation of the project. However decisionsby upper caste women do not necessarily take intoaccount the voices or interests of lower caste womenand often caste affiliations play a stronger role thanthe sympathy for common concerns as women. Anexamination of the norms for membership in theVillage Tourism Committees that have been evolvedby the communities often tilts the balance in favourof certain dominant communities over marginalizedsections. Since backward castes themselves are notallowed easy access to decision making positionswithin the VTCs by upper castes even within thesetourism committees the situation is similar in thecase of women from backward castes.In Chitrakote a major conflict emerged on the issueof the construction of shops near the waterfallsite. The objective was to sell handicrafts and foodto the tourists and thereby promote the productsof the craftsmen and women trained under theproject and local cuisine also promoted under it.The Panchayat and the local administration jointlydecided to provide 5 acres of government land outof an 11-acre plot where the annual local festivaltakes place. It also started building shops near thewaterfall on the government land. Some vestedinterest groups came together and demolished thenearly completed beautiful structures. To date nolegal or police action has been taken against theperpetrators and they have not been brought tobook.The very nature of tourism is that it requiresinfrastructure skills, capital and linkages to engagesuccessfully – and in the limited space availablewomen from lower and backward caste have adouble handicap of gender and caste and are usuallyout of the reckoning. Unless carefully planned anddesigned it seems very unlikely particularly in ruralsetting in India that social and gender inequitiescan be addressed in any significant way throughtourism projects.Conclusion:These initial case studies point to the opportunitiesthat women have in carefully designed tourismprojects to carve out more meaningful roles andwield greater influence. But much depends on thecontext of socio-cultural norms of patriarchy andcaste to determine the extent to which they can108

enefit. The need to address these issues throughsystematic awareness building of tourism policymakers, planners and implementers, as well as localcommunities is critical.Endnotes:*The paper was published in Nature, Markets, Tourism:Exploring Tourism’s claim to Conservation in India,EQUATIONS, 2009. http://www.equitabletourism.org/files/fileDocuments478_uid11.pdf1. EQUATIONS field notes to Uttarakhand – villagesLata and Tolma, September 20082. In the 1970s, an organized resistance to thedestruction of forests spread throughout Indiaand came to be known as the Chipko movement.The name of the movement comes from the word‘embrace’, as the villagers hugged the trees, andprevented the contractors’ from felling them. Thefirst Chipko action took place spontaneously in April1973 in the village of Mandal in the upper Alakanandavalley and over the next five years spread to manydistricts of the Himalayas in Uttar Pradesh. It wassparked off by the government’s decision to allota plot of forest area in the Alaknanda valley to asports goods company. This angered the villagersbecause their similar demand to use wood formaking agricultural tools had been earlier denied.With encouragement from a local NGO, Dasoli GramSwarajya Sangh, under the leadership of an activist,Chandi Prasad Bhatt and women of the area,went into the forest and formed a circle aroundthe trees preventing the men from cutting themdown. In March 1974, women from Lata, Reni andother nearby villages led by the elderly Gaura Deviprotested against men that had come to clear cutlocal forests. The Chipko protests in Uttar Pradeshachieved a major victory in 1980 with a 15-year banon green felling in the Himalayan forests of thatstate by the order of Mrs Indira Gandhi, the thenPrime Minister of India. Since then, the movementhas spread to many states in the country. (http://healthy-india.org/saveearth6.asp)4. Bachendri Pal was the first Indian woman ontop of Everest in 1984. She was born in 1954, in avillage named Nakuri in Garhwal. She shared withher parents her desire to become a professionalmountaineer. The family was “devastated,” asfor them, her relatives and local people, themost suitable job for a woman was teaching, notmountaineering. However, Bachendri did not budgefrom her determination. She joined the NehruInstitute of Mountaineering (NIM). She was declaredthe best student and was considered as “Everestmaterial”. She currently runs a training camp at TataSteel Adventure Foundation. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachendri_Pal)5. EQUATIONS, INTACH Andamans & Nicobar IslandsChapter, Society for Andamans & Nicobar Ecology,Kalpavriksh, Jamshedji Tata Centre for DisasterManagement – TISS, Tata Institute of Social Sciences,Action Aid International India (2008) “RethinkTourism in the Andamans: Towards Building a Basefor Sustainable Tourism”, Bangalore, India.6. Ibid, pg 1267. EQUATIONS (September 2008), Review Report onSustainability In Tourism: A Rural Tourism Model,UNDP, New Delhi8. Ibid pg 39. Ibid pg 49-6210. Purdah or Pardaa (literally meaning ‘curtain’) is thepractice of preventing women from being seen bymen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pardah11. EQUATIONS (September 2008), Review Report onSustainability In Tourism: A Rural Tourism Model,UNDP, New Delhi, pg 443. Rajiv Rawat (2008). The Mountain ShepherdsInitiative: Evolving a New Model of Community-Owned Ecotourism In Redefining Tourism –Experiences and Insights from Rural TourismProjects in India, UNDP, New Delhi109

Silence is Not Spoken Here:Women, HIV and TourismEQUATIONS, 2010*Too many women in too many countriesspeak the same language of silence.My grandmother was always silent -always aggrieved —only her husband had the cosmic right(or so it was said) to speak and be heard.They say it is different now(after all, I am always vocaland my grandmother thinks I talk too much).But sometimes, I wonder.When a woman gives her love,as most women do, generously —it is accepted.When a woman shares her thoughts,as some women do, graciously —it is allowed.When a woman fights for power,as all women would like to,quietly or loudly,it is questioned.And yet, there must be freedom -if we are to speak.And yes, there must be power —if we are to be heard.And when we have both (freedom and power),let us not be misunderstood.We seek only to give wordsto those who cannot speak(too many women in too many countries).I seek only to forget the sorrowsof my grandmother’ssilence.By Anasuya Sengupta, Poet, Feminist and Activist110

1. Introduction:India’s richly diverse cultures, cuisines, andgeography attract thousands of visitors annually,both domestic and foreign. The tourism industry isportrayed as one of the catalysts of development.Tourism consumes a variety of economic, social andphysical resources, and also has environmental,social and economic impacts on local communitiesmany of them extremely negative. Accompanyingthe growth of tourism has been a concomitantexploitation of natural resources and local peoplefor the benefit of the industry. This paper examinesthe impact of the growth of tourism on Indianwomen, especially with regard to HIV/AIDS, basedon secondary information sources in the publicdomain.2. Women and Tourism in India:Tourism has had a long and contested relationshipwith women. According to the UNWTO (UnitedNations World Tourism Organisation) the economicsize of the tourism industry, its rate of growth,and its innovation and diversity can potentiallyempower women. 1 However, the industry is asgendered as any other.In most states, with increased privatisation,governments and the tourism industry are in theprocess of acquiring land, water bodies and foreststo promote new hotels, resorts, adventure andwildlife tourism. Public commons such as beaches,waterfronts and forests are also being acquired, 2often without the consent of local communitiesand local self-governing institutions (e.g. thePanchayats). The tourism industry privatises thesecommon resources and then grants access to localsat a price. These developments have displacedlocal communities, alienated them from traditionalways of life and forced them into other often moreexploitative forms of livelihood.Food production has also been adversely affected;this has increased the workload of women, childrenand the old in the community, who are generallyentrusted with the duty of collecting the water andfodder required by the family. Local women havebeen hit hard by these changes, as they have almostno formal training or education. Hitherto selfreliantagricultural economies have become touristdependentunits. In Kerala, losing the land hasmade traditional lifestyles untenable. Many womenwho used to earn their livelihoods in traditionalagricultural production or fish vending have beenforced to look for alternatives in the hospitalityindustry, as a result of the industry’s encroachmenton local land and natural resources.Tourism’s claims to be a massive employer ofwomen also disputable. Men dominate the formaltourism sector, while most of the women workingin the tourism industry are in the informal sector.Work for women in the tourism industry is mostlyon a contractual basis and often has no minimumwage protection, legal benefits, social security,or mechanisms to redress grievances. 3 Thereis a significant horizontal and vertical gendersegregation of the labour market in tourism. As inmany other social spheres, women are largely absentfrom positions of decision-making. 4 Consequently,employment opportunities for women tend to bein areas with lower social status in which they maybe objectified, e.g. service provision (home stays,ayurvedic massage centres). In Kumarakom, younggirls who used to work in paddy fields are nowhired as young, beautiful, decorative icons holdingtraditional trays with lamps and flowers to welcomeguests to hotels. Today, they feel that they will losethis opportunity if they go out to work in the sun,and are willing to sacrifice their traditional work forthis seasonal job. 5 Also the girls are happy to shiftas it is hard work working in the fields for lowerreturns.The tourism sector is also inherently seasonal,with a high labour turnover. 6 Hotels in developingcountries record a high fluctuation in theirworkforce. Seasonal tourism entails the seasonalarrival of migrants at tourist hubs, where theyfrequently end up in unknown environments withnon-existent social networks. Most of them arein ill-paid positions that depend more on howpresentable they are than on skills or training.Turning to commercial sex work in order tosupplement incomes is not uncommon. This hasbeen the case in Kerala, where it is observed thatmassage parlours are often a front for commercialsexual establishments. 7111

112Women in tourism are eroticised and discriminatedagainst; one outcome of this has been the rise ofsex tourism. Marketing strategies used by touroperators and agencies sexually objectify womenin tourist destinations by portraying them as exotic,erotic and sexually available. These efforts reinforcenotions of male virility, power and dominance, aswell as conceptions of local women as submissiveand passive. 8In India, women’s status depends on a complexinterplay of socio-cultural beliefs (dominantlypatriarchy), access to income and education, andmacro-level government policies. When all of theseelements – alienation from traditional livelihoodsand resources, patterns of employment, andsocioeconomic status – come together it makes theposition of women in tourism precarious indeed.2.1 What is Sex Tourism?“Sex Tourism” is defined by the UNWTO as tripsorganised from within the tourism sector or fromoutside this sector but using its structures andnetworks, with the primary purpose of effectinga commercial sexual relationship by tourists withresidents of that destination. It is travelling forcommercial sexual relationship or to engage inother sexual activity. 9 Increasingly sex tourisminvolves non- residents particularly those traffickedfor the purposes of sex tourism or migrants whoare vulnerable and are exploited for sex tourismTourism offers an environment conducive to thecommercial sexual exploitation and trafficking ofwomen. A key element is the anonymity and securityof the perpetrators of sexual acts that the role oftourists provides. Stories from Nepal, Thailand orSri Lanka link the influx of tourists with the demandfor new commodities for entertainment as well asthe expansion of sex tourism under the aegis ofadventure tourism. 10Governments avoid highlighting the evils associatedwith sex tourism, such as exploitation of localwomen and the spread of HIV/AIDS, as this mightdecrease overall tourist footfall and revenue.Consequently, tourists are virtually free fromrestraint and scrutiny; local governments and lawenforcement agencies are all too willing to overlookillegal activities. The internet contributes to thegrowth of sex tourism by serving as a convenientchannel through which potential sex tourists cangain access to information (e.g. where and howto find prostitutes, including child prostitutes, andat what prices). 11 Today, sex tours can be bookedonline before the tourist even visits the country inquestion.Rising tourist figures, ineffective/non-existentregulation in destination countries, lenient attitudeson the part of law enforcers towards tourists, andgreater connectivity and anonymity spur the sextourism trade on. A direct consequence of theexpansion of sex tourism is the increased risk ofcontracting sexually transmitted diseases, includingHIV/AIDS. 122.2 Sex Tourism in India:In India, more and more women and childrenare being pushed into the sex trade 13 with thenumbers estimated to be around 3 million. Indiahas “emerged as a source destination and transitcountry for human trafficking”. 14 The flourishingsex trade is by traffickers who bring people in fromother states and countries. The final destinationfor the vast majority of victims is the sex trade inits various manifestations, including commercialsexual exploitation, pornography and child sexualabuse. Trafficked women and children come fromeconomically and socially vulnerable groups, andlive in fear of pimps, clients and the police. Theylack information, support systems and negotiationskills to protect themselves from AIDS by avoidingunsafe sex. Violence, disease and malnourishmentare common features of their living conditions. 15Goa, a popular tourist destination, is a case in point.A major trafficking site, commercial sex work inGoa has undergone a sea change with the “closingdown” of the Baina red-light district in 2004. 16 Withthis, the sex trade spilled over into the rest of thestate, including massage parlours, hotels, lodgesand rented rooms all over Goa. Frequenters ofthese massage parlours and hotels are significantlytourists, both domestic and foreign. The fallout ofthe demolition of Baina includes a reduction in thesafety and welfare of sex workers. No longer withinthe confines of the brothels, they are more subjectto rape by clients, and it is harder to reach themwith HIV prevention information.

Sex tourism is present in other tourist hotspots too.In 2005 a female employee at an ayurvedic massageparlour in Kerala was allegedly set on fire afterrefusing sexual services to clients. 17 Reports ofincreased “sex tourism” is also linked to the growthand popularity of houseboat tourism. Houseboatshave worsened the situation, because they arerelatively immune from police raids. 18There is a complex interplay between sex tourism,poverty and the spread of HIV/AIDS; as the mostcommon cause for the spread of AIDS in India isunsafe sexual contact. This is a problem that needsto be addressed with the utmost urgency.3. HIV/AIDS in India:HIV or Human Immunodeficiency Virus is avirus that causes Acquired Immune DeficiencySyndrome or AIDS. AIDS is a condition thatprogressively weakens the immune system, leavingthe body susceptible to infections and tumours.HIV is transmitted 19 via several routes, includingunprotected penetrative (vaginal/anal) and oral sexwith an infected person. It is estimated that around2.3 million Indians are currently living with HIV withan adult HIV prevalence rate of 0.34%. 20 Womenaccount for around one million people living withHIV/AIDS, or 39% of HIV infections. 21India’s first cases of HIV were diagnosed amongsex workers in Chennai in 1986. Most of these initialcases had occurred through sexual transmission,and it was noted that contact with foreign visitorshad played a role in initial infections among sexworkers.23 Following this, infection rates soaredthroughout the 1990s, by which time it was clearthat HIV had spread to the general population.Today, despite being originally associated with sexworkers and truck drivers, the epidemic affects allsectors of Indian society, including those classifiedas “low-risk” (e.g. housewives, wealthy membersof society). 233.1 Women and AIDS in India:Women as a social group are susceptible to AIDSfor a variety of reasons, both biological and socioeconomic.24 India has a long history of discriminationagainst its women, especially those from poorer,marginalised groups. Women have lower socialstatus than men; accordingly, their health,education and welfare are not prioritised. Genderdiscrimination means that many girls are pushedinto marriage before they complete their education.Coupled with poverty and restricted mobility,this curtails access to health services. Traditionalgender roles confer little freedom and few decisionmakingpowers upon women; therefore, even ifthey do have the correct information about AIDS,it is difficult if not impossible for them to negotiatebehaviour change (such as condom usage andother forms of protected sex) with their husbands/partners. As a result, many married monogamouswomen are infected by their husbands who havemultiple sexual partners, including sex workers.Additionally, research suggests that an increase inHIV prevalence among women is related to intimatepartner violence. 25 In India, there is a prevailingculture of violence against women as a means ofcontrolling them. Domestic abuse, rape, incest,assault and violence constitute risk factors thatcould expose women to HIV/AIDS. 26 Finally, femalephysiology makes women more susceptible to HIVinfection in any given heterosexual encounter. Allof these factors are compounded in the case of sexworkers.3.2 Sex Tourism and AIDS:Several factors are involved in the interplay betweensex tourism and the spread of AIDS.First, the atmosphere at most tourist destinations isconducive to carefree, uninhibited tourist behaviour.This can translate into risky sexual behaviour:many tourists are single, unaccompanied travellerswho are temporarily away from home, family andregular sexual partners. 27 Groups of young, singlepeople travelling together are also likely to engagein sex while on holiday. 28 An anonymous travelleris free from the societal norms that govern theirbehaviour back home. Loss of inhibition makestourists more sexually adventurous, and they tendto underestimate the risks of engaging in unsafesex. Another type of risky holiday behaviour isdrug consumption, including alcohol consumption,which correlates with unsafe sexual behaviour. 29Second, sex workers have little access to healthrelatedinformation and even lesser to healthcare.113

114For instance, because of the thrust of AIDSprevention campaigns on vaginal sex, the very realdangers of anal and (to a lesser extent) oral sex isignored. Misinformation is rife: some sex workersbelieve that they can tell whether a client has AIDSpurely on the basis of physical appearance. 30 Whatlittle knowledge sex workers do possess is oftendifficult to act on. For instance, many sex workersin Chennai are unable to carry condoms with themwhile soliciting. This is because soliciting is illegal,and being caught with condoms would amountto sufficient evidence for the police to chargethem. 31 Additionally, clients frequently refuse touse condoms and threaten to take their businesselsewhere. For all these reasons, condom usage bysex workers and clients is erratic, at best. One studyindicates that in Mysore, a popular tourist hub, only20% of sex workers had always used condoms withcommercial clients one month prior to the study. 32Third is the manner in which tourist destinationsare advertised. 33 Destinations are often portrayedas having feminine characteristics; tourismpromotional efforts invite (male) visitors to“explore” and “discover” wild, virgin lands.Communications take on sexual undertones; manyimages feature women’s attractive bodies as part ofthe landscape to be enjoyed by visitors. The exoticappeal of the land is inextricably linked with thesexual appeal of the local women. In this context ofsexualised relations between male visitors (mostly)and female locals, sex is more likely, includingunsafe sex.The final crucial factor in the connectionbetween AIDS and sex tourism is the poverty andmarginalisation of local women. With the growthof tourism, local men and women have beendisplaced and alienated from traditional sourcesof income. This has led them to seek employmentelsewhere, often within the tourist industry. Alsomen and women from other parts of the countryhave migrated to tourist hubs seeking work. 34 Thenature of their work means that these women,who have no local social support networks, comeinto contact with strangers on a daily basis. Thesestrangers can include both locals and tourists(Indian and foreign). Social alienation and isolationmakes women vulnerable to sexual advances bylocals and tourists. Low income and general lowstatus drive many into the commercial sex trade.All these factors make it easy for the HIV/AIDS virusto spread unchecked among sex workers and clientsat tourist destinations. Crucially, transmission is notexclusively from tourists to locals or from locals totourists, but also from tourist regions to other partsof the country. 35 Popular tourist centre Mysore inSouth India illustrates the link between sex tourismand AIDS. Sex workers in Mysore are heavilyaffected by the AIDS epidemic. Around 26% ofthem are living with HIV. This is unsurprising, giventhat only 14% (20%) of sex workers in the city usecondoms consistently with clients, and 91% neveruse condoms during sex with their regular partners.In comparison, 80-90% of sex workers in Tamil Nadustate report condom use, which correlates with arelatively low HIV prevalence of 9%. 36“The Social Assessment study commissioned forthe NACP – III found tribals especially vulnerableto HIV/AIDS because of their sexual networkingpatterns, migration both into and out of theirhabitats, poor penetration of media and low levelof awareness and lack of availability of healthservices in general and HIV/AIDs related services inparticular. The study also found out that tourism,mining, displacement and other external influencesincreasing lured tribal women/girls into commercialsex work /trafficking.”Trends in media reports also indicate the alarmingnexus between the growth of current forms oftourism and the increase in HIV-AIDS. The annexureis a compilation of media articles making this linkevident. The HIV/AIDS threat is clearly a grave oneat tourist hotspots. Any policy seeking to resolvethis complex situation must take into considerationthese various elements.4. Estimates of HIV Burden in India: 37The total number of People Living with HIV/AIDS(PLHA) in India in 2007 is estimated to be 2.31 million(1.8 – 2.9 million). Females constitute around 39%of the burden (0.9 million). The highest number ofPLHA is in Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Maharashtra,with nearly half-a-million PLHA each. Besides TamilNadu and Karnataka, West Bengal, Gujarat andUttar Pradesh are estimated to have higher burdenof the epidemic with greater than 0.1 million PLHAin each of these states. The four South Indian states

contribute 60% of all PLHA in the country and alongwith West Bengal, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, theycontribute 80% of PLHA in India. Though Manipurand Nagaland have the highest HIV prevalencein the country, due to small population size, theestimated number of PLHA in these two statesis less than 25,000. The states of Kerala, Biharand Rajasthan have more than 50,000 PLHA eachthough the HIV prevalence in these states is low.The corresponding India Tourism Statistics for2007 provides the percentage shares and ranks ofvarious States/UTs in domestic and foreign touristvisits during 2007. The top 5 States in domestictourist visits in 2007 were Andhra Pradesh, UttarPradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Rajasthan, withtheir respective shares being 24.3%, 22.1%, 13.3%, 7.2%and 4.9%. These 5 States accounted for about 72.0%of the total domestic tourist visits in the country.In respect of foreign tourist visits in 2007, thetop 5 States/UTs were Delhi (15.3%), Maharashtra(14.6%), Tamil Nadu (13.3%) Uttar Pradesh (11.3%)and Rajasthan (10.6%), with the total share of theseStates/UTs being 65.1%. 38 This trend has remainedmore or less unchanged in subsequent years.Juxtaposing the HIV/AIDS figures of 2007 with thatof the tourism statistics of 2007, many of the stateslike Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh with high number ofPLHA are also the states that were front runnersin receiving domestic and foreign tourists in thecountry. The only exception is Rajasthan. Thoughit had received quite high share of both domesticand foreign tourists, the HIV prevalence in thestate is relatively low. Further study needs to bedone to understand the inter-linkage between HIV/AIDS and tourism and to what extent is tourismresponsible for the spread of HIV/AIDS. With theMinistry of Development of North Eastern Region,Government of India and North Eastern Councilputting emphasis on expanding tourism in theNorth Eastern Region there is cause for concernas these are also regions of high prevalence of HIVspread mostly through drug use and injectibles aswell as sexual intercourse. Tourism policies need totake this reality into account.5. Government Policy and Legislation:How has the government responded to thechallenge of HIV? In terms of infrastructure andinstitutional framework, in 1992 the government setup NACO (the National AIDS Control Organisation),to oversee the policy formation, prevention workand control programmes relating to HIV and AIDS.It also created autonomous, decentralised StateAIDS Prevention and Control Societies (SACS) in25 states and 7 union territories. 39 Their functionsinclude the provision of medical and public healthservices; provision of communication and socialsector services; and administration, planning,coordination, monitoring and evaluation, financeand procurement.5.1 HIV/AIDS and the Law: 40The Fundamental Rights embodied in the IndianConstitution act as a guarantee that all Indiancitizens enjoy rights such as equality before thelaw, freedom of speech and expression, freedomof association and peaceful assembly, freedom ofreligion, and the right to constitutional remediesfor the protection of civil rights. In reality, however,the country still staggers under inequality practicedthrough untouchability, discrimination on thegrounds of religion, race, caste, gender and also forcertain diseases like leprosy and Human ImmunodeficiencyVirus (HIV)/ Acquired Immuno-DeficiencySyndrome epidemic (AIDS).In 2008, the Commission on AIDS in Asia releasedthe report entitled - “Redefining AIDS in Asia”, aresearch on the epidemiological and economicdimensions of the HIV epidemic in Asia. 41 Whilerecognizing that discrimination and rightsviolations of marginalised groups are widespread,the Commission endorsed the rights based modelthat protects rights of people living with and atrisk of HIV. It recommends “focused and scaledup interventions towards unprotected commercialsex, unprotected sex between men and the sharingof contaminated needles and syringes”, validatingtargeted interventions with most at risk populationsunder that National AIDS Control Programme inIndia.The website of NACO states that it does not matterif an individual is affected or infected by HIV. “There115

can be no valid or effective response to HIV/AIDSwithout respect for the human rights, fundamentalfreedom and the dignity of human beings.” 42According to NACO, the three of the most importantrights in the HIV scenario include:• y Right to informed consent• y Right to confidentiality and• y Right against discriminationRight to Informed Consent:The implications of HIV are very different from mostother illnesses. The fear, stigma and discriminationthat coexists with the HIV epidemic has raisedseveral legal and ethical issues; testing for HIV andtreatment for persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLHAs)being a key concern. Testing for HIV requiresspecific and informed consent of the person beingtested and any research on data of HIV positivepeople. The principle of consent is based on thefundamental principle of autonomy of an individual,which has been recognised within the meaning ofthe right to life and personal liberty under Article21 of the Constitution of India. Unlike countries likeUnited Kingdom, USA, Canada and Australia, inIndia the concept of consent is not fully developedand references may be made to the principles laiddown in the Indian Contract Act and the IndianPenal Code.Right to Confidentiality:A person has the right to keep information onHIV status confidential. The maintenance ofconfidentiality of an individual’s health status isone of the cornerstones of rights-based legal andpublic health responses to HIV/AIDS universally.The right to confidentiality rests on principles ofautonomy and respect for privacy i.e. every personhas the right to a sphere of activity and personalinformation that is exclusive to her/him and that s/he has the right to disclose as s/he pleases. This hasbeen viewed as crucial in encouraging those mostat risk to come forward for HIV testing, counsellingand treatment.Policies around the world, including India’s NationalAIDS Prevention and Control Policy, have come torecognise the protection of confidentiality as vitalin their response to the epidemic. Though IndianConstitution guarantees the fundamental rightto life and liberty, which has been interpreted toinclude the right to privacy, there has not been aclear statutory enunciation of confidentiality inIndia.Right against Discrimination:The right to be treated equally is a fundamentalright whether it’s something as simple as using apublic well or something more serious like denial ofhousing. One can seek remedy in a court of law ifone is tested for HIV without informed consent, orthe person’s confidentiality is breached, or any ofthe rights are violated.5.2 Legislative and Policy Developments: 43According to the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDSUnit (LCHAU) the last two decades of HIV/AIDSprogramming has witnessed disruptions in effortsto prevent and control HIV among core groups.There has been discrimination against PLHAs inhealth, employment, education and families. Theexisting legal remedies have been ineffectiveand limited access to life saving drugs for peopleinfected with HIV.There has been growing demand for defined legalrights and duties to address the AIDS epidemic andthe importance of an appropriate legal response.With many policy responses being shaped basedon the debate about public health versus individualrights, the demand has been for a specific legislationthat defines the legal rights and duties of thoseinfected by HIV/AIDS and right of treatment forpersons living with HIV/AIDS.LCHAU was requested by Shri. Kapil Sibal, Memberof Parliament and the National AIDS ControlOrganisation (NACO) to prepare a draft legislationon HIV/AIDS to be presented to the Parliament inApril 2003. This initiative received commitmentfrom the Indian government. The drafting of the Billby LCHAU witnessed nationwide consultations byinvolving the learning from representatives of thevarious sectors that are impacted by the epidemic.The consultation feedback that LCHAU received116

through various processes held at national andstate level was then filtered and incorporated in theDraft Legislation. The Draft Bill was submitted toNACO in August 2005.In October 2008, the Law Ministry, returned theBill to NACO with changes. In its version, theLaw Ministry deleted provisions like Access toTreatment and Risk Reduction, which form thecore of the National AIDS Control Programme.Chapters on Discrimination, Confidentiality andSpecial Provisions for Women and Children werechanged, undermining legal protection for peopleinfected and affected by HIV. The Law Ministryhas introduced measures termed as draconian bypeople working on the issue. The measures includedmandatory testing, tracing and isolation of peopleinfected or at risk of HIV and AIDS. Such measuresare serious threat to the rights based model thatthe original Bill is premised upon. Such measureshave over the years failed to prevent the spreadof the disease. The National Coalition of HIV/AIDS,launched protests across the country opposingthe proposals of the Law Ministry. The continuingdemand is to retain the bill in its original form.5.3 Important Developments through JudicialPronouncements:After seven long years of wait, in the writ petitionchallenging the constitutional validity of Section377 of the Indian Penal Code, the High Court ofDelhi in 2009 held that Section 377 of the IndianPenal Code (IPC) violates Articles 21, 14, and 15 ofthe Constitution of India “insofar as it criminalizesconsensual sexual acts between adults in private”.In Naz Foundation (India) Trust v. Governmentof NCT, Delhi and Others Writ Petition (Civil) No.7455 of 2001 (Naz Foundation), the petitionershad argued that Section 377 is violative of theconstitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights ofmen who have sex with men (MSM) including theright to life and liberty, health and privacy (Article21), right to equality (Articles 14), the right not to bediscriminated on the grounds of sex (Article 15), theright to freedom of expression (Article 19). Evidentin both the petitioner’s argument and the Court’sjudgment is Section 377’s deleterious effect onHIV/AIDS intervention and prevention in India. TheUnion of India’s position on this issue was internallyinconsistent. The Minister of Home Affairs arguedthat the impugned provision was necessary foreffective treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS,while both the Ministry of Health and Family Welfareand the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO)submitted affidavits that supported the petitioner’scontention to the contrary.A landmark anti-discrimination case in the BombayHigh Court that affirmed the rights of PLHAs in theworkplace was MX v ZY AIR 1997 Bom 406 whereMX, a casual labourer, was tested for HIV by hisemployer, ZY, a public sector corporation, priorto being regularised into a permanent position.MX tested positive for HIV, and though otherwisefit, was rejected from being regularised, and hiscontract was terminated. MX filed a writ petitionin the Bombay High Court, arguing that thecompany’s rules (mandatory HIV testing and denialof employment to positive people) and actionsviolated Articles 14 (Equality before the law), 16(Equality of opportunity) and 21 (Right to life andpersonal liberty) of the Indian Constitution. Thecourt ruled that:• y A government/ public sector employer cannotdeny employment or terminate the serviceof an HIV-positive employee solely becauseof their HIV-positive status, and any act ofdiscrimination towards an employee on thebasis of their HIV-positive status is a violation ofFundamental Rights.• y The services of HIV-positive employees can onlybe terminated if they pose a substantial risk oftransmission to their co-employees or are unfitor unable to perform the essential functionsof their job. Determining whether a person isunfit or incapable of performing their job mustbe made on the facts of each specific case byconducting an individual enquiry (beyond amere diagnostic test).y • The court also held that an HIV-positiveperson can suppress their identity and use apseudonym in the course of court proceedingsin order to protect themselves from furtherdiscrimination.117

Again in 2002 in the case Mr. Badan Singh v. Unionof India & Anr 44 the Delhi High Court held that aperson living with HIV cannot be denied opportunityof employment merely on ground of his HIV+ status.In July 2008, the Supreme Court dismissed theSpecial Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the State ofAndhra Pradesh (AP), against an order of the APHigh Court directing the State to appoint an HIVpositive Reserve Police Constable, as a stipendiarycadet Trainee Sub-Inspector. This affirms the rightto employment of people living with HIV (PLHA) injobs that require high fitness standards. 45In October 2008 the Supreme Court passed interimdirections in the matter of Sankalp RehabilitationTrust v. Union of India 46 which brought to theattention of the court incidents of discrimination inpublic hospitals. On the direction of the SupremeCourt a ‘19 point recommendation’ was formulatedin conjunction with NACO (for the government),PLHA networks and the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit. The directions seek to broadly ensurethe right of PLHIV to universal access to healthcare.5.4 The Interdepartmental Agreements inDealing with the Epidemic:According to the NACO website, 47 there is an actionplan to mainstream HIV/AIDS into a number of linedepartments and ministries. Following are detailsof such plans with regard to the Tourism ministry:Altogether 31 Union ministries of the Governmentof India have mainstreamed HIV/AIDS preventionin their day-to-day functioning. Each of them hasone dedicated HIV/AIDS unit with at least one focalperson from staff. All have developed a situationassessment report and five-year HIV/AIDS actionplan covering critical elements, including:• y Internal budgetary allocation for implementingHIV/AIDS action plan.• y Plan for HIV/AIDS unit .• y Identification of comparative advantage tothe Department/ Ministry in introducing thepreventive interventions, and entry points forHIV interventions in the Ministry/ Department’swork.• y Cost-benefit analysis of measures taken for HIV/AIDS prevention.• y Rights-based workplace policy: training andsensitisation of internal staff as a first step.• y Workplace interventions for care, support andtreatment, including provision of commoditiesand services for HIV/AIDS infected or affected.• y Ongoing monitoring and feedback: reporting ofcore indicators to the National Council on AIDS.In these activities and interventions of variousministries, NACO, State AIDS Control Societies andtechnical experts provide all support for settingup the HIV unit, developing reporting lines withindepartment, reports, training/sensitising staff anddeveloping workplace policy.NACO maps and identifies priority organisations/government ministries that have direct orindirect relevance to the HIV and AIDS response(e.g. direct relevance - Railways, Steel as largeemployers; indirect relevance – Labour Ministry,Police Department for the statutory support theycan provide to HIV/AIDS programmes). NACO hasidentified 13 focus government ministries, but thesecan vary according to the mapping in each state. All13 union ministries have to achieve the objective ofHIV prevention and control, and contribute to thisby integrating HIV into their larger mission.5.5 Ministry of Tourism: 48The Ministry of Tourism is the nodal agency for theformulation of national policies and programmeson tourism. The activities of its HIV cell asrecommended by NACO are:• y Advocacy with representatives of hotelfederations/ 2,141 hotel owners and ancillaryindustry.• y Incorporation of HIV/AIDS in the trainingprogrammes conducted by National Council forHotel Management and Catering Technology(NCHMCT) and Institutes of Hotel Management.y • Workplace policies of all major establishmentsin this sector-Directorate General of Tourism,118

20 India tourism offices within the country,India Tourism Development Corporation(ITDC), Indian Institute of Tourism and TravelManagement (IITTM).• y HIV messages on hoardings erected at all majorDestination Development Projects (64), 20 ruraltourism circuits.• y IEC 49 stalls at tourist fairs.• y Free space for installation of CVMs and IECmaterial at ITDC hotels and duty-free shops.• y Establishing condom vending machines (CVMs)at suitable wayside amenities, tourist arrivalcentres, reception centres and interpretationcentres in the identified tourist circuits. Thesecould be organised by the State AIDS ControlSocieties in coordination with the State TourismDepartments.• y An HIV/AIDS workplace programme forTravel Agents Association of India (TAAI),Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO),Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associationsof India (FHRAI) and the Hotel Association ofIndia (HAI).• y Encouraging the industry bodies to providecondoms, information about HIV in hotel roomsHowever the Ministry of Tourism’s latestannual report and website indicates that theseresponsibilities do not seem to be on its radar, andthat its focus seems to be the unfettered promotionof tourism. Whether the HIV cell even exists is notclear.5.5.1 Implications of Government Policy:The thrust of the programme detailed aboveby NACO is on information provision, as well asincreasing access to condoms. These interventionsare primarily targeted at tourists and relativelyeducated industry employees (e.g. those whocome from accredited hospitality and managementinstitutes) and must be seen as only the first step instarting to address this issue.Sex workers, because of the stigmatised natureof their activities, have traditionally had restrictedaccess to information as well as to healthcareservices. 50 As mentioned earlier, pimps sometimesprevent sex workers from carrying condoms so thatthe police may not use that as evidence of brothelkeeping.51 Sex workers cannot rely on clients, whomay refuse to use condoms and threaten to go toothers who will agree to condom-free sex. Takingall these factors into consideration, it is evidentthat simply providing IEC stalls at tourist fairs andcondom vending machines at tourist arrival centresis not going to benefit these women. Also, it isquite rare to see such stalls and machines anyway!The tourism industry attracts many relativelyunqualified workers, including poor migrants anddisplaced people. Migrants, in fact, constitutea large section of the workforce. 52 Inadequatemethods of information provision (such as thoseproposed by the government) are unlikely to reachthese low-status workers; yet it is migrant womenwho are most likely to enter the commercial sextrade in order to supplement low incomes.Rupa Chinai, a writer with the Women’s InternationalPerspective (a global source for women’sperspectives on news and world developments),suggests that marginalised people from lowsocioeconomic groups suffer disproportionatelyfrom AIDS. 53 Poorer people, once identified as HIVpositive, reach AIDS and premature death muchmore rapidly than do members of other socialgroups. Chinai highlights the plight of commercialsex workers: ignorance coupled with unsanitaryliving conditions and little/no access to healthcareservices makes brothels a breeding ground forAIDS. Sex workers also have little access toadequate nourishment, which Chinai suggests isvital to better health and longevity for HIV positivepersons.The invisibility of women in policy is endemic. Themainstreaming of gender in policy and funding hasbeen on the agenda now for at least two decades,but despite persistent efforts of women’s groupsand other civil society actors, results have been thinon the ground. The government has a duty to reachvulnerable groups, as there is clearly a link betweenpoverty, marginalisation, disempowerment andvulnerability to HIV. It must formulate broadranginginitiatives that reach those who have beendispossessed of land and livelihood, and denied119

asic rights to food and education as a result ofmacro-economic pro-tourism government policies.Equally, the government must improve theiraccess to incomes, nutrition, water and sanitation,education, and basic health services (therebyimproving their general health). Unfortunately,these considerations do not figure in national HIVpolicy. The Tourism Section of the 11 th Five YearPlan makes no mention of Tourism and HIV/AIDS 54and EQUATIONS critique of the plan points to thislacuna.6. Recommendations:The first step would be the Ministry of Tourismand state tourism departments to acknowledgethe nexus between tourism and AIDS. With this,the Ministry of Tourism and the state tourismdepartments should work together to put in placedefined and clear mechanisms to deal with theissue- building up the necessary support system andpreventive mechanisms.Poverty is the primary driver of sex work at touristdestinations. Many women employed by the touristindustry are underpaid. The UNWTO has recognisedthat the industry offers low pay and poor workingconditions, with little or no job security forpopulations such as women and young people. 55The onus, therefore, is on the government tocreate what the ILO 56 labels “decent work” for all,involving fundamental principles and rights at workand international labour standards; employmentand income opportunities; social protection andsocial security; and social dialogue and tripartism.Macro-level policies need to be formulated thatgive Indian women access to better education,better employment opportunities and better livingconditions. Low social status is inextricably linkedto female poverty in India, the tourist industrybeing no exception. Gender discrimination must beweeded out in order to make this a more womenfriendlyspace.Thus policy prescriptions that merely emphasisesafe sex and condom usage is more the first stepand even a quick fix. A more systemic approachto policy is critical. Secondly, overemphasisingcondom usage neglects factors such as povertythat drive the sex trade. Efforts must be made toimprove living and working conditions for poorwomen at tourist destinations, thereby restrictingthe numbers of women who find their way into thesex trade.The tourism industry must improve workingconditions for its employees, especially women.Minimum wage protection for all workers must beintroduced, with remuneration that is enough foremployees to subsist on. Women in the workforceshould be encouraged to organise and campaignfor better working conditions. Disadvantagedmembers of the workforce (women, indigenouspeople etc) must be given opportunities for trainingand skill development if they are to progress tohigher-status work. All these measures, if properlyimplemented, will give women a sense of securityand control over their lives, thereby curbing thenumbers who join the sex trade.The industry has a responsibility to activelydiscourage sexual contact between guests andemployees/ locals. Establishments such as hotelsand bars need to both protect their employeesfrom sexual harassment and proposition, as well asprevent them from actively seeking clients.A useful starting point for a more responsibletourism industry might be the introduction ofHIV/AIDS programmes for the workplace, aswell as sector-specific regulatory mechanisms &codes of conduct. For instance, in the 1990s, theUNWTO, travel businesses, and the children’s rightsorganisation ECPAT developed the internationalCode of Conduct 57 for the Protection of Childrenfrom Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism;today hundreds of businesses and associationsin more than 23 countries have committed to it.Similar concrete standards of behaviour for touristestablishments must be set in consultation on HIV/AIDS and Tourism.Both government and the tourist industry need tobe responsible regarding destination promotion.The focus must be taken away from a sexualisedimage of women. Concerted efforts must be madeto crack down on websites images and languageused in tourist brochures that promote or appear topromote women as a sexual object. The obligationnot to promote sex tourism is mentioned in theUNWTO Global Code of Ethics as well. 58120

Policy level wide-ranging initiatives must reach theentire community, instead of superficial schemesthat only provide information to certain segmentsof the population. High-risk groups must bereached - this means reaching sex workers, clientsand migrant populations.Public awareness of the need to regulate tourismmust increase. Within the public domain, thereshould be a focus on the many negative impactsof tourism. The role of a vigilant press cannot beoveremphasised; the alternative media (includingproductions of NGOs and civil society groups) playa particularly important part. Civil society groups,governments and law enforcement officials need totake cognisance of the problem of violence againstwomen at tourist destinations. The public and thegovernment must be sensitised to the need forchange in approach to expansion of tourism at anycost.Annexure:Media Reports on the links between Tourism andHIV/AIDS in India and neighboring regions.1. Andhra PradeshTirupati-Tirumala hills grapple with rising AIDScases. Shwetal Rai / CNN-IBN / 21 st June 2008http://ibnlive.in.com/news/tirupatitirumala-hills-grapplewith-rising-aids-cases/67487-3.htmlHyderabad: There has been a steep rise in thenumber of HIV/AIDS cases in one of India’s holiestHindu pilgrimage sites, the Tirupati-Tirumala hills.Andhra Pradesh AIDS Control Society has found outthat over 200 commercial sex workers operate inthe area.“We have come across this information throughunofficial sources that there is commercial sexactivity even in Tirumala. There are about 200-300 sex workers there,” Project Director, AP AIDSControl Society, K Chandravadan said. The discoveryreveals that sex workers clandestinely operate inabout 15 secluded spots in the hills.Chittoor — another district known for its pilgrimagesites — has also been identified as a high-risk zone.Incidentally, smoking, drinking and non-vegetarianfood are banned in the Tirupati-Tirumala hills. Thetemple authorities, however, have denied thefindings.“I disagree with the media reports. There arethousands of employees here who are sincere anddedicated. There is no scope for such scandals. Wewould never allow it,” Executive Officer, TirupatiTirumala Devasthanam, KV Ramanachary defended.While the temple authorities are now in damagecontrol mode, news of rampant prostitution hasshocked devotees.Mega rally on AIDS awareness organizedhttp://www.hindu.com/2008/12/02stories/2008120252530300.htmTirupati: The United Nations’ AIDS theme ‘Lead,empower, deliver’ was conveyed loud and clearto the public in the form of awareness campaigns,technical sessions and rallies in the city on Monday inconnection with ‘World AIDS Day’. The Medical andHealth Department conducted a mega awarenessrally from SV High School. Speaking after flaggingoff the rally, SVIMS Director G. Subramanyamrevealed that 14,248 of the 1.12 lakh persons testedtill October-end in the district were found to beHIV-positive. Similarly, almost 2,000 of the 1.14lakh pregnant women tested positive. Some 2,538patients were undergoing Anti-Retroviral Therapyat the ART centre in Ruia Hospital and the figureincluded 1,368 men, 1,027 women, four transgenderpersons, 73 boys and 66 girls.Additional DM&HO (AIDS and Leprosy) S.Nazeeruddin elaborated the activities of thecare and rehabilitation centres at Yerpedu andArogyavaram and the ‘Drop-in centre’ at Chittoor.He lauded the progressive thinking HIV+ personsfor identifying fellow PLHAs (People Living withHIV/AIDS) and forming a group called NetworkChittoor Positive People (NCP+).Chittoor correspondent adds: The society should becompassionate towards those suffering from AIDSand not belittle them, Collector M. Ravi Chandrasaid as he flagged off a rally organised in connectionwith the World AIDS Day. [H]e cautioned peopleto be careful about AIDS and urged people to besympathetic towards those affected.121

Sex tourism hits tribal womenExpress News Service / 04 Jun 2009http://newsrack.in/browse?issue=Sexual+Exploitation&catID=1&owner=tulir&start=1Hyderabad: The incidence of HIV/AIDS is on therise in tribal areas with an ever increasing numberof women turning into commercial sex workers ––a fallout of the expansion or rather, the invasion,of tourism and mining industries. According to astudy conducted by the Andhra Pradesh State AIDSControl Society (APSACS) in 10 Integrated TribalDevelopment Agency (ITDA) areas in the State,about 1,973 of 67,500 tribals tested positive to HIV,as did 167 of 29,500 pregnant women.“These tribals came to government hospitals andprimary health centres (PHCs) voluntarily.We suspect there could be more number ofaffected tribals,” said APSACS project directorRV Chandravadan. The study found that tourism,mining, consequent displacement and migrationare the main factors that are forcing tribal womeninto commericial sex. Permissive sexual practices orpolygamy among tribal communities and traffickingof tribal girls apart from unavailability of medicalservices are also being viewed as reasons for thespread of AIDS.Officials also say that tribal girls are gettingaccustomed to posh-lifestyle and becoming sexworkers to meet their needs. “We found that tribalsare ignorant of HIV/AIDS. We are making effortsto educate them through a novel programmecalled ‘Giri Suraksha’. Awareness will be createdamong tribals through ‘kalajathas’ performed bytrained tribals and education in tribal languages likeGondh,” said Chandravadan.The Giri Suraksha project is a two-year action planbeing launched by APSACS in association withthe Tribal Cultural Research and Training Institute(TCRTI) from June 15. The project will be funded bythe Central Government and implemented at a costof Rs 2.6 crore. The APSACS will use the servicesof traditional healers or unqualified practitionersto spread awareness on HIV/AIDS among tribals.A separate cell will be established in the TribalWelfare department to take stock of programmeson a regular basis. The officials are also toying withthe idea of promotion of use of condoms, especiallyamong women, by distributing them through selfhelpgroups and the Girijan Cooperative Corporation(GCC) outlets.2. PondicherryTourist Guards to Spread Awareness ofHIV/AIDS. The Hindu – Online Edition /19 th September 2009http://www.thehindu.com/2009/09/19/stories/2009091950280200.htm“Those who have direct interface with people shouldspread the message”Puducherry: The Pondicherry AIDS Control Society(PACS) has roped in tourist guards and employees ofthe Tourism Department for spreading awarenessof HIV/AIDS prevention.A workshop on HIV/AIDS was conducted for thefirst of three batches of tourist guards, employeesof the department and those of hotels run by thedepartment on Friday. Forty persons attended it.Alerting peopleInaugurating the workshop, Director of TourismMathew Samuel said that the first line of peopleof the department had been asked to alert andadvises people on HIV/AIDS prevention. Those whohad direct interface with people should spread themessage.Project Director of PACS Gilbert Fernandez saidthat information on the basic concept of HIV/AIDS, prevention, facilities available for testing andmeasures taken by PACS to control HIV/AIDS wereimparted to the participants.“The tourist guards and staff meet many personsfrom various parts of the world. They can impartinformation regarding HIV/AIDS prevention in casethey find any person with deviant behaviour,” hesaid. PACS had conducted similar workshops forprisoners. Around 700 anganwadi workers werealso trained. Welfare Inspectors and officers of theSocial Welfare Department, Department of Women122

and Child Development and Adi Dravidar WelfareDepartment will also be trained.3. GoaGoa AIDS body, hotels in pact for awarenessBusiness Standard / Panaji / 23 rd February 2006http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/goa-aidsbody-hotels-in-pact-for-awareness/230556/The hospitality industry in Goa, the Goa State AIDSControl Society (GSACS) has joined hands withInternational Labour Organisation (ILO) to spreadawareness about HIV/ AIDS among workers in thehospitality sector.“There is a crucial connection between the spreadof AIDS and the tourism industry. It is necessarythat the tourism industry reach out and spreadawareness about it,” said U K Vohra, healthsecretary of the state.He said the state is recognised as a prime touristdestination worldwide and there is an urgent needto educate people in the hospitality sector. Goareceives over 25 lakh tourists, both domestic andinternational, every year. Besides, there are morethan 18,000 small and big hotel establishmentsacross the state.Over 15,000 people are working in the hospitalityindustry in the state, who are vulnerable to thedreaded disease, according to HIV/ AIDS expertAfsar Mohd, national project director of ILO.“This is an extraordinary problem and it needsextraordinary attention,” he added.Deputy Chief Minister Wilfred de Souza said thereis a need to promote responsible tourism. “Weneed to protect the industry from this diseasethrough various HIV/ AIDS prevention programmes.We should also see that Goa remains a touristdestination without the threat of HIV/ AIDS,” saidde Souza, who is also the tourism minister.According to Charles Bonifacio, president of Traveland Tourism Association, all hotels should startorganising HIV/ AIDS prevention programmes toeducate their staff members.The expanding red light district An openPandora’s box . TNN, Jun 10, 2009, 04.35am ISThttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Goa/The-expandingred-light-district/articleshow/4637537.cmsFrom massage parlours to fishing trawlers,highways to starred hotels, migrants to Goan girls,after the tearing down of Baina’s red light area,trafficking in Goa has undergone a sea change,reports Preetu Nair:• y In the last three raids on massage parlours inPorvorim, Mapusa and Arpora, police rescuedfour Goans. The girls had joined the parloursfor “better pay” and “a better future”.• y Sudha, 16, a school dropout from Sanvordemwanted fancy mobiles, money to spend onclothes, food and friends. Traffickers would lureher with the promise of a mobile phone every nightfor serveral months. She was later rescued froma hotel in Margao and the traffickers arrested.• y Three young girls - Kannadiga, Manipuri andGoanwere recently rescued from a massageparlour in Vagator. They were lured with thepromise of “good money” and “promotion”after a year. The promotion included training inbeauty treatment and a near doubling of salaryto between Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000.Five years after bulldozers razed Baina’s red lightarea in the state’s port town of Vasco, the modeand form of trafficking has changed.Baina’s dingy rooms have given way to fancycubicles in massage parlours and air-conditionedrooms in starred hotels. Taxi drivers and motorcyclepilots as contact points have made way for waiters,chai boys and beach hawkers. The modus operanditoo has adapted to the needs of the solicitors andthe solicited.Perhaps the biggest change, however, point outpolice and NGO sources, are the finding of local girlsamong those rescued.“Goan girls are being lured, often by Goan women,with the promise of easy money and the beliefthat they can lead a comfortable life with less123

hardwork,” says Auda Viegas, president, BailanchoEkvott and member of the State ProtectiveHome that looks after rescued trafficking victims.With the contact point shifting from the crampedlanes in Baina to just about everywhere: beaches,parlours, hotels, lodges, bars, restaurants,streets, markets, even fishing trawlers, the modusoperandi nowadays is to pre-arrange a meetingpoint for the customer and the girl. Alternatively,women are also sent to certain areas to directlysolicit, finds a study by Baina-based NGO, Arz.The 2007-08 study, whose findings will be releasedsoon, focused on Goa’s prostitution phenomenonafter the demolition of Baina and the closure ofdance bars in Mumbai. Information was collectedby talking to sex workers, pimps, legislators,government authorities, hoteliers etc. Thestudy reports that nowadays, it is not uncommonto find girls, including foreigners, solicitingon beaches, bars, restaurants, shacks andeven at tourist bazaars.Another common meeting point are night clubswhere couple entry is the rule. Some girls solicitaround major crossroads, traffic circles, junctions,gardens and bus stands. In Margao, Colva and otherparts of Salcete taluka, women are seen solicitingon the roads, municipal garden and bus stands.Most are migrants settled in Goa, reports the study.“After the demolition in Baina, prostitutionhas spread all over the state,” says Dr PramodSalgaonkar, chairperson, Goa State Commissionfor Women. “While middle-budget prostitution isflourishing in the tourist belt in the form of massageparlours, prostitution along highways, hotelsand houses is also on the increase,” she adds.Arun Pandey of Arz, says, “The Baina demolitionhas led to an escalation in highway prostitution,prostitution in isolated places like jungles andprostitution in vehicles (private four wheelers).”“There is an increased vulnerability of womenand children in prostitution to forced sex acts andrapes. Clients would not be able to film prostitutedwomen and children or have group sex in a brothel.Now this is possible,” he adds.Goa police’s public information officer SP AVDeshpande calls it “old wine in a new bottle”.“The business is the same. But girls are now bettereducated and pimps are using the latest technologyto operate and attract high paying clients.The business has become moresophisticated.” Moreover, new destinationpoints for trafficking in Goa and in neighboringstates have developed, he says.As for local girls entering the trade, Dr PramodSalgaonkar shrugs off the matter, “There arefew Goan girls who are misguided and pushedinto prostitution. But the number is minuscule.”Auda Viegas, emphasizes, “We have to get outof denial mode and accept that in the changingscenario our Goan girls are also being lured intocommercial sex work and in most cases by Goanwomen. It’s the lure of easy money and a falsebelief that it’s an easy life.”(Names of trafficked victims changed)The supply chainAirUpper class commercial sex workers and theirclients prefer to fly into Goa. Prior to meeting,customers choose from photos shown on mobilephones by agents. The agent then makes the dealwith the girl and the amount charged can go upto Rs 1 lakh per night. A part of the payment ismade in advance and is immediately verified atthe nearest ATM. One-way air fare is paid by themiddle man who can earn as much as Rs 30,000to Rs 40,000 in one deal. Hotels are avoidedand girls are taken to bungalows or flats.TrainGirls brought into Goa by train, mostly alight at Thivimand Vasco stations from where they are picked upand taken to flats. They are supplied as per demand.BusGirls brought into Goa by bus get down at Mapusa,Panaji, Margao, Ponda or Bicholim bus terminii.They are then taken to other destinations by pimps.124

Private vehiclesWhile trafficking via private vehicles, a “manager”accompanies the girls who are then handed overto the relevant person in Goa. The manager gets“good luck” moneya cash incentive that can goup to Rs 5,000 per girl. The girls are receivedat specific places, mostly in Mapusa and Panaji.In such deals, the girls are taken on a “contract”basis of about Rs 25,000 for 15 days. Eachgirl has to entertain 8 to 12 customers perday. If a customer complains, the girl faces afinancial “penalty” of up to Rs 5,000 or more.• y Information from study: Trafficking forCommercial Sexual Exploitation in Goa’ byBaina-based NGO, ARZMassage parloursPlace: Mostly in the coastal beltOperate from: Stalls erected behind beach shacks,hotels, lodges and rented houses. While some arehigh-class massage/beauty parlours, others operatefrom dingy rooms. There are registered as well asunregistered parlours that traffick. A security guardat most places facilitates entry into the parlour.CSWs: From Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi,Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalayaand Nepal. Of late, Goan girls have also been foundworking in such parlours.Customers: Domestic, foreign tourists, even localyoungsters have been found visiting those locatedin Bardez taluka.Modus operandi: Customers do not approachmassage/beauty parlours directly. They aresolicited by mostly young boys. After soliciting,the customers (either alone or in groups of2-4) are brought to the parlour via private orcommercial vehicles. In a majority of cases, vansare used to transport the solicited customers.Price: Varies from Rs 2,500 to Rs 25,000Hotels & lodgesPlace: Almost everywhere in GoaCSWs: Predominantly from Maharashtra (mainlyMumbai, Pune and Sawantwadi), Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, West Bengal,Manipur, Meghalaya and Nepal. Young, smart,modern, fashionable and Hindi-speaking girls arepreferred.Modus operandi: The girls are accommodated at thehotel or in a nearby rented house. After agents fixa deal with customers, the girls are made available.Those put up in rented premises are contacted overtheir mobiles and picked up from their residences.Agents in hotels and lodges also contact girls whoopenly solicit in markets and beaches. On receivingthe details, the girl proceeds to the hotel/lodge.In another variant, in Bardez taluka rooms arerented to girls on an hourly basis.Some hotel managers also have contacts withCSWs from other states in order to meet demand.If the girl does not have money to travel, she isinstructed to board a particular bus where theticket is paid for directly at the travel agency bythe hotel manager. She diembarks at the saiddestination and is taken directly to the hotel.Customers: Domestic and foreign touristsRented RoomsPlace: CSWs are kept in rented rooms and housesin villages.CSWs: From Maharashtra, West Bengal, AndhraPradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Manipur andNepal.Modus operandi: The girls are brought to Goa by bus ortrain on contracts that range from a week to a month.In Bardez taluka, they are mostly picked up fromthe Mapusa bus stand or Thivim railway station.They are not allowed to leave the rooms/houses.Whenever they are taken out, vehicles with blacktinted glasses are used. After the contract periodthey are paid and sent back.125

Fishing trawlersPlace: Fishing jetties and nearby market areas.Though entry into fishing jetties is restricted, thegirls are permitted.CSWs: Mostly from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.Modus operandi: Soliciting is done by the CSWherself. The room is often a trawler anchored adistance away from the jetty.Though cash is paid, in many cases the girl gets fishor prawns which she later sells.Customers: Migrants from Kerala, Orissa, Karnataka,Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, who work oncontract basis with trawler owners.BrothelsPlace: Baina, VascoModus operandi: Customers are solicited bymotorcycle pilots and taxi drivers at bus stands,railway stations, markets, gardens and brought toBaina beach.Here, a deal is made with the madam’ (brothelowner) and once finalized the girl is sent withthe customer to a nearby, pre-determined room.The amount paid is shared by the pimp, roomowner, madam and the CSW. At times, the CSW isforced to solicit customers herself.Isolated placesPlace: Prime areas include the KTC bus stand,Municipal garden, Railway bridge and railwaystation in Vasco city. Also Sada, Bogda, the Japanesegarden, Kharewada, Birla, Zuari Nagar, Vernaindustrial estate, Kelsim and Thane and Cortalim.CSWs: Mostly those displaced after the demolitionof the red light area in Baina.Modus operandi: CSWs solicit customers on theroads and take them to nearby hotels, lodges orthickly forested areas.HighwaysPlace: Highways passing through some of thestate’s interior talukas. Mostly in highly industrialand mining areas.CSWs: Mostly from migrant populations settled inslums or rented houses.Modus operandi: CSWs solicit at different locationsalong the highways. The customer is taken to aroom or the girl travels to another location in thelatter’s vehicle.Customers: Mostly truck drivers and helpers.4. Himachal PradeshTourism Boom makes Himachalis Vulnerable toAIDS. Pratibha Chauhan, Tribune News Service /Shimla / 7 th December 2004http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20041208/himachal.htmA booming tourism industry may be the top priorityof the state government but with over 88,000 highrisk population in the state as per the mapping doneto assess the vulnerability to AIDS, stringent stepswill have to be undertaken to contain the spread ofthe killer disease.Almost 88,036 persons in the state have beenfound to be vulnerable to the killer disease AIDS ina survey conducted by the ORG Centre for SocialResearch. The survey was done to assess the highriskpopulation so that effective strategies could beevolved for target intervention projects. The surveycovered all rural and urban areas in all districtsbarring Lahaul Spiti.A recent report had alerted that though Himachalfell in the category of low prevalence state but witha spurt in the tourist inflow, it was highly vulnerableto the disease. One of the main reasons beingattributed to such a huge high risk population ina tiny state like Himachal is the growing tourismindustry which beckons people from every sectionand part of the country.A startling factor, which has come to light in thesurvey, is the presence of large number of nonbrothelbased commercial sex workers operatingthrough mobile network. The number of such126

female sex workers has been found to be thehighest in Shimla and Kullu, as the two places arethe most popular tourist centres. These commercialsex workers are not confined to any geographicalboundary as they have high inter-city and interstatemobility.The other vulnerable group includes truckers(33,303), migrant workers (52,298) and very smallnumbers of intravenous drug users and gays.The largest concentration of high-risk behaviourgroup of truckers has been found in the districts ofBilaspur, Solan, Mandi and Kangra. The maximumnumber of migrant work force has been found indistricts of Kullu, Shimla and Solan, mainly becauseof the orchards and vegetable farming.5. Neighboring RegionsResurgent tourism growth sparks female HIV/AIDS infections. E Turbo News / 02 nd Feb 2008http://www.eturbonews.com/1115/resurgent-tourismgrowth-sparks-female-hivaidAfter the reeling effects of a 11 year old civil conflictwhich nearly saw the death of Nepal’s tourismindustry, the country in 2008 is quickly surgingback to become the world’s number one adventuretourism destination with a robust cumulative 33%growth rate compared to last year, a 24% increasein air arrivals in January 2008, and a multitude ofservices offered to the tourists. Along with the newtourist figures, the rate of Nepalese women luredinto the commercial sex trade has also increasedfour fold with a mushrooming of massage parlors,upscale smoking and sex-entertainment bars, hautecuisine restaurants and mushrooming comfortlodges in Thamel, Freak Street and the Durbar Margareas which all have one common aim— cash in onthe sex tourism fueled by the easy availability ofsurplus foreign currency due to Nepal’s burgeoningtourism figures.Nepal’s enduring Hindu-Buddhist charm of alluringmyths and mysticisms still exist. However theyonly seem to be providing a cover up to the hiddenrealities of a rising HIV/AIDS threat involving femalecommercial sex workers who are increasinglyattracted by the new tourism boom in Nepal.In the past two years, the majority of foreign touristscoming to Nepal were from Germany, Spain, UnitedKingdom, US, and neighboring Asian countries suchas India, China, Thailand, South Korea and Japanwhich continue supplying a younger crowd willingto try out new adventure tourism ´experiments´.Foreign tourists pay between US$ 8-10 for a typicalmassage session in Kathmandu, which is relativelycheap compared to Thailand or the Philippinesalthough the risks of catching HIV/AIDS throughunsafe sexual practice are quite high.Sarala is one of those girls who works in amassage parlor in Thamel, Her name might betypically Nepalese sounding and there might behundreds of Saralas around in Thamel, but her lifeis a bit estranged, one mired in absolute poverty,dejection and with no way out except to work ina forced occupation catering to hundreds of sextourism clients each month. Saral’s parents came toKathmandu around 1999 from Surkhet, about 350kilometers west, displaced by the civil conflict, andhaving to resort to staying with different relativesin the absence of a proper family, job, and housing,all which are vital to daily subsistence survival inKathmandu.Sarala was lured into the lucrative commercial sexbusiness in Thamel by her own aunt, who was alsoworking in a nearby Thamel restaurant as a waitressand was contacted by a middleman who offered topay her US$ 50 for arranging the deal. Sarala at firsthesitated in knowing what she was getting into, butdue to the poverty in the family, and the sheer needfor sustaining her parents, brothers and sisterslivelihood, resorted to this lowly form of work.Sarala recently went to an HIV/AIDS VoluntaryCounseling and Testing Center indirectly operatedby an American INGO, and after routine testing,was certified as being HIV/AIDS free. However, sheis not sure how long she will stay that way, since shecomes into contact with four to seven clients daily,most of whom who choose to have unprotectedsex.Nepal makes annually between US$ 450 to US$600 million through adventure and pleasuretourism. The sparring 4 x 4 luxury sports vehiclesdotting Kathmandu’s over congested, honkingtraffic lanes testify to that income generation. The127

tourists who visit Kathmandu on average spendfive and a half days while those going to the moreexotic Himalayan trekking routes spend up tothree weeks. Many massage parlor girls have alsorecently graduated on to become trekking escortsthus further spiraling the HIV/AIDS infection chain.There are also an increasing number of Nepalesefemale trekking guides, well educated professionalwomen with proper trail experience who commandbetween US$ 200-300 a week for their services in agood season.Many of them come from the traditional Sherpa,Rai, Gurung and other ethnic populations along thetrails that used to be the number one recruitmentsource for various mountaineering expeditions,which these days increasingly recruit Kathmandubased TAAN certified guides. The women trekkingguides do not work the same way as the femaletrekking escorts, but are equally tempted to caterto their varying clients needs based on the amountthey are paid.HIV/AIDS has quickly become an unwanted guestin Nepal’s booming tourist market and the NepalGovernment is still studying the effects than thecausal factors. The Nepal Government has not sofar attempted to study the hidden implications ofthe increased feminization of the HIV/AIDS ratesin Nepal’s booming tourism sector. After all it isunderstaffed and government officials cater onlyto the big money spenders which comes by wayof hefty commissions in renewing the licenses ofthe 300 or so local and international trekking andadventure tourism companies that have madeNepal their permanent base, some even operatingunder international tax loopholes and not giving aear to the environmental regulations that usuallyregulate the existence of such companies in the US,the UK, Japan or Australia.According to Nepalnews.com, Nepal’s number onee-gateway portal which also hosts the majority ofNepal’s top newspapers, e-tourism links, TV andbusiness channels, in 2008 compared to a yearearlier, the number of tourists from India declinedby 12.2 percent and from Sri Lanka by 12.5 percent.However, there was an upward surge in tourismfigures from other countries within South Asia by upto 7 percent. From Europe and the US it was 33.1%and 34.3% respectively, from China 96.8 percent,South Korea 5.1 percent, Thailand 23.2%, andMalaysia 12.1%. The Korean market, thanks largelyto the introduction of direct flights by Korean Airto Kathmandu contributed to nearly 15. 3 percentof the total market. European markets too haveshown positive growth mainly from France 78.5percent, Germany 4.5 percent, Spain 28.5 percent,and Netherlands 36.5 %. The international touristsare also spending more on average US$ 850 perweek staying longer and enjoying Kathmandu’ssights and sounds more given the city’s quickcosmopolitan turn around in the past two decades.Western tourism entrepreneurs are also showingincreased consumer confidence towards Nepalas a long term easy profit destination. The otheradvantage of course is the comforting existence ofChina and India, the world’s two largest growingeconomies, straddling the Nepalese borders northand south, and offering sponge like economicbooster doses whenever the Nepalese governmentfaces budget expenditure shortfalls. The country’spolitical situation is in total chaos with the promisesof a Constituent Assembly poll which has alreadybeen deferred thrice and the resulting cat and dogfight between the seven major parties politicians alltopped up with a lame duck septuagenarian primeminister who is ill and bed ridden most of the times.There is hardly any HIV/AIDS mainstreaming thinkingamong Nepal’s politicians let alone understandingof the deep rooted social discrimination againstNepalese women which harbors the HIV infections.For the majority of the tourists who cannot affordthe luxury of staying in Nepal’s exotically famedSoaltee Holiday Crowne Plaza, Yak and Yeti or thatold legendary party venue of yesteryears, the Hotelde l´ Annapurna, Thamel is a cheaper alternativeaccommodation way point. Thamel is also describedas the craziest and most affordable per squarekilometer adventure fun destination in the entireworld, according to the Lonely Planet guide.Thamel incidentally, is where young girls like Saralawork and spend their days and weeks toiling for asimple income for their family working as massageparlor girls. A varying number of Thamel tourists areprey to the commercial sex tourism entrepreneursfrom around the world who have made Kathmandutheir new customer baiting spot. Everything128

is affordable in Kathmandu, everything can bearranged, and everything is accessible whether itis a Kathmandu green hash stick, Korean gin sengtea laced with drugs, or alternatively the world’sbest six layered San Francisco pizza containing thewildest Himalayan herbs imaginable!.According to Jose, who declines to identify hiscountry of origin, and how long he has been inThamel, there are big bucks to be made in the sextourism industry in Nepal. Girls can be procuredfor as little as US$ 60 a month and clients chargedup to US$ 100 per night. Getting a work permit inNepalis a piece of cake, immigration is bribable.He displays a cell phone which reads like a ´who’swho?” off all the pimps around Thamel, the lowerclass, Freak Street areas, and one can guess, therest of Nepal. Jose usually mixes around with theelite tourists in Durbar Marg, offering them freebeers in exchange for a discreet card which has onlya few local cell numbers, but appear all too enticingfor those visiting Nepal, not to ignore for the sheerheck of it in having a night out with a local woman.Sarala´s story might be unknown to them, but this iswhere the sad connection starts unfurling, evidentin the feminization of HIV/AIDS figures for Nepal,the innocent tourist out spot where the vanquishedNepali commercial sex workers all females, areexploited to the full monetarily and physically.Walking through Thamel is like walking througha gizmo of snakes and ladders, dodging the drugdealers, the crazy bicyclists who might grab your bagif you are not careful, fellow obnoxious travelers,some high on hashish, the street magicians andsnake charmers all rolled into one, the miracleastrologer forecasting your good Karma behindand your bad days ahead unless you bought offhim a US$ 50 amulet, and the road side flute playerenticing you with a Bob Dylan tune. Amidst thisEastern charm mixed with Western adventurism,reminiscent of a temple scene in Seven Years inTibet, Thamel has within its hidden gullies anywherebetween 200-350 massage parlors and sex joints.Thamel area itself is only around two squarekilometers but it could take you at least a week todiscover it properly. Tourists did not deny visitingthese hidden massage parlors ten years back, but incoming back to Kathmandu for the umpteenth time.They are now alarmed to see Nepali commercialsex traders and their foreign counterparts openlyboasting their connections with young petiteNepalese women wearing flashy saris, enticingthe tourists from second floor windows at everystreet corner, along with others working in themushrooming cabin restaurant business meant forNepalis and foreigners alike (akin to a sleazy Patpong joint from Thailand). Thamel also aboundswith nude dance clubs, a wide array of curio shops,drug packers, and exotic restaurants that servesome of the world’s most authentic haute cuisineassortments. The Thamel Tourism Board foundedby leading Thamel tourism entrepreneurs KarnaShakya and Yogendra Shakya from the famedKathamndu Guest House, and Tejendra Shrestha,a major restaurant chain owner, is now convertedinto the Thamel Tourism Development Council,which only recently introduced a new ban onvehicular traffic plying along its narrow gully roads.However this has allowed unfettered human trafficto replace it. This is good news for the Thamelentrepreneurs because more humans mean morebusiness, more customers too for the massageparlor joints, according to Jose.Thamel indeed serves as the capital of Nepal’scommercial sex tourism. Every year nearly 6,000Nepalese women are lured into Nepal’s commercialsex industry here, thereby slowly entering the restof Kathmandu, Nepal and rest of the world. If thegirl’s Karma is good, as Sarala reckons, she mighteven marry a foreign husband and be able toleave the Nepalese misery and poverty behind forgood. However, most operating within the Nepalicommercial sex trade are part of a global racketthat also includes cross-border human traffickersworking across many Asian borders, often forcingthe girls into dangerous, dirty and unwanted jobs.Additionally every year 8,000 to 10,000 Nepalesewomen are innocently enticed into the Indiancommercial sex market with the promise of jobsand later on forced into commercial sex occupationin Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and New Delhi.These Nepalese women hardly get any income,their life is one of bondage and servitude to one ofthe numerous Indian havelis (brothel houses), theirnames are changed and soon they will lose theircultural identity as well. The families too are left129

ehind in total hopelessness and anxiety, the onlyremaining legacy being hope that they will comeback one day soon.And, besides, another 40,000 Nepalese women aregoing abroad by air each year mostly filling unskilledlabor quotas in South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong,United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Palestine and Jordanas house maids and female domestic workers.Nepal’s labor market in certain destinations such asthe UAE, Qatar, Malaysia and South Korea are nowlegalized, thus somewhat helping to stem the flowof unskilled, illegal workers, but this does not stopthe flow of globally trafficked Nepalese womenlured into commercial sex work elsewhere.Many of these Nepalese girls are quickly exploitedon the job, and the average money they repatriateback home every month is only around US$ 300-350, which is still a large sum of money in Nepal, oneof the poorest countries in the world. Sarala onlywishes that she could be one of them going abroadto work, on a huge jet airplane, instead of leadingthis abject life in Nepal where she has to toil dayand night selling her body for her family’s survival.A massage parlor girl in Nepal makes through herbonded labor only around one twentieth the actualamounts the business owner makes in hiring her,which is not enough for her family to survive. Manylike Sarala thus have to take side employment ascabin restaurant attendants, bar singers, dancersand dish washers in other neighboring tea stalls.The Nepal Government does not seem to havesufficient regulations to control the burgeoningcommercial sex tourism in Thamel and othersprouting locations around Kathmandu. The policeofficers often are in cahoots with the commercialsex operators charging hefty commissions to turntheir heads the other way round. Many media storieshave appeared in Nepal and the American media onthis nexus between some corrupt Nepalese policeofficials and the commercial sex tourism operators,but at the moment, no one is able to do anything inthe absence of a legitimate national government inNepal.In fact, the entire 28 kilometer Ring Road aroundKathmandu is surrounded by sleazy cabinrestaurants and sex joints full of young innocentgirls like Sarala enticed into commercial sex workin the promise of better work. There is a knownstrong nexus and interchange in the placement ofthe girls working in Thamel and those operatingaround the periphery of Kathmandu, since thebusiness operators usually happen to be runninghalf a dozen massage parlors within the valley atany given time, constantly shifting their base ofoperations. This, in turn, leads to an uncheckedmigration of HIV/AIDS carriers spreading infectionsfurther among the younger, vulnerable populationaged between 19-39 years.In the past 15 years, the American governmentthrough USAID has been doing notable work,leading an aggressive drive against HIV/AIDSspread in Nepal. America in fact is the lead donorcountry trying to stop the further spread of HIV/AIDS in Nepal and has been seriously investigatingthe plight of sex workers and also trying to educateclients on the concept of safer sex and possibleabstinence.Although HIV/AIDS in the general population is lowin Nepal, estimated at less than 0.7 percent of thegeneral population, it poses a concentric threatin Thamel (as much as 18% among commercialsex workers) making it imperative that strongerbehavior change interventions be introducedrapidly. The Nepal Government, as early as 1992,introduced the first medium-term plan for AIDSprevention and control which was implemented withgusto, but lacked the built-in multi sector linkagessuch as the tourism growth connection. In fact,screening blood samples, surveillance, generationof sentinel information and data, education andcommunication materials development for thegeneral public and high risk groups were all initiatedwith American funding in the past decade. But thishas not helped blot out a high risk of infection, theorderly distribution and promotion of condoms,case treatment of STIs, counseling those at risk andthose already infected with HIV, and spreading thegospel of HIV/AIDS prevention among the generalyouth population which seems to be a bit carelessin the use of condoms.Nevertheless, despite these global obstaclescreated by the surge of Nepalese tourism, theAmerican government through USAID has been130

working with its European partners and the UNtrying to prevent the trafficking of Nepalese womento India, fostering local capacity building amongNepalese NGOs, promoting safe condom use, andincreasing the capacity of locally run communitybased organizations to tackle the problem head-on.However, in Thamel there are increasing numbersof injecting drug users, and seasonal and long termmigrant women who also come for some extramoney which makes it difficult to deny the longterm inter linkages between HIV/AIDS and how itaffects now grown-up women such as Sarala whohave seen it all first hand, and would choose to leada different life. Some of Sarala’s best friends havedied due to AIDS related illnesses.According to Nepal’s health experts, this all makesit a difficult and complex task in further reducingthe feminization of HIV/ AIDS in Nepal due to theincreasing number of sex tourism operators fromthe Asian region who finds Thamel in Kathmanduvalley too attractive to simply ignore for theirflourishing business. The big question is: when willthe Nepal Government wake up to the threat ofHIV/AIDS threatening its women population as aresult of the tourism boom, before it gets too late.Endnotes:* The research on this paper has had several peoplecontributing to it. Cynthia Stephen, IndependentResearcher, Writer and Policy Analyst wrote theinitial draft. S Vidya and Ananya Dasgupta ofEQUATIONS and Shirin Bhandari interning withEQUATIONS worked on it subsequently to bring it tothis version.1. UNWTO Forum, Women in Tourism, 2008(http://www.unwto.org/sdt/fields/en/pdf/itb2008_WomenInTourism_rep.pdf)2. EQUATIONS(http://www.equitabletourism.org/stage/campaign.php?AID=347)3. EQUATIONS, Problems of Women Workers inTourism Sector, Paper Presented at the StateConsultation on the Status of Women Workers inthe Unorganised Sector, Bangalore, January 20064. Ibid5. Ibid6. 5 th UNWTO International Conference on TourismStatistics, March-April 2009, (http://www.unwto.org/statistics/bali/findings_statement.pdf)7. Asia Water Wire, India: FisherwomenQuestion Tourism’s Magic, 2007 (http://www.asiawaterwire.net/node/586)8. Special Meeting of Women Ministers of Culture,Reykjavik 2005, (http://womenministers.government.is/Programme/nr/3269)9. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), aSpecialised Agency of the United NationsWTOStatement On The Prevention Of Organized SexTourism”. Adopted by the General Assembly ofthe World Tourism Organization at its eleventhsession - Cairo (Egypt), 17–22 October 1995(Resolution A/RES/338 (XI)). Cairo (Egypt): WorldTourism Organization. 17–22 October 1995.10. E Turbo News (Global Travel Industry News),Resurgent Tourism Growth sparks female HIV/AIDSinfections, 2008, (http://www.eturbonews.com/1115/resurgent-tourism-growth-sparks-female-hivaid)11. US Department of Justice website, ChildExploitation and Obscenity Section (http://www.justice.gov/criminal/ceos/sextour.html)12. Tourism and HIV/AIDS commissioned by theFederal Ministry for Economic Cooperationand Development (Germany), (www.gtz.de/nochildabuse & www.gtz.de/tourismus)13. CNN.com, Official: More Than 1M ChildProstitutes in India, May 11, 2009, (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/11/india.prostitution.children/index.html)14. Thaindian News: Sex Tourism, Human TraffickingAlarming New Trends (http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/sex-tourism-humantrafficking-alarming-new-trends-cbi_100191008.html)15. NHRC, UNIFEM, ISS Project (http://nhrc.nic.in/Documents/ReportonTrafficking.pdf)131

16. The Times of India: The Expanding Red LightDistrict, June 2009 (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Goa/The-expanding-redlight-district/articleshow/4637537.cms)17. Problems of Women Workers in Tourism Sector,Paper Presented at the State Consultationon the Status of Women Workers in theUnorganised Sector, Bangalore, January 200618. NHRC - UNIFEM - ISS Project, A Report onTrafficking in Women & Children in India, 2002-2003 (http://www.ashanet.org/focusgroups/sanctuary/articles/ReportonTrafficking.pdf)19. UNAIDS Fast Facts About HIV Prevention (http://data.unaids.org/pub/BaseDocument/2008/20080501_fastfacts_prevention_en.pdf)20. Ministry of Women & ChildDevelopment & NACO Study, 200821. NACO(http://www.nacoonline.o r g / Q u i c k _ L i n k s / W o m e n / )22. Avert Society - HIV/AIDS in India(http://www.avert.org/aidsindia.htm)23. Ibid24. NACO(http://www.nacoonline.o r g / Q u i c k _ L i n k s / W o m e n / )25. Avert Society website - HIV/AIDS in India(http://www.avert.org/hiv-india.htm)26. Ibid27. AIDS Brief for Sectoral Planners & ManagersTourism Sector, funded by USAID (http://www.ispusida.org.mz/por/content/download/586/2965/file/Hiv-aids 4 Tourism Sector.pdf)28. Southern African Development Community,Factsheet HIV/AIDS & Tourism, 2004 (http://www.sadc.int/sadcaidsinfo/docs/Technical%20Documents/HIV%20and%20AIDS%20and%20Tourism.pdf)29. AIDS Brief for Sectoral Planners & ManagersTourism Sector, funded by USAID (http://www.ispusida.org.mz/por/content/download/586/2965/file/Hiv-aids 4 Tourism Sector.pdf)30. Avert Society (http://www.avert.org/hiv-india.html)31. Factors Associated with Condom Use amongFemale Commercial Sex Workers in India: ACase Study presented at the InternationalCommunication Association, New York, 2009(http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/0/1/1/9/3/p11935_index.html)32. Avert Society (http://www.avert.org/hiv-india.htm)33. Special Meeting of Women Ministers ofCulture, Reykjavik 2005 (http://womenministers.government.is/Programme/nr/3269)34. 5 th UNWTO International Conference on TourismStatistics, March-April 2009 (http://www.unwto.org/statistics/bali/findings_statement.pdf)35. Avert Society (http://www.avert.org/hiv-india.htm)36. Ibid37. Refer to HIV Sentinel Surveillance and HIV Estimation2007- A Technical Brief, (http://nacoonline.org/upload/Publication/M&E%20Surveillance,%20Research/HIV%20Sentinel%20Surveillance%20and%20HIV%20Estimation%202007_A%20Technical%20Brief.pdf)38. Table 5.1.3, India Tourism Statistics 2007,Government of India, Ministry of Tourism,Market Research Division (http://tourism.gov.in/)39. NACO(http://www.nacoonline.org/UNAIDS/templates/NacoInnerPage.aspx?id=840)40. For this section the researcher has depended onthe research undertaken by National AIDS ControlOrganisation (http://www.nacoonline.org/Quick_Links/Know_Your_Rights/) and HIV/AIDS unit ofLawyers Collective (http://www.lawyerscollective.org/hiv-aids/activities/advocacy/issues-consent)41. Redefining AIDS in Asia, Crafting an EffectiveResponse, Report of the Commission on AIDS in Asia(http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2008/20080326_report_commission_aids_en.pdf)132

42. National AIDS Control Organisation (http://www.nacoonline.org/Quick_Links/Know_Your_Rights/)43. Ibid57. The Code of Conduct (http://www.thecode.org/index.php?page=1_1)58. UNWTO (http://www.unwto.org/code_ethics/pdf/languages/Codigo%20Etico%20Ing.pdf)44. 97 (2002) DLT 98645. RR v. Superintendent of Police & others (Unreported[2005] Karnataka Administrative Tribunal), (http://www.hivaidsonline.in/index.php/HIV-Human-Rights/legal-issues-that-arise-in-the-hiv-context.html)46. [W.P. (C) No. 512 of 1999]47. NACO(http://www.nacoonline.org/Partnerships/Ministries_and_Departments/)48. Ibid49. Information, Education and Communication50. Factors Associated with Condom Use amongFemale Commercial Sex Workers in India: ACase Study presented at the InternationalCommunication Association, New York, 2009(http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/0/1/1/9/3/p11935_index.html)51. Ibid52. 5 th UNWTO International Conference on TourismStatistics, March-April 2009 (http://www.unwto.org/statistics/bali/findings_statement.pdf)53. The WIP, HIV/AIDS in India: New Theoriesversus the AIDS Lobby, December 2008(http://www.thewip.net/contributors/2008/12/hivaids_in_india_new_theories.html)54. Planning Commission, Government of India (http://planningcommission.gov.in/plans/planrel/11thf.htm)55. 5 th UNWTO International Conference on TourismStatistics, March-April 2009 (http://www.unwto.org/statistics/bali/findings_statement.pdf)56. International Labour Organisation (http://www.ilo.org/global/About_the_ILO/Mainpillars/WhatisDecentWork/lang--en/index.htm)133

annexure135

Code of Conduct for Safe & Honourable TourismAdopted on 1 st July 2010Ministry of Tourism, Government of IndiaSafe and Honourable Tourism:To leverage the burgeoning global travel and tradeand in keeping with the Indian tourism industry’sobjective of positioning India as a global tourismbrand, the Ministry of Tourism has strategicallyoutlined in its policy the central principle of, ‘AtithiDevo Bhava’ (Guest is God). In stating this, is evidentthe commitment of Indian tourism to ensure thatevery tourist in India is physically invigorated,mentally rejuvenated, culturally enriched andspiritually elevated.To meet this objective and at the core of the Nationaltourism policy of 2002 is outlined the seven pillars oftourism, Swagat (Welcome), Soochana (Information),Suvidha (Facilitation), Suraksha (Safety), Sahyog(Cooperation), Samrachanam (InfrastructureDevelopment) and Safai ( cleanliness).‘Safe and Honourable Tourism’ aims to strengthenthe critical pillar of ‘Suraksha’ (Safety) and ensurethat Indian tourism follows international standardsof safe tourism practices, applicable for both touristsand local residents i.e local people and communitieswho may be impacted by tourism in some way. Itscentral objective is to ensure that tourism activitiesare undertaken, integrating the need to protectthe dignity, safety and the right to freedom fromexploitation of all tourists and local residents involvedin or impacted by tourism. In today’s scenario,following safety guidelines is not just about adheringto the provisions of the seven pillars but also impliesgood business. As the demand from travellers forsafe and secure tourism services increases, this codewill assist signatories to build capacities among theirservices chains and personnel so as to be able torespond to this demand.Specific Objectives:This code is a guideline of conduct to enable theIndian travel and tourism industry to:1. Encourage tourism activities to be undertakenwith respect for basic rights like dignity, safetyand freedom from exploitation of both touristsand local residents i.e people and communitieswho may be impacted by tourism in some way.2. Aid the prevention of prostitution, sex tourismand forms of sexual exploitations like assaultsand molestations in tourism to safeguard thesafety of persons, in particular women andchildren.3. To enhance prevention of activities like forcedor involuntary drug use, manipulated andincorrect information, cultural and socialintolerance which could increase vulnerabilityto crime.Applicability:This code of conduct shall be applicable to all theowners, suppliers, contractors, employees of thetravel and tour sector including hotels, restaurants,lodges, guest houses, tour agents, entertainmentestablishments etc. In addition it shall be applicableto service providers like event managementorganizations, entertainment providers, transportoperators like taxis, buses, tour guides and otherservices or agencies associated with the tourismsector. This is not a legally binding instrument buta set of guidelines for the tourism industry. Inaddition to these guidelines, included in this codeare key messages that signatories are encouragedto use.Guidelines for the Tourism Industry:1. Information & Training of Personnel:• y Management will take up measures to buildawareness and train staff on the guidelines ofthis code and appropriate legal provisions toenhance vigilance and to ensure that personnel136

act in a manner that promotes the safety oftourists, local residents and their own staff.• y All hotels and tour operators shall train andmaintain two persons as focal points to ensurethat all safety norms and guidelines of thiscode are adhered to. The officers shall providecorrect information to tourists, like informationon Child lines- 1098, Women Help lines- 1091,local police helpline 100 and also act as a liaisonofficer with agencies such as the local policestation, immigration authorities, civil societypartners working in this area, child and womenwelfare committees etc.• y In case of an incidence of exploitation,personnel shall be sensitized to report correctinformation to the appropriate authorities actin cooperation with law enforcement agencies,other agencies providing care and support andtake necessary action to protect the interests ofthe individual whose rights are violated.• y Organizations will promote awareness on thecode among service providers affiliated totheir business such as vendors, contractors,taxi drivers, tour guides, event managementcompanies etc.• y In case of misconduct by a staff member orpersonnel of a service provider, signatoriesof the code will commit themselves to act inan unbiased manner, reporting the incidenceto appropriate authorities and protecting theinterests of the individual whose rights areviolated.• y Identified victims shall not be treated ascriminals. They should be identified as personsin need of care, protection and should beprovided with legal, medical, psycho-social andany other assistance without delay.2. Public Awareness and Guest Notification:• y Messages of intolerance to any form ofexploitation must be made evident inappropriate places visible to guests/clients,employees and other visitors. Guests and clientsmust also be provided information through thecompany’s website, brochures, tickets, bills,in-room/in-flight communication etc on issuesrelated to commercial sexual exploitation suchas sex tourism, prostitution, pornography,forms of sexual assaults, molestations and keymessages elaborated in this code.• y In order to enhance tolerance for social andcultural norms, signatories of this code musttake action to provide information available totheir best knowledge on local social and culturalbeliefs and norms. Knowledge and tolerancefor different social and cultural norms will allowtourists to dress, conduct themselves andrespect local beliefs helping them to adjust andthereby reducing the vulnerabilities they mightface as foreigners to a particular destination.• y Signatories of the code are encouraged to assisttourists with guidance on safety tips applicableto the specific city/place like places to visit,timings for visits, right dressing and precautionsagainst moving alone, and against acceptingeatables and favors from unknown personsetc. Guests and clients shall be cautionedagainst solicitations from touts, non-regulatedtourism operators and encouraged to consultthe website of the Tourism Ministry and otherauthorized websites.• y Signatories will ensure that a clause is includedin registration papers seeking commitmentof the tourist to act in a manner that respectsthe dignity and rights of local residents andalso to conduct themselves in a manner thatshall aid the tourist’s own protection againstexploitation.3. Regulated use of Premises and OfficialEquipment:• y Management/owners are encouraged toprohibit usage of the organization’s premisesfor use or abuse of illicit substances, sexualviolations and of company equipment forviewing, storage, distribution, promotion or useof material which could increase vulnerabilityto exploitations of the nature mentioned in thiscode.y • Individuals under the permitted age shall notbe allowed permission in to restricted areas likebars and pubs.137

• y Tourism service providers shall verify andmaintain a record of details pertaining totourists, personnel and service providers likeaddress, contact details etc and also committhemselves to maintaining confidentiality.• y Internet usage that promotes, seeks anycontacts for sex tourism and other sexualservices, for search of pornographic materialand/or to solicit the sale and purchase of illicitsubstances shall be prohibited.4. Ethical Business Practices and Marketing:• y Management/owners shall ensure that allcontracts with business partners, suppliers andfranchise agreements bear a clause seekingcommitment to provisions of the ‘Code ofconduct for Safe and Honorable Tourism’ intheir businesses.• y Any tourism enterprise or service providerfound to act in a manner that undermines thesafety of persons outlined in this code may beblacklisted.• y Sexually explicit images or concepts/imagesthat may compromise the safety of individualsshall not be used for marketing purposes. Anunambiguous company policy shall be set up toensure that marketing and advertising does notsupport the promotion of sexual exploitation orpromotion of sexually explicit images.• y Signatories are encouraged to patronizevendors and service providers who arecommitted to adhering to the provisions of thiscode.5. Implementation and Monitoring:• y All signatories are required to maintain anannual report on ‘Code of conduct for Safeand Honourable Tourism’ and submit it to adesignated authority.• y Management/owners shall report on:• y Training and capacity building initiativescarried out for personnel/ staff.• y Means adopted to raise awareness onsafety among guests, personnel andservice providers.KEY MESSAGES FOR AWARENESS BUILDINGAND DISSEMINATION-Enhancing Safety and Security of all Tourists:• y All signatories of the code are committedto act in a manner that protects the dignityand freedom against exploitation of personsespecially women and children and facilitateprevention of incidences of sexual molestation,harassment of their guests and provideassistance in case of an untoward incident.• y In case of exploitation please call the Child line-1098, Women Help lines- 1091 and/or contactrelevant authorities like the police or travel andtour operators.• y Like in many places in the rest of the worldtourists are encouraged to follow some basicand practical safety tips such as to remain with agroup or meet new people in public places, notto accept items from persons whom they havebefriended recently, be wary of unexpected,unknown persons coming to their hotel room,never open the door to unsolicited room serviceor maintenance people etc.• y Tourists are encouraged to understand localsocial, cultural norms and beliefs and areencouraged to conduct themselves in a mannerthat respects these beliefs.• y Tourists must always take the advice of morethan one person when seeking information onplaces to visit, shopping places, local customs,beliefs and norms and remain vigilant onaccepting completed documents. Touristsare encouraged to seek information fromGovernment of India recognized informationcenters and visit the Ministry of Tourism’swebsites.y • Indecent Representation of Women(Prohibition) Act, 1986, Section 2 (c) - Indecentrepresentation of women means the depiction138

in any manner of the figure of a woman, herform or body or any part thereof in such away as to have the effect of being indecent, orderogatory to, or denigrating a woman or islikely to deprave, corrupt or injure the publicmorality or morals.• y Kidnapping or abducting in order to subjectperson to grievous hurt, slavery, etc. is anoffence under Section 367 of the Indian PenalCode.• y Assault or criminal force to woman with intentto outrage her modesty is an offence underSection 354 of the Indian Penal Code.• y Punishment for rape offences shall not be lessthan seven years but which may be for life orfor a term which may extend to ten years as thecase may be, according to Section 376 of theIndian Penal Code.Enhancing Safety of Local People:• y People across the world dress, eat and livedifferently and follow different values andnorms. Tourists are encouraged to respect thelocal people and must commit themselves toacting in adherence to local laws.• y Signatories to the code maintain zero toleranceto acts of sexual exploitations, includingcommercial sexual exploitation like prostitution,sex tourism and trafficking of persons for it.• y Many tourists believe that they are protectedby anonymity and thus laws are more easilyviolated. Any guest, staff, partner linked to thisagency found to be indulging in exploitationsoutlined in this code or supporting it shall bereported to an appropriate authority.• y A few alarming trends that have emerged inrecent years are sexual exploitation throughsex tourism, paedophilia, prostitution in pilgrimtowns and other tourist destinations, crossborder trafficking. 1• y According to studies conducted by the Ministryof Women and Child Development, there are3 million commercial sex workers in India, ofwhich an estimated 40% are children.• y Human trafficking is a crime against humanity.It involves an act of recruiting, transporting,transferring, harbouring or receiving a personthrough use of force, coercion or other means,for the purpose of exploiting them. The consentof a victim of trafficking in persons to theintended exploitation is irrelevant irrespectiveof age. 2• y Sexual relationship with a child amounts torape according to the Indian Penal Code andis punishable with imprisonment of minimum7 years which can even be extended to lifeimprisonment.• y Acquiring or inducing any person (irrespectiveof age or sex) for prostitution or causing aperson to be taken for prostitution is an offenceunder Section 5 of Immoral Traffic PreventionAct 1956 and with a punishment of 3- 7 years.• y It is a myth that sexual intercourse with a virginor a minor will cure STI or prevent HIV. It onlyspreads the disease further.• y Abetment to crime amounts to committing thecrime itself.• y Victims of exploitation are not criminals. Theyare persons in need of care, protection, legal,medical and psychological assistance.• y Under section 7 of Immoral Traffic PreventionAct, 1956, letting out a hotel or any part thereoff for prostitution is an offence for which thelicense of the hotel can be suspended.y • Publishing or transmitting or causing to bepublished or transmitted, material in anyelectronic form which depicts children engagedin sexually explicit act or induces children toonline relationship with one or more childrenfor and on sexually explicit act is an offenceunder section 67(b) of the InformationTechnology (Amendment) Act 2008.139

• y Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances(NDPS) Act- Engaging in the production,manufacture, possession, sale, purchase,transportation, warehousing, concealment, useor consumption, import inter-state, export interstate,import in to India, export from India ortranshipment, of narcotic drugs or psychotropicsubstances is an offence expect for scientificand medical reasons. Punishment for theoffence may imply imprisonment, fine or both.• y Handling or letting out any premises for thecarrying on of any of the above mentionedactivities in an offence under the NDPS act.• y According to the National Security Act,1980, the Central Government or the stateGovernment has the power to act against anyperson with a view to prevent him from actingin any manner prejudicial to the defence ofIndia, the relations of India with foreign powersor the security of India.• y The Foreigners (Amendment) Act, 2004 - If aforeigner to the country acts in violations of theconditions of the valid visa issued to him for hisentry and stay in India, shall be punished withimprisonment for a term which may extend tofive years and shall also be liable to fine. If hehas entered in to a bond then his bond shall befortified.Endnotes:1. India Country report- 2008- Ministry ofWomen and Child Development and theUnited Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.2. United Nations Protocol to prevent, suppress andpunish trafficking in persons, especially womenand children, supplementing the United NationsConvention against Transnational Organized Crime.140

Opening Doors is not EnoughEquality, Equity and Empowerment isWhat Women Seek in TourismThis is a joint statement by Alternatives (Goa),Council for Social Justice and Peace (Goa),Sakhi Resource Centre for Women (Kerala) andEQUATIONS, 2007On World Tourism Day the UNWTO claimed that“Tourism Opens Doors for Women”. Challengingthis claim, we call upon governments, policy makers,industry, civil society and the World TourismOrganization (UNWTO) to engage in more systemicways with the challenge of women’s empowermentin tourism. Perhaps it is time for the UNWTO todeclare Tourism’s Decade for Women’s Rights andEmpowerment as a move towards opening the doorsto a more just and equitable world for women andmen. This is a joint statement by Alternatives (Goa),Council for Social Justice and Peace (Goa), SakhiResource Centre for Women (Kerala) and us. Thisgroup is organising on World Tourism Day a seriesof round tables in Kerala and Goa on the theme ofWomen and Tourism“When I decided to launch my small tourismbusiness – a small guest house in Goa - I wasdeceived by what I saw around me. I saw howhuge concessions were given to the 5-star hotelswhetherof Indian or foreign origin and land andcredit at subsidized rates. Access roads, electricity,water supplies, garbage disposal etc were allmade easy for them. The government investedin their needs and demands. On the contrary, wethe small entrepreneurs had to cope with virtuallyimpossible travails if we started out on a business.My story perhaps illustrates how the system worksagainst the small entrepreneur and weighs heavilyin favour of big business. Now I ask – “Is smallentrepreneurship welcome or is it not?” - GeraldineFernandes, a local entrepreneur who runs a smallguest house in Benaulim, Goa, India, questioningwhether Tourism has in fact Opened Doors forWomen.The World Tourism Organisation, in choosing thetheme of women and tourism for the year 2007, hasfocused its attention on this issue for the first timesince 1980 – a welcome move indeed! “Tourismis a sector of the economy that not only employssignificant numbers of women, but providesenormous opportunities for their advancement”states Secretary General Francesco Frangialli, inhis customary message on World Tourism Day - 27September 2007.The Secretary General’s statement has focusedon the potential for women to gain from tourismthrough employment. Tourism does indeed employmany women. But as experiences like those ofGeraldine highlight, the odds against womenbenefiting are extremely high. The UNWTO mustgo beyond a position of approbation and look attourism’s record thus far, both in the empowermentof women and in the exploitation of women. This isessential if there is a serious intent, as we hope thereis, in the UNWTO and indeed the tourism industryworld wide, to go beyond the rhetoric of women’sempowerment, towards serious engagement andcommitted action.The UN, Women’s Empowerment and MDGs:The advancement of women and the achievementof equality between women and men is a matter ofhuman rights and a condition for social justice. Theseare essential to build a sustainable, just, secureand developed society. For decades now, throughvibrant movements and political struggles, womenhave challenged existing gender relations andpatriarchal systems to reframe the developmentdialogue. They have placed issues of violence, race,caste and other forms of discrimination that hitwomen the hardest; and the need for equality andhuman rights of women - including social, economic,political, legal, sexual and reproductive rights at thecenter-stage of this struggle.141

Global processes from Rio, Copenhagen, Vienna,Cairo and Beijing to Durban, particularly theCEDAW (Convention for Elimination of all formsof Discrimination against Women), the UN FourthWorld Conference on Women and its subsequentBeijing Platform for Action, have set out criticalconcerns and strategic action points. Decades later,the battle for equality, to challenge the status quo,to demand action on women’s key concerns, tomobilize civil society in both the global North andSouth, and to push for a global reordering of theworld’s resources continues with the same intensitybut leaving one with little sense of progress onsubstantive issues. There has been enormousfrustration at the lack of government commitmentand accountability to both development goalsin general and gender equality commitments inparticular.In one way, the emergence of the MDGs marksthe success of global women’s movements andbroader civil society, which had made the creationof time-bound targets and indicators a key demandfor measuring progress on development and rightscommitments. However it is accompaniment by aconcern that the MDGs have met the letter of civilsociety demands for accountability, but not thespirit. They seek to solve critical problems withmeasurable targets, without adequately addressingthe roots of these problems.Many gender advocatesargue that despite being an important tool tomeasure progress, the MDGs are a far too narrowset of indicators and targets. Their watering downof a human rights framework is another seriousmatter of concern. The UNWTO Secretary General‘sstatement that seems to simplistically equatewomen’s employment to women’s empowermentis a reflection of the dangers of such a wateringdown.The Doors that Tourism can and should open forWomen:What is the role that tourism has played and canplay in this important struggle for equality, equityand empowerment that involves half the world?We have argued that international, national andstate level policies on tourism do state a generalcommitment to women’s empowerment but rarelygo beyond that to understand and evolve specificmeasures. Policies and budgets have the potentialboth to perpetuate gender bias and blindness,and to transform them. Gender disaggregateddata, gender-sensitive policies and indicators areessential to building up a picture of the nature andextent of gender inequality. We need to understandthe way institutions with their gendered rules workand we need to develop the political will, processesand tools to challenge and change them. Genderaudits and gender budgeting are tools that could beemployed meaningfully - particularly at communitylevels. These in turn will impact women’s politicalparticipation and decision making in the forms oftourism, impacts of tourism, models of tourismand pace of tourism in their communities. It is timetourism recognized women’s agency and heardtheir voices in its development.Tourism does provide a range of activitieswhere women can participate and also createsopportunities for entrepreneurship developmentin tourist destinations. Global data on numbersof women and men working in tourism relatedprofessions suggests that the organised tourismsector is a particularly important sector where 46%of the workforce is women (in general 30-40% ofthe workforce is women) (ILO 2007). Of the dataavailable for the years between 1988 and 2005, itappears that there has been a broad increase in theparticipation of women in the tourism industry at aglobal level.However apart from the larger overall presence inthe industry, which has grown exponentially, manyother factors sadly follow the trend of the overalllabour market and women do not seem to benefitand be empowered particularly from tourism. As inmany other sectors, there is a significant horizontaland vertical gender segregation of the labour marketin tourism. Vertically, the typical “gender pyramid”is prevalent in the tourism sector - lower levelsand occupations with few career developmentopportunities being dominated by women and keymanagerial positions being dominated by men.In India women in the organised sector in tourismare relegated to relatively low skill and low payingor stereotypical jobs like housekeeping, frontdeskand reception, catering and laundry services.They face very high risks of sexual harassment and142

exploitation and are discouraged from formingunions or associations to consolidate their strengthand influence. The proportion of women’s to men’swages is less. Women feature significantly morein part time and/or temporary employment andare typically paid less than men for the same workdone.In the developing world 60% of women who work(in non-agricultural work) are in the informalsector. Much of this is linked directly and indirectlyto tourism. The role of women in informal tourismsettings such as running home-stay facilities,restaurants and shacks, crafts and handicrafts,handloom, small shops and street vending issignificant. But these roles and activities thatwomen perform in tourism are treated as invisibleor taken for granted. The need to acknowledgethe important economic contribution of womenand ensure for them, access to credit, capacitybuilding and enhanced skills, access to the market,encouragement to form unions, associations andcooperatives to increase their bargaining powerand to ensure that their safety health and socialsecurity needs are met is critical.Community-based tourism initiatives, particularof local women’s groups and co-operatives, arean important way by which women can controland benefit from tourism. There are numerousexamples where women and women’s groupshave started income-generating activities on theirown which then feed into or become part of theformal tourism sector. These activities help tocreate financial independence for local womenand motivate them to develop necessary skills andimprove their education.It is also important to note that when tourismdisplaces people from traditional livelihoods orworse still physically displaces them, the worstaffected are women who are engaged in the bulkof ancillary occupations like tobacco cultivation,coconut harvesting, fish sorting and processingwhich are jeopardized through such displacement.It becomes the prerogative of governments and theindustry to ensure that rather than displace them,tourism should build and bolster supplementarylivelihood options that women can choose from.Some Doors that Need to Close – Exploitation ofWomen in Tourism:There is a direct correlation between the depletionof natural resources and increased burden onwomen in daily work in any region of the world.When tourism restricts community access to orcontributes to the depletion of natural resources,it is the women not only as homemakers, but alsoas community members who suffer the most.Women’s access to and control over forest produceand water come into sharp conflict when tourismusurps these very resources needed to fulfill their lifeand livelihood needs. The daily burden on womenof finding water for the household or firewoodfor cooking is oftentimes doubled or tripled. Thelinks between tourism and climate change willunfortunately add to the burden women alreadybear.When tourism makes products of culture, it tendsto commodify women in particular – although bothmen and women are impacted by the insensitiveselling of culture. With sex tourism being themost negative and prominent example, there isa significant amount of sexual objectification ofwomen working in the tourism industry. Womenare expected to dress in an “attractive” manner, tolook beautiful (i.e. slim, young, and pretty) and to“play along” with sexual harassment by customers.Stereotypical and sexist images of women areoften part of tourism promotion in brochures andadvertisements. Friendly, smiling and pliant womenfitting certain standards of attractiveness, attiredin traditional costumes, waiting to submissivelyserve the customer’s every wish is the typicalportrayal of women in tourism material. We askthat the international community and UNWTO drawattention to the way women are represented in theselling of tourism by addressing this in the code ofethics.The tourism industry and stewards of tourismdevelopment face many serious social and humanchallenges in the years ahead. The growing linksbetween migration - both voluntary and forced -and tourism needs to take into account the genderdimensions of this global phenomenon. HIV/AIDS notonly is driven by gender inequality but entrenchesit. Tourism is increasingly seen to have a role in this143

entrenchment in its links to trafficking, prostitutionand sex tourism. Poverty, and in particular urbanpoverty, which threatens to be an issue of growingmagnitude has deep roots in gender injustice.Tourism often wipes out the existence and meansof livelihood of the urban poor in an overt mannerwhile continuing to depend covertly on cheaplabour and exploitative relationships in order toflourish. The trend of development of tourism inconflict zones and the consequent impacts it hason women who are already battling for survival isanother matter of serious concern. Disasters andepidemics have an uneasy relationship with tourism– but gender dimensions are rarely integrated intoassistance and reconstruction efforts with the focusbeing largely on the safety of tourists and revival oftourism infrastructure.We call upon governments, policy makers, industry,civil society and the UNWTO to engage in moresystemic ways with the challenge of women’sempowerment in tourism. Perhaps it is time for theUNWTO to declare Tourism’s Decade for Women’sRights and Empowerment as a move towardsopening the doors to a more just and equitable worldfor women and men.144

Global Report on Women in Tourism2010 Preliminary FindingsUNWTO- UN Women*Introduction:Tourism is one of the world’s largest and fastestgrowing industries. In many countries it acts as anengine for development through foreign exchangeearnings and the creation of direct and indirectemployment. Tourism contributes 5% of the world’sGDP and 7% of jobs worldwide. It accounts for 6%of the world’s exports and 30% of the world’sexports in services. In developing countries,tourism generates 45% of the total exports inservices. 1 Research shows the different ways inwhich tourism can contribute to economic growth,poverty reduction and community development.However, less attention has been paid to theunequal ways in which the benefits of tourism aredistributed between men and women, particularlyin the developing world. Tourism presents bothopportunities and challenges for gender equalityand women’s empowerment. The Global Report onWomen in Tourism 2010 is a first attempt to developa quantitative framework for monitoring the statusof women working in tourism across the globe. Itsfocus is on tourism in developing regions.The objectives of the report were to: i) establisha set of indicators and an indicator frameworkthat could be used to monitor the performanceof tourism as a tool for women’s empowerment;and ii) to use the indicators to assess the extent towhich tourism is advancing the needs of women inthe developing world. The overarching vision forthe Global Report on Women in Tourism 2010 isto promote women’s empowerment and protectwomen’s rights through better tourism work.The report is structured around five thematicareas: employment, entrepreneurship, education,leadership, and community. The results are derivedprimarily from analysis of ILO’s Laborsta database 2and sorted by developing world regions: theCaribbean, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. 3The report also includes a selection of case studieswhich highlight success stories in tourism acrossthe world. This summary presents some of themain findings of the report by theme and by regionand offers some preliminary recommendations forstakeholder consideration.Context:Tourism presents a wide range of incomegeneration opportunities for women in both formaland informal employment. Tourism jobs are oftenflexible and can be carried out at various differentlocations such as the workplace, community, andhousehold. Additionally, tourism creates a widerange of opportunities for women through thecomplex value chains it creates in the destinationeconomy.There are also known to be challenges facing womenin tourism. Women are often concentrated in lowstatus, low paid and precarious jobs in the tourismindustry. Gender stereotyping and discriminationmean that women mainly tend to perform jobssuch as cooking, cleaning and hospitality. Muchtourism employment is seasonal and fluctuatesaccording to the volatile nature of the industry. Insome destinations links have been found betweentourism and the sex industry which could makewomen more vulnerable to sexual exploitation. 4If a strong gender perspective is integrated intoplanning and implementation processes, tourismcan be harnessed as a vehicle for promotinggender equality and women’s empowerment atthe household, community, national and globallevel. At the same time, greater gender equalitywill contribute to the overall quality of the touristexperience, with a considerable impact onprofitability and quality across all aspects of theindustry.Key Findings:Although much information is still missing, theresults of this initial survey suggest that tourism is145

worth investing in; it has the potential to be a vehiclefor the empowerment of women in developingregions. Tourism provides better opportunities forwomen’s participation in the workforce, women’sentrepreneurship, and women’s leadership thanother sectors of the economy. Women in tourismare still underpaid, under-utilized, under-educated,and underrepresented; but tourism offers pathwaysto success.• y Women make up a large proportion of theformal tourism workforce.• y Women are well represented in service andclerical level jobs but poorly represented atprofessional levels.• y Women in tourism are typically earning 10% to15% less than their male counterparts.• y The tourism sector has almost twice as manywomen employers as other sectors.• y One in five tourism ministers worldwide arewomen.• y Women make up a much higher proportion ofown-account workers in tourism than in othersectors.• y A large amount of unpaid work is being carriedout by women in family tourism businesses.Notwithstanding these results, there is still much toexplore and analyze. For example, how do women’spay levels differ between tourism jobs; how dowomen’s hours in tourism compare with men’s; andhow to define and measure women’s unpaid workin family tourism businesses?Employment:In general, women are well represented in formaltourism employment. However, women are morelikely than men to be working at a clerical, levelare less likely than men to reach professional-leveltourism employment, and as a result, their averagetake-home pay is lower than men’s.Table 1 Hotel/Restaurant Employees who areWomen by Region (%)RegionRegional averageLatin America 58.5Caribbean 55.4Africa 47.0Oceania 46.8Asia 35.4Average 48.62Source: ILO Laborsta Database.Table 1 shows that women make up a largeproportion of formal hospitality and restaurantindustry employees, with an average of 49%. 5Latin America and the Caribbean have the highestproportion of women in the tourism industry,followed by Africa. The low figure for Asia hides awide disparity between Middle Eastern countriessuch as Saudi Arabia with 2% and Thailand with65%. These high levels of participation demonstratetourism’s potential contribution to incomegeneration for women. However, it is important tolook more closely at what kinds of jobs women aredoing in tourism, as set out in Table 2.Table 2 Women Hotel/Restaurant Employees byOccupational Status, By Region (%)Region Professional ClerksServiceworkersAsia 38.9 49.4 35.6LatinAmerica36.6 62.7 65.5Africa 34.9 56.6 34.8Caribbean N/A 67.3 42.9Oceania N/A N/A N/AAverage* 36.8 59.0 44.7* In order to show an average, a region needed to havedata for at least 10% of countries included.Source: ILO Laborsta Database.146

This shows us that women’s employment in thetourism industry is concentrated in the service andclerical sector. These figures vary by region, with ahigh proportion of women working in the clericalsector in Latin America and the Caribbean. However,within these categories there is no information onwhat specific jobs women and men are carryingout and whether or not these conform to genderstereotypes. In terms of the professional level, theaverage is similar for all regions for which data isavailable. This phenomenon is particularly evidentin Latin America, where women’s participation inthe professional level jobs is almost half of that atthe service and clerical level. However, in general,although women’s participation in this sector isnot high, there does seem to be some potential forwomen to reach management positions within theindustry.Entrepreneurship:Tourism offers significant opportunities for womento run their own businesses. Women are almosttwice as likely to be employers in the tourismindustry than in other sectors.Table 3 Women Employers in the Hotel andRestaurant Sector, By Region (%)*RegionIn In hotel andgeneral restaurant sectorLatin America 23.2 51.3Caribbean 26.4 32.8Africa 20.8 30.5Asia 17.4 29.7Oceania N/A N/AAverage 21.95 36.08* For this indicator, data were available for 40 out of 172countries. In order to show an average, a region needed tohave data for at least 10% of the countries included.Source: ILO Laborsta Database.Latin America has the highest proportion ofwomen employers in tourism, more than doublethe proportion in other sectors. In Nicaragua andPanama more than 70% of employers are womencompared to just over 20% in other sectors. Thispattern is followed to a lesser extent in all regionscovered by the study. Again, the data for Asiavary substantially. While in Indonesia, Malaysia,Philippines, and Thailand more than half of tourismbusinesses are run by women, in Pakistan, Iran,and the Maldives there were virtually none. Thisdemonstrates that tourism has a strong potentialfor promoting women’s own businesses.Education:Although there is very little data on the levelof education of women working in the tourismindustry, international data on education suggeststhat the proportion of women graduates in all fieldsis increasing. There is still a shortage of womenteaching at tertiary level, however, and there areproportionally fewer women service graduatesthan in other fields.Table 4 shows the ways in which women’sparticipation in higher education varies by region.Within regions some countries have particularlyhigh levels of women services graduates, suchas Philippines (82.1%), Cayman Islands (80%), andHonduras (78%). In contrast in Qatar only 9% ofservices graduates were women.Table 4 Women Graduates in Services, By Region(%)*RegionAll tertiarygraduatesAll servicesgraduatesLatin America 59.6 53.5Caribbean 66.2 50.3Asia 52.2 46.3Africa 36.8 30.8Oceania N/A N/AAverage 53.7 45.3* Data for the indicator on graduates in services wereavailable for 88 out of the 172 countries included in theresearch. The data are most complete in Latin Americaand Asia. Source: UNESCO Institute for StatisticsDatabase.Leadership:Tourism offers women opportunities for globalleadership. Women hold more ministerial positionsin tourism than in any other field. Nevertheless, only147

one in five tourism board (NTAs) CEOs are women,and only one in four tourism industry associationshave a woman chair.In March 2010, 21% percent of countries had awomen tourism minister compared to 17% ofministerial positions in general. The highestproportion of women tourism ministers is in Africa,where one third of all tourism ministers are women.In African countries, the post of tourism ministeris almost twice as likely to be held by a womanthan other ministerial posts. In contrast, just 6% oftourism ministers in the Caribbean and 15% in Asiaare women.Analysis of tourist boards shows just over 20% arerun by women. The Caribbean was the region withthe most women tourist board CEOs (35%). In sevenout of the 23 Caribbean countries, the chairpersonof the tourism board is a woman. Tourismassociations are slightly more like to have a womenchair. Twenty-three percent of tourism associationshad women chairs.Community:The formal and informal opportunities tourismprovides women can have a significant impacton poverty reduction in rural communities. Theproportion of women “own-account workers” ismuch higher in tourism than in other sectors acrossall regions. The report also found that women arecontributing a substantial amount of unpaid labourto home-based tourism businesses as “contributingfamily workers”. Unpaid family workers arevulnerable to exploitation. This is one of the keyareas to address in promoting gender equality intourism.Table 5 Women as “Own Account Workers” in theHotel and Restaurant Sector, By Region (%)*RegionIn generalIn hotel andrestaurantsectorLatin America 39 73Africa 38 48Caribbean 29 42Asia 27 33Oceania N/A N/AAverage 33.25 49* Data on own-account workers in the H&R sector wereonly available for 39 out of 172 countries.Source: ILO Laborsta Database.It also appears that women are contributing alarge amount of unpaid work to family tourismenterprises. As Table 6 shows, the proportionof contributing family workers that are womenis considerably higher in tourism than in otherindustries, with the exception of Asia. In theCaribbean, for example, 84% of contributing familywork is provided by women, compared to 51% inother sectors. These figures are troubling for agender analysis of the tourism industry. Whilewomen’s work in family tourism enterprises clearlycontributes to community development, if thiswork is unpaid it is subsidizing a large proportionof community-based tourism but makes littlecontribution to women’s empowerment.Table 5 shows how women’s own account or selfemployed activity in tourism varies by region. Thehighest proportion is in Latin America, where largecontrasts can be seen between tourism and othersectors. In Nicaragua, for example, women occupy40% of own-account jobs overall but 92% in tourism.In Bolivia, the figures are 44% and 95% respectively.Several African countries have high proportionsof female tourism self-employed workers: 71% inBotswana and 65% in Zimbabwe 65%. The countrywith the lowest level is Syria, at 2%.148

Table 6 Women as Contributing Family Workers inthe H&R Sector, By Region*RegionIngeneralIn hotel andrestaurant sectorCaribbean 51.0 84.0Africa 56.0 73.0Latin America 53.0 70.0Asia 64.0 54.0Oceania N/A N/ATotal Average 56 70.25* Data were available for only 34 out of 172 countries.Data are most complete for Asia.Source: ILO Laborsta Database.Regional Variations:Some key trends by region in terms of women’sparticipation in tourism in the five different aspectscovered by the report can be highlighted as follows:• y In the Caribbean, women make up a highproportion of both employees and own accountworkers. However, the number of women intourism ministerial positions is low.• y Similarly in Latin America, the participation ofwomen in the tourism industry is high, but thereare low levels of representation of women intourism leadership.• y There are a high proportion of women intourism ministerial positions in Africa (onethird of the total) and a high number of womenemployees and own-account workers. However,the proportion of women graduates in servicesis low.• y Asia has the highest proportion of women atthe professional level in tourism. In terms ofoverall participation in employment and ownaccount work, this is high in South East Asiancountries and very low in the Middle East.Future Challenges and Recommendations:The report makes a series of recommendationsbased on the areas of critical concern for promotingwomen’s empowerment in tourism, which aresummarized as follows:Main Recommendations by Theme:Employment:Increase awareness of the important economicrole that women play in the tourism industry.Strengthen legal protection for women in tourismemployment; such protections include minimumwage regulations and equal pay laws. Improvematernity leave requirements, flexible hours,work-from-home options, and arrangements forchildcare.Entrepreneurship:Facilitate women’s tourism entrepreneurshipby ensuring women’s access to credit, land andproperty as well as providing appropriate trainingand resources to support women’s enterprises.Education:Promote women’s participation in tourismeducation and training and improve the educationallevel of women already working in different areasof the industry through a targeted and strategicprogram of action.Leadership:Support women’s tourism leadership at all levels:public sector, private sector, and communitymanagement by establishing leadership programsat the national level and in large and small-scaletourism enterprises.Community:Ensure that women’s contribution to communitydevelopment is properly recognized and rewardedby taking into account women’s unpaid work andby monitoring tourism activities carried out in thehousehold and in the community.• y In Oceania, there are no women in tourismministerial positions at the current time.149

150Main Recommendations for Stakeholders:Private Sector:Promote gender equality and women’sempowerment as fundamental components ofCorporate Social Responsibility activities, in linewith the Global Compact-UN Women’s Women’sEmpowerment Principles. 6Public Sector including Tourism Policy-makers:Take proactive steps to mainstream gender intourism policy, planning, and operations.International Organizations and Civil Society:Call on governments, the international community,civil society organizations and the private sector toprotect women’s rights in tourism and to monitorprogress in the empowerment of women throughtourism. Collaborate with UNWTO-UN Womento develop programs and projects dedicatedto promoting gender equality and women’sempowerment through tourism.In order to assess how effective policy actions arein improving the situation of women in tourism, itis important to re-evaluate these indicators at leastevery three years. This year’s baseline will provide ayardstick against which to evaluate future results.Case Studies:Women occupy a significant position in the tourismindustry worldwide. The capacity of tourismto empower women socially, politically, andeconomically is particularly relevant in developingregions where women may face the greatesthardships and inequalities. This report highlightsthe important role that tourism plays in challengingcultural stereotypes, empowering womenpolitically and economically, and providing incomegeneratingopportunities for women. The casestudies below demonstrate the potential of tourismto stimulate domestic business opportunities, toprovide opportunities for technical assistance, andto help women recover from times of crisis.Case Study A: Mulala Cultural TourismEnterprise, Arusha, Tanzania ~ By Mary Lwoga(text edited)Eight women in the Mulala village of Tanzania haveunited to form the Agape Women’s Group, a cooperativeworking within the framework of theMulala Cultural Tourism Enterprise, an enterpriseestablished with the joint support of the TanzaniaTourist Board and the Netherlands DevelopmentOrganization (SNV) with the aim of creatingtourism activities that benefit local populations,alleviate poverty and offer a tourism experienceto complement conventional safaris. Upon arrival,tourists are warmly welcomed by the women ofMulala, led by Mama Anna Pallangyo (Head andCo-ordinator of the Tourism Enterprise). They areencouraged to visit Mt. Meru Forest Reserve andtake tours designed to showcase local cheesemaking,dairy keeping, gardening and farmingactivities, bread-making, tailoring or coffee growing.Not only does the program directly benefit theeight families of the Women’s Group, but the entire2,500 strong Mulala community has gained by it.Every tourist makes a contribution to the VillageDevelopment Fund, which is used to improveschool buildings, the local dispensary and in othercommunity development projects. Thanks to theirgood contacts in the tourism sector, the AgapeWomen’s Group has also managed to establishbusiness linkages with tourist lodges in the area forthe supply of homemade cheese. This has becomeanother important income source for the membersof the women’s group, as well as for other farmersin the village, from which the women’s grouppurchases milk to produce cheese.Factors Influencing Success and Lessons Learned:• y Local women entrepreneurs like Mama Annatook the initiative and drove this CulturalTourism Program towards success.• y Women were supported and encouraged toparticipate in the project from its inception.y • Training in business skills, pricing, linking tomarkets and record keeping was provided toall the project participants, ensuring they wereequipped with the information necessary tobenefit from tourism.

Case Study B: Three Pioneering Nepali Sisters~ By Kristie Drucza (text edited)In response to the demand for women guides in anotherwise male-dominated sector in the Himalayas,the three Chhetri sisters founded the Three SistersAdventure and Trekking Company in 1994 to providea women-only trekking option for tourists. Fiveyears later, they registered Empowering WomenNepal (EWN) as an NGO.The Nepali company trains local women as guidesand porters, while offering them ‘empowermenttraining’ to help them cope with discrimination.In this deeply patriarchal society, restrictionson women’s mobility render most singlewomen housebound and most married womenunemployable. Nevertheless, over the last decade,EWN has trained and motivated over 800 Nepaliwomen to enter the tourism industry. The sisterscurrently employ one hundred women in theirtrekking company, who earn an average of 120,000rupees per year (US$ 1,709) once they becomeexperienced guides.Overcoming local scepticism through sheerdetermination, a clear vision of their mission,and the support of their family, the sisters havemanaged to break down several entrenched genderstereotypes. As one sister, Lucy Chhetri puts it:‘We have demonstrated that women are mentally,physically and emotionally as strong as men’.Due largely to their efforts, women now make upbetween five and ten percent of guides and portersin Nepal, offering tourists greater choice andadvancing the empowerment and economic statusof Nepali women.Factors Influencing Success and Lessons Learned:• y Family support for and between women greatlybolsters their confidence determination, andability to succeed.• y Women’s potential to succeed in tourismoften goes unrealized, not due to the lackof potential, but rather due to the lack ofopportunities.• y Questioning restrictive traditional gender rolesby male community members can supportwomen’s freedom to pursue entrepreneurialinitiatives in the tourism sector.Case Study C: Empowering Women throughEntrepreneurship in the Galapagos Islands,Ecuador ~ By Aldo Salvador and Ana GarciaPando (text edited)Three years ago, eleven women in Santa Cruz Island,Galapagos, became bakers and business partners inthe “Pearls of the Pacific” when the Association ofCruise Operator Companies in Galapagos (ASOGAL)decided increase the corporate social responsibilityactivities of their members by expanding their localsupply chain.With thousands of tourists to cater for, ASOGALcame to consider a bakery as a good businessconcept, in light of the high cost of importingfrozen bread from the continent and the difficultyof time-consuming baking in cramped on-boardkitchens. With a zero-interest US$ 30,000 fromASOGAL, an initial investment from the AndeanFinancial Corporation (CAF), and the support of theAssociation, UNWTO ST-EP technicians and a hiredaccounting and entrepreneurial consultant firmfrom Quito, eleven local women embarked on thisproject.In spite of initial misgivings, overwhelmingpressure at home and the intense displeasure oftheir husbands, three of the women continuedwith the business venture. Learning how to tailortheir product to satisfy foreign tourists, deal withtheir clients, and negotiate with (mostly male)logistics officers in charge of supplies, earning theadmiration of their husbands and seen sales risefrom a mere US$ 200 a month to over US$ 6,000.Making financial decisions, solving problems,assuming risks and responsibilities, repaying theirloans and discussing refinancing has enabled thesewomen to lose their initial inhibitions and discoverinstead their enormous capacity for endurance. Asthey put it, “We now run our business and our ownlives”.151

Factors Influencing Success and Lessons Learned:• y Entrepreneurship empowered these womeneconomically, boosted their self-esteem andhelped them earn the respect and admiration oftheir spouses.The global report has been several years in themaking. At the ITB in Berlin in 2008, UNWTOunveiled an action plan to “empower womenthrough tourism”. Actions included in the planwere to establish a multi-stakeholder taskforce, toput in place a data collection system, and to initiatethe UNWTO and UN Women Joint Triennial GlobalReport on Women in Tourism.Endnotes:* The Global Report on Women in Tourism 2010, onwhich this document is based, was commissionedin 2009 by UNWTO and UNIFEM (now UN Women)and was carried out by Dr. Louise Twining-Ward.This Preliminary Findings document was producedby UNWTO and UN Women in collaboration with Dr.Lucy Ferguson.1. UNWTO statistics2. The majority of the data in the report is drawnfrom the ILO Laborsta Database. Tourism in theILO is considered as the hotel, catering and tourism(HCT) sector. However, the Laborsta Database onlyincludes statistics on the ‘Hotel and Restaurant’category, so this is used throughout the report. Weacknowledge that this does not cover the full rangeof tourism and tourism-related activities and thatmore data is needed. The data consulted for thisreport spans the period 1999-2008. Where availablethe most recent data has been used.3. The breakdown primarily reflects the UN’sgeoscheme of geographical regions. However, forthe purposes of this report Northern America hasbeen excluded and the Caribbean is included asa sub-region due to its status as one of the mosttourism-dependent regions in the world.http://www.unwto.org/protect_children/campaign/en/campaign. php?op=1&subop=1.5. Data for the equal participation of women in theworkforce were available for 101 out of the 172countries included in the research (59%). For thisindicator, data were available for 40 out of 172countries (24%). In 2001, the ILO reported that 90%of hotel and restaurant employees worldwide werewomen. See: International Labour Office (2001),‘Human resources development, employment andglobalization in the hotel, catering and tourismsector’, Report for discussion at the TripartiteMeeting on the Human Resources Development,Employment and Globalization in the Hotel, Cateringand Tourism Sector, ILO, Geneva.6. See http://www.unglobalcompact.org/Issues/human_rights/equality_means_business.html.© UNWTO 92844023112011, World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and theUnited Nations Entity for Gender Equality and theEmployment of Women (UN Women)World Tourism OrganizationCalle Capitán Haya, 4228020 Madrid, SpainTel.: (+34) 915 678 100Fax: (+34) 915 713 733www.unwto .orgUN Women304 East 45th Street, 15th FloorNew York, NY 10017, United States of AmericaTel: (+1) 212 906 6400Fax: (+1) 212 906 6705www.unwomen .org4. Although this is a very important issue for theanalysis of women in tourism, it is beyond the remitof the current report. For research and analysison the link between tourism and sex tourism, see152

About the AuthorsAnita HaladiAnita Haladi teaches economics at D.M.’s Collegeand at Marian Institute of Healthcare Management.Her area of interest includes Macro Economics,Gender Studies, Child Rights and Health Policy.Anita has taught at Women Studies Centre, TISS. Sheis a trainer on gender issues at Goa Institute for RuralDevelopment and Administration. She has draftedthe Goa Children’s Act and has been a member ofthe Goa State Commission for Children. She hasworked widely on policy initiatives and trainingof government and law enforcement agencieson child rights and has drafted protocols andStandard operating Procedures for the functioningof Victims’ Assistance Units meant to support childvictims through the process of complaints/rescue/legal proceedings and rehabilitation. She has alsofounded and coordinated an NGO Children’s Rightsin Goa (1995-1998) and a community supportedfunctional literacy programme for child workersin Panaji, Goa called “Hamara School’. She can becontacted at a_haladi@rediffmail.comIndra Munshi:Indra Munshi works as Project Director on aUGC- EPW- TISS Project in the Economic andPolitical Weekly, Mumbai. Her research interestsinclude forest policy and management and itsimpact on tribal communities in India; growth ofmodern tourism and the social and environmentalconsequences of the same, especially in thedeveloping countries.She retired as a professor from the Department ofSociology, University of Mumbai, in 2010. She hastaught courses on tourism in India, Germany andAustria and conducted research in Germany on theperception of India among the German tourists.Currently, she is working on eco-tourism andmedical tourism. She has published articles and abook on the above subjects. She can be contactedat indramunshi@yahoo.co.inLucy FergusonLucy Ferguson is a researcher and consultant ingender and development specialising in genderissues in tourism. She has published widely onthis topic in journals such as International FeministJournal of Politics, Review of International PoliticalEconomy and Current Issues in Tourism.Lucy is an Honorary Research Fellow at theUniversity of Sheffield and currently worksas a Gender Adviser at the UN World TourismOrganization in Madrid. She is also working withthe Fundacion Internacional y para Iberoamericade Administracion y Politicas Publicas (FIIAPP) on agender and tourism project, and recently completedan advocacy paper on gender and smallholderfarming for ActionAid International. She can becontacted at l.j.ferguson@sheffield.ac.ukMariama WilliamsMariama Williams, Ph.D., is a Senior Fellow with theSouth Centre, based in Geneva, Switzerland. Sheis also a Research Associate with the InternationalGender and Trade Network (IGTN) and a director ofthe Institute of Law and Economics, Jamaica. Hercurrent research areas are the financial crisis andthe global economy and climate change financing.Mariama is the author of Trading Stories: Experienceswith Gender and Trade (co-edited with Marilyn Carr,2010), co-author, Gender and Trade Action Guide: ATraining Resource (2007), author, Gender Issues inthe Multilateral Trading System (2003) and Genderand Climate Change Financing – An Introduction(forthcoming 2011). Since 2009 she also worked as aconsultant & trainer on gender and climate change(finance) with the Global Gender and ClimateAlliance and authored the chapter/module onGender and Climate Change Finance for the GGCATraining Manual, Gender and Climate Change (2009).Ms Williams is a member of the InternationalWorking Group on Gender, Macroeconomics andInternational Trade (IWG-GEM). She has servedon many international committees and Boards ofrepute related to the WTO, UNIFEM, AWID, UNDPetc. She is currently a member of the Board ofTrustees of the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation,Sweden. She can be contacted at williams@southcentre.org153