Topics & Themes
The role of women in tourism is mostly viewed through the prism of gender inequality, connected with the continuous need for women's empowerment as important stakeholders in the tourism industry. Undoubtedly, that is a hugely important agenda as the lowest paid jobs and the jobs holding the least status in tourism are mostly occupied by women (UNWTO, 2022). Yet, with this conference, we aim to move our gaze towards more positive stories and a more powerful view of women’s role in tourism.
Namely, there is ample historical evidence of women in tourism that illustrates their multiple roles in different positions of tourism development that has not been adequately recognised in scientific literature. Just as within a family a woman performs different roles, throughout history women have displayed various talents for creating and leading many vital trends in tourism development.
The key aim of this conference is to demonstrate and celebrate the multiple roles and positions of women in tourism. It is our objective to validate those roles and have a critical view of the position of women in tourism from the 19th century until today. Such a historical approach will allow us to obtain an overview of ‘feminine approaches’ that will disrupt the homogenous discourse around tourism development. Although more dominant within women, we support the integral view which sees the feminine principle held by both/all genders. Moreover, by connecting the subject of leadership and feminine perspectives we aim to emphasise the importance of creating more ‘feminine space’ in tourism policy, marketing and management, and other aspects of tourism development. This is particularly relevant in the current context of crises afflicting all levels of our society which can be sourced back to the historical overdose or imbalance of the masculine principle.
Conference Topics:
- Roles and position of women through the history of tourism
- Women as ‘objects’ and ´subjects´ of tourism promotion: historical evidence
- Tourist content and experiences specific to the segments of women's tourist demand
- Leadership perspectives and theories: masculine and feminine perspectives
- Interdependence of gendered tourism policies and tourism development
- Tourism policy with a focus on women
- Sustainability through gender equality
- Management strategies aimed at strengthening the role of women
- Roles of women in creating tourism products (cultural, rural, urban, sport, health)
- Empowering women as employees in tourism
- Women in art and tourism
- Women in events management
- Interdisciplinary/cross-disciplinary research on the topic
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