Women in tourism sector and Bangladesh scenario

Tourism is one of the world's largest and fastest-growing industries. In many countries it acts as an engine for development through foreign exchange earnings and creation of direct and indirect employment for men and women. Tourism contributes 5.0 per cent of the world's GDP (gross domestic product) and 7.0 per cent of jobs worldwide. It accounts for 6.0 per cent of the world's exports and 30 per cent of the world's exports in services. In developing countries, tourism generates 45 per cent of the total exports in services (UNWTO statistics). Research shows the different ways, in which tourism can contribute to economic growth, poverty reduction and community development. However, less attention has been paid to the unequal ways, in which the benefits of tourism are distributed between men and women, particularly in the developing world. Bangladesh is no exception.
Tourism presents a wide range of income-generation opportunities for women in both formal and informal employment. Tourism jobs are often flexible and can be carried out at various locations such as the workplace, communities, and households. Additionally, tourism creates a wide range of opportunities for women through the complex value chains it creates in the 'destination economy'. However, there are also many challenges in tourism that women face. Women are often concentrated at low status, low paid and precarious jobs in the tourism industry. Gender stereotyping and discrimination mean that women mainly tend to perform jobs such as cooking, cleaning and hospitality. Much of tourism employment is seasonal and fluctuates according to the volatile nature of the industry. In some destinations, links have been found between tourism and the 'sex industry' which could make women more vulnerable to exploitation. If a strong gender perspective is integrated into planning and implementation processes, tourism can be harnessed as a vehicle for promoting gender equality and women's empowerment at the household, community, national and global levels. At the same time, greater gender equality will contribute to the overall quality of the tourism experience, with a considerable impact on profitability and quality across all aspects of the industry.
Women should be encouraged to get involved in independent community-based tourism initiatives, through promoting opportunities, offering advice, contacts and networks, training and education, access to information and access to credit - by national and local governments, trade unions, NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and industries collaborating with women's local initiatives. Training and education programmes should aim at encouraging women to move into non-traditional occupations which require more skills and are better paid, and also at encouraging women to go for key managerial positions. Intergovernmental bodies, national governments and NGOs should support networking projects to improve awareness and ability of stakeholders to participate in those effectively, including use of electronic media. However, the problems of reaching the not easily reachable communities and groups need to be tackled in collaboration with local government bodies and local NGOs.
SOME FACTS AND FIGURES:
Latin America and the Caribbean have the highest proportion of women in tourism industry, followed by Africa. The low figure for Asia hides a wide disparity between Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia with 2.0 per cent and Thailand with 65 per cent. The high levels of participation demonstrate tourism's potential contribution to income generation by women. However, it is important to look more closely at what kinds of jobs women are doing in tourism, as set out in Table 2.
This shows that women's employment in tourism industry is concentrated in the service and clerical sectors. These figures vary through regions, with a high proportion of women working in the clerical sector in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, within these categories, there is no information on what specific jobs women and men are carrying out and whether or not these conform to gender stereotypes. In terms of professional level, the average is similar to all regions for which data is available. This phenomenon is particularly evident in Latin America, where women's participation in professional level jobs is almost half of that at the service and clerical levels. However, in general, although women's participation in this sector is not high, some potential seems to be in existence there for women to reach management positions in the industry.
Latin America has the highest proportion of women employers in tourism, more than double the proportion in other sectors. In Nicaragua and Panama more than 70 per cent of employers are women compared to just over 20 per cent in other sectors. This pattern is found, to a lesser extent, in all regions covered by the study. Again, the data for Asia vary substantially. While in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand more than half of the tourism businesses are run by women, in Pakistan, Iran, and the Maldives there are virtually none. This demonstrates that tourism has a strong potential for promoting women's own businesses.
WOMEN LEADERSHIP IN TOURISM: In March 2010, 21 per cent of countries of the world had a women tourism minister compared to 17 per cent of ministerial positions in general. The highest proportion of women tourism ministers is in Africa, where one-third of all tourism ministers are women. In African countries, the post of the tourism minister is almost twice as likely as to be held by a woman than other ministerial posts. In contrast, just 6.0 per cent of tourism ministers in the Caribbean and 15 per cent in Asia are women. Analysis of tourism boards shows just over 20 per cent are run by women. The Caribbean is the region with the most women tourism board CEOs (35 per cent). In seven out of the 23 Caribbean countries, the chairperson of the tourism board is a woman. Tourism associations are slightly more likely to have a woman chair. Twenty-three per cent of tourism associations have women chairs (Source UNWTO).
BANGLADESH SITUATION: Women's role in tourism development in Bangladesh still seems to be insignificant. Updated data is also not available here. Research and studies on women's role and contributions to tourism development have to be carried out. However, in the areas of tourism attractions in Bangladesh, including Paharpur world heritage site, Mahasthangarh and Mainamati heritage sites, Rangamati, Bandarbans, Cox's Bazar and St. Martin's Island, women's participation in service-providing activities like selling souvenirs and traditional foods and beverage, cleaning and sweeping tourist sites is seen quite often. This activity is increasing. Even women can bargain here on their payments for cooking rice or supplying water and fire-woods to the picnickers. Local people, including women, of the other prime attractions of Bangladesh also find jobs in various forms like handicraft production, work of waiters, tour-guides, ushers, betel-nut and tea vendors, etc. Participation of womenfolk at tourism attractions in Bangladesh is gaining momentum day by day. Through providing jobs to women, especially in the tourism industry, empowerment of women of Bangladesh may be enhanced.  
DOING MORE FOR WOMEN: We should increase awareness of the vital economic roles that women play in the tourism industry. It could be done by strengthening legal protection for women in tourism employment; such protections include minimum wage regulations and equal pay laws. The authorities could improve maternity leave requirements, allow flexible hours, work-from-home options, and arrangements for childcare.
FACILITATING ENTREPRENEURSHIP: We can facilitate women’s entrepreneurship in tourism sector by ensuring their access to credit, land and property as well as by providing them appropriate training and resources to support their enterprises.
We should promote women's participation in tourism education and training and improve the educational level of women already working in different areas of the industry through a targeted and strategic programme of action.
DEVELOPMENT OF LEADERSHIP: It could be achieved through supporting women's tourism leadership at all levels: public sector, private sector, and community management by establishing leadership programmes at the national level and at large and small-scale tourism enterprises.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: It should be ensured that women's contribution to community development is properly recognised and rewarded by taking into account their unpaid work and by monitoring tourism activities carried out in the household and in the community.
ROLE OF BPC AND BTB: Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC) and Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) may work together in creating a congenial atmosphere for an easy access of women to the country's tourism industry.   
The writer is a Deputy Manager of BPC.