Gender equality and sustainability in the tourism industry: feminist perspectives

Abstract

This study sought to ascertain the relationship between gender equality and sustainable tourism by interrogating various challenges that hinder women from progressing to senior management roles. A feminist epistemological approach was adopted in this study. Twenty women employed in the tourism industry in Zimbabwe were purposively sampled and semi-structured interviews were done with the respondents. Thematic content analysis method was used to analyze data collected from the interviewees. Several challenges hindering women from progressing to senior management levels were identified in this study. Also, recommendations that can help the tourism industry achieve gender equality and contribute to sustainable tourism were highlighted.

Keywords:

• Feminist epistemology
• gender equality
• sustainable development goals
• sustainable tourism
• Zimbabwe

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.