Nurturing a Gender-Inclusive Workplace in Tourism

Tourism is one of the most people-driven industries on the planet. Front-desk agents, tour guides, housekeeping teams, chefs, drivers, travel consultants – every guest experience is shaped by employees of all genders working long, often unpredictable hours. That makes the tourism manager’s role uniquely important. A manager doesn’t just run schedules and budgets; they set the tone for whether a workplace feels safe, fair, and respectful for everyone. When done well, gender inclusivity isn’t a side initiative – it becomes the operating system of a high-performing tourism business.

Why gender inclusivity matters in tourism 🔗

The tourism workforce is unusually female-heavy compared to most other sectors. According to UN Tourism, women make up 54% of people employed in tourism worldwide, compared with 39% in the broader economy. Yet that strong representation rarely translates into equal opportunities, equal pay, or equal protection from harassment.

The same global report points out that women tend to be concentrated in the lowest paid and lowest status jobs in tourism, and they perform a large amount of unpaid work in family tourism businesses . International data also shows that women still hold only a small share of executive-level positions in hotels and tourism . The gap between participation and power is exactly where managers can make a difference.

For an Indian context, this is even more pressing. The hospitality sector here is growing rapidly, but cultural expectations around late-night work, travel, and family roles still discourage many talented women from staying in the industry long-term. A gender-inclusive workplace is therefore not a “soft” HR goal – it is a business survival strategy.

The manager’s core responsibilities 🔗

A tourism manager’s responsibilities around gender inclusion fall into four broad areas: ensuring equal opportunities, guaranteeing fair treatment, providing safety, and shaping a respectful culture through training and conduct standards.

Ensuring equal opportunities 🔗

Equal opportunity starts at the recruitment stage and continues through promotions, transfers, and pay reviews. Managers must make sure that hiring panels evaluate candidates on qualifications and experience, not assumptions about who “fits” a particular role. The International Labour Organization has noted that training for women should be enhanced to prepare them for management positions and to build their capacities at all levels . That means actively nominating women for leadership development programs, cross-functional projects, and high-visibility assignments – not waiting for them to ask.

It also means examining the small decisions that quietly shape careers. Who gets the prestigious banquet shift? Who is sent for the international training? Who is offered the assistant manager role when a vacancy opens? Managers should audit their own decision patterns at least once a year. Some hotel groups have gone further: Hilton implemented a policy ensuring equal representation in candidate shortlists, while AccorHotels’ mentorship program in Australia helped raise women’s representation in senior management.

Guaranteeing fair treatment 🔗

Fair treatment goes beyond pay. It includes performance reviews that measure outcomes rather than “presence,” roster systems that don’t penalise employees with caregiving duties, and a clear, written grievance process that anyone can use without fear. Hospitality work is notorious for split shifts, late check-ins, and last-minute changes; a manager who designs schedules thoughtfully signals that every employee’s life outside work matters.

Pay parity audits are essential. The wage gap in tourism is narrower than in some industries, but it still exists – globally, women in tourism earn 14.7 per cent less than men . Managers should be able to defend every pay difference on their team with clear, role-based justifications.

Providing a safe workplace 🔗

Safety is non-negotiable. Tourism employees often work in physically isolated environments – guest rooms, late-night restaurants, cab transfers, banquet halls after closing. Gender-based violence, including sexual harassment, is a real and constant threat faced by women in the tourism industry , and managers carry both legal and moral responsibility for prevention.

In the Indian setting, the legal anchor is the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, commonly called the POSH Act. Among other things, the law requires every workplace employing more than ten persons to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee to address sexual harassment complaints. The Act also covers concepts of “quid pro quo harassment” and “hostile work environment” as forms of sexual harassment , and protects clients, customers, contract staff, and trainees – not just permanent employees.

Managers must therefore go further than simply forming the committee on paper. The committee must function – meet regularly, document cases confidentially, recommend action, and submit annual reports. Section 19 of the POSH Act places additional duties on employers, including creating a gender-sensitive workplace and eliminating the underlying causes of a hostile working atmosphere. A manager who fails to act on a complaint can expose both the organization and themselves to legal liability.

Shaping conduct and culture 🔗

Policies are only as strong as the daily behaviour of the team. Managers set the unwritten rules through what they laugh at, what they ignore, and what they call out. A casual remark dismissed in the kitchen, a “joke” at a staff party, a guest behaving inappropriately with a junior steward – each of these is a moment where leadership either reinforces inclusion or quietly undermines it.

Establishing a written code of conduct helps. The code should clearly define acceptable behaviour with colleagues, with guests, and with vendors, and it should spell out consequences for violations. A useful framework cited by tourism trainers includes developing a code of conduct with non-discrimination policies, and building a gender-inclusive workplace culture that includes women in management and senior leadership roles .

Awareness and training programmes 🔗

Training is where good intentions become real skills. Every new hire – from a part-time housekeeper to a hotel general manager – should go through structured orientation on gender sensitivity, anti-discrimination policies, and POSH compliance. Refresher sessions every 12 months keep the content alive.

What effective training looks like 🔗

Effective programmes don’t stop at lecturing employees about what is illegal. They build empathy through case discussions, role-plays, and scenario-based learning. A bartender should know exactly what to do if a regular guest crosses a line with a female server. A front-office manager should know how to support a transgender employee facing rude behaviour from a guest. Training should cover bystander intervention, confidential reporting channels, and the rights of complainants.

Industry research suggests that gender training can go a long way in tackling inherent biases and creating a cadre of empathetic managers. For supervisors specifically, additional modules on inclusive scheduling, mentorship, and performance feedback are valuable, because supervisors are the people most employees actually deal with day to day.

Building awareness beyond formal sessions 🔗

Awareness is reinforced in small, consistent ways: posters in staff areas listing the names and contact details of Internal Committee members, gender-neutral language in job descriptions, celebrating International Women’s Day with substance rather than just photo opportunities, and inviting women leaders from within the organization to speak to junior staff. Visibility creates aspiration, and aspiration drives retention.

Practical steps for tourism managers 🔗

Translating responsibility into action means owning a few concrete habits. Managers should review hiring data quarterly to check gender ratios at every level, not just entry-level. They should sit in on at least one Internal Committee briefing each year to stay close to ground realities. They should personally meet new female and gender-minority hires within their first month to understand their experience.

Operational details matter too. Are there safe transport arrangements for staff working late shifts? Are restrooms and changing facilities adequate and private? Is there a clear maternity and paternity leave policy that supervisors actually honour? Many hospitality companies now offer flexible scheduling, paid maternity leave, and childcare support to help women balance work and personal responsibilities, and similar arrangements are slowly becoming standard in Indian hotel chains as well.

The business case for inclusion 🔗

Inclusive workplaces are not a charity. They produce measurable returns. Reports indicate that diverse management teams generate roughly 19% more revenue than less diverse teams. Lower attrition, better guest reviews, stronger employer branding, and access to wider talent pools all flow from a workplace where every employee feels respected.

For tourism specifically, there is a service-quality angle. Guests come from every gender, culture, and background. A team that mirrors that diversity – and treats its own people well – is far better at reading guest cues, anticipating needs, and delivering the kind of warm hospitality that drives repeat business and word-of-mouth.

The reputational stakes are equally real. A single mishandled harassment case can dominate social media and news cycles for weeks, damaging years of brand-building. Conversely, organizations known for inclusive cultures attract better talent, command premium pricing, and weather crises more smoothly.

Common pitfalls to avoid 🔗

Even well-meaning managers stumble. One common mistake is treating inclusion as a one-time training event rather than an ongoing practice. Another is focusing only on women while ignoring other gender minorities, men in caregiving roles, or LGBTQ+ employees. A third pitfall is “tokenism” – promoting one woman to a senior role and treating the box as ticked.

Perhaps the most damaging error is silence. When a manager hears about a problem and delays action, the message to the team is that the policies on the wall aren’t real. Speed and seriousness in responding to complaints are what build trust. Confidentiality must be preserved, but action must be visible.

What do you think? 🔗

What do you think? Looking at the tourism workplaces you have observed or worked in, which manager responsibility – equal opportunity, fair treatment, safety, or culture-building – do you believe most often gets neglected, and what one practical change would you push for first?

References

1. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2019/11/announcer-second-edition-of-global-report-on-women-in-tourism
2. https://diversity.social/leading-the-charge-women-in-the-hospitality-sector/
3. https://wcd.delhi.gov.in/wcd/sexual-harassment-women-workplaceprevention-prohibition-and-redressal-act-2013sh-act-2013
4. https://blog.ipleaders.in/posh-act-2013/
5. https://employers.hosco.com/blog/women-in-hospitality-a-guide-to-support-and-accommodate-them
6. https://hrc-international.com/women-in-hospitality-supporting-female-leaders/
7. https://harver.com/blog/inclusive-workplace-in-hospitality/