International Women’s Day is back with the theme Inspire Inclusion, asking people to break down barriers, challenge stereotypes, and build environments where all women are valued and respected. The message is simple, but the gap between that ideal and what’s happening on the ground is still pretty real.
Misryoum editorial team stated that companies, governments, and communities have to make deliberate changes—so women and marginalized groups are included, welcomed, given access to support, education, resources, and investment, and offered real opportunities in employment, entrepreneurship, and leadership. And tourism, for all its talk of celebrating diversity, is part of that conversation.
The sector has the potential to do more than “look nice in a brochure.” In an ideal world, travel is about valuing differences, engaging local communities, and making places better for the people who live there. Misryoum newsroom reported that when tourism businesses fall short, it doesn’t just harm communities—it also weakens the sector’s resilience. The case for change is also practical: deliberately pushing for greater participation from women can strengthen tourism while shaping deeper, more transformative travel experiences.
There’s evidence of opportunity—and a warning sign. In 2019, Misryoum noted that women accounted for 54% of the tourism sector’s employment worldwide, though the reporting also admits it hasn’t been possible to find an updated post-pandemic statistic. On paper that looks encouraging. But Misryoum newsroom reported that research done by the UNWTO shows those jobs are mostly in the least powerful, lowest-skilled, and lowest-paid roles, with only around 19-25% of leadership and C-suite positions held by women. Women, especially those operating in the informal economy, are more exposed to job loss and displacement during economic shocks like the pandemic. It’s a pattern that’s hard to ignore.
Misryoum analysis also points out that investing in women isn’t only about fairness—it ripples outward into families and communities. Kiva, a microfinance organization which lends money low-income entrepreneurs around the world, found that women reinvest 80% of the income they earn into the education and wellbeing of children. Other research from the United Nations indicates that women-led economic empowerment leads to more gender equality and rights, economic growth, increased rates of girls education, and other community indicators of well-being.
One example that keeps coming up is Moshi Mamas, which provides business and skills training to women, plus market access for handicrafts. Shoshe, who received business training and market access for her handicrafts through a program in Moshi, Tanzania, explained the goal plainly: “I want to break the cycle for my daughter. I want to prove women can work and earn money.” In another part of the story, Alessandra Alonso from Women in Travel put it this way during a G Adventures Retravel panel on the topic of women in tourism: “For us, economic empowerment is the beginning of everything. Because when a woman earns, then the kids get educated, the extended family eats and the whole community is much better off.”
So what would “inclusion” look like in day-to-day tourism decisions? Misryoum editorial desk noted several practical moves: build tourism products with local community organizations and social enterprises that support women and marginalized groups; hire more women beyond entry-level roles with a focus on leadership and management; deploy innovation in gender diversity by training women for roles once considered unconventional—like all-female safari guide teams at Chobe Game Lodge in Botswana, or women trained as taxi and professional drivers by Sakha Cabs in India; and choose women-owned suppliers to make supply chains more gender equal, not just locally sourced. Misryoum also stresses the need to ask women about barriers and then remove them—childcare, transport to and from work to ease safety concerns, skills training beyond basic education, and flexible work hours.
And maybe this is the part people forget: women should be the storytellers. Especially in indigenous communities, women often steward tradition and culture, passing knowledge and techniques down through generations. Yet their voices go unheard too often. Tourism companies can amplify those stories by inviting women to be guides or speak as local experts.
There’s also a communications piece. Misryoum newsroom reported that companies should communicate the deliberate decisions they’ve made—share stories of access and opportunity, be transparent about mistakes, and invite travelers to join the journey. The sector can create jobs, build transferable skills, and embed them for use in the formal economy. Plus, the business case is there too: studies show companies with higher gender diversity at the executive level usually outperform those without in terms of economic profit. Misryoum analysis even links this to consumer reality, saying women make 70-80% of travel decisions and are a growing share of travelers.
On this International Women’s Day, Misryoum editorial team stated the push should be from words to continual action—because Inspire Inclusion isn’t a slogan you finish once the candle has gone out. It’s the kind of work you keep doing, the kind you hear in the background—like the soft clink of a kitchen knife somewhere on a cooking class itinerary—while the next group arrives and the day moves on.
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