Empowering women at the forefront of tourism recovery
According to Aria Heritage, the guidelines were published by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) with the support of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development (BMZ), the German state-owned professional services company GIZ and the UN Women Committee. The purpose of these guidelines is to ensure comprehensive and flexible tourism recovery from the effects of the Corona epidemic. They acknowledge that re-launching programs, given that women have lost their jobs disproportionately more than men during this period, as well as the high proportion of working women in the tourism industry and their focus on low-skilled, low-wage jobs. And the revitalization of the tourism sector must address their specific needs.
Tourism as a stimulus for equality
“The relaunch of tourism must involve everyone (men and women) and everyone must benefit,” said Zurab Polulikashvili, secretary general of the World Tourism Organization. “Tourism has proven to be a true champion of gender equality, and these new guidelines will help governments and businesses use the power of this sector as a stimulus for women’s empowerment as the world reopens to tourists.”
The Public Sector Guidelines provide specific tools for supporting national, regional, local and other tourism institutions focusing on thematic policies, programs and themes in the tourism sector. At the same time, the strategy for businesses to support tourism companies of all types and sizes is designed to help effective and consistent strategies and programs to achieve gender equality.
Tourism takes the lead in committing to women
The recently published Gender Equality Guidelines continue to work with the UNWTO on women’s empowerment and are in line with the growing trend of tourism to address the issues of gender inequality. These guidelines are accompanied by an increasing number of similar initiatives such as the Women in Empowerment Principles (WEP) or the Environmental, Social and Governance Reporting Scheme (ESG).
In addition, these guidelines provide specific recommendations for governments to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (in particular Goal 5: Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment) and the goals of international conventions on women’s rights, such as conventions Nos. 10011, 156.183 and 190. Work or Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
UNWTO invites all interested stakeholders to join a special webinar (March 16, 15:00, March 25, 1400) that provides both guidelines with keynote speakers. The event will discuss the nature of gender equality and why it is necessary in tourism, especially for the public and private sectors. This webinar will be broadcast live on the UNWTO YouTube channel.
* Translation: Assadollah Haqqani