Tourism can promote different possibilities for gender equality such as empowering women, generating employment and income, and promoting equitable experiences in tourist destinations and attractions. This chapter aims to discuss the incorporation of gender equality through the inclusion of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 in tourism. For this, a theoretical essay is developed based on articles present in the Web of Science (WoS) database. The results demonstrate that gender equality must be substantially discussed by everyone involved in the tourism sector. In particular with regard to equal salary and opportunities and salary for women as a way to reduce gender stereotypes in companies in the sector. In addition, it is understood that one of the ways to improve gender equality is in the development of practices in undergraduate higher education in tourism, as there are studies that indicate better academic results on the part of women.
Top1 Introduction
Sustainability becomes every day a criterion of consumer preference. And, it causes, even today, changes in social paradigms in sectors that have always favored economic and practical logics. This is no different in the tourism sector (Hall, 2019). This contributes significantly to the GDP of countries, besides being directly linked to the various goals of the Sustainable Development Goals established by the UN through the 2030 Agenda. This presents 17 goals with specific targets for each of them. Its fulfillment is the responsibility of the government, civil society, and also the private sector (Peña-SumaNchez; Ruiz-Chico; JiméNez- Garceuuma & López-SimaNchez, 2020).
Tourism accounts for 1 in 10 jobs worldwide and is one of the most prominent sectors in many countries. For this reason, the SDGs are discussed in the sector to improve people's awareness and their relationship with their environment. Among them is SDG 5, focus of this study which aims to achieve gender equality and women's empowerment through reforms in laws and regulations that enable this purpose to be achieved. (Peña-SumaNchez; Ruiz-Chico; JiméNez- Garceuuma & López-SimaNchez, 2020).
Although the presence of women has been growing in the industry in the last century, women's work suffers a number of variations when compared to men's work. This occurs because women are seen as fragile figures and susceptible to stereotyped opinions based on gender, such as of care activities (Ferreras-Garcia, 2021). In this sense, despite being an SDG, gender equality is still little discussed in tourism. Similarly, female empowerment is idealized, but in reality, there are few opportunities for women in the sector due to the social inferiorization of women and the lack of public policies related to gender equality (Alarcón, 2019).
The lack of knowledge about gender equality is a problem since higher education for tourism. For, although there is discussion of generic concepts such as “diversity management” and “ethical commitment”, no teaching plan mentions the gender perspective and equality management as a current challenge for organizations. The study also reveals that just over 20% of respondents are aware of SDG 5, which may compromise the future management leadership of public and private organizations in the tourism sector (Noguer-Junca, 2021).
The media and stereotypical representation of genders further exacerbates this problem. While men are presented as a form of strength and superiority, women are represented as the “weaker sex” in a trivialized or eroticized way. This portrayal imposes on the public gender roles and types of behaviors are deemed more appropriate and valuable in the eyes of society (Smith, 2021). Therefore, women are coerced into remaining in the private sphere, maintaining care activities.
Considering that women equally occupy university benches and that there are difficulties related to gender equality since the graduation in tourism, this article aims to answer the following problem: “How can the adoption of SDG number 5 contribute to promote gender equality in the tourism sector?”. In this way, we intend to discuss the incorporation of the gender equality theme through the inclusion of SDG number 5 in tourism.
This article is divided into: introduction, theoretical framework, methodological aspects, results and discussions, and final considerations.