adminAccording to the Women in Tourism Study by the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development 2012, the International Labour Organisation reported in 2001 that women account for 46 percent in wage employment in tourism globally. This is highly commendable considering the fact that of the 28 percent women employed in the sector, 11 percent are in leadership positions in Zimbabwe, according to the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry’s 2009 estimates.
It is a fact that Zimbabwe boasts of a number of tourist attractions such as the Great Zimbabwe Monument, the Victoria Falls and Matopos. They have a great impact in bringing revenue to Zimbabwe, thereby making a contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It is not by chance therefore that Zimbabwe/Zambia managed to clinch the right to host the United Nations World Tourism Organisation General Assembly (UNWTO) next year on 23 August, in Victoria Falls and Livingstone. Women should also take advantage of the General Assembly and also participate in various business opportunities that the General Assembly offers before, during and after the event.
The study conducted by the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development in the tourism sector revealed that women’s participation in the sector is still limited to micro levels whereby women own lodges, restaurants and concentrate on crafts and interior-deco. This scenario also prevails in Bulawayo whereby most women own lodges and restaurants. Usually such businesses have no potential for growth and operate at the same level for long periods.
According to the study very few women are into large enterprises such as hotels, luxury lodges, boat cruise, wildlife concessions for hunting and eco-tourism. Studies have also revealed that women are less likely to own formal sector businesses than their male counterparts. In Zimbabwe, women account for 67 percent of the small and medium enterprises with a few of them having the potential for growth to macro levels compared to male-dominated businesses such as manufacturing and transport. In terms of International trade, women’s participation is greatly limited as structures of trading operations are traditionally gender segregated.
While the 50 percent mark hasn’t been reached, African Sun, Cresta Hospitality and Rainbow Tourism Group are making good progress in terms of the employment of women. The tourism sector study revealed that the three key players in the tourism sector, employs 3 401 people of which 39,6 percent are women. Actually the African Sun Limited has a gender policy and the Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG) has a female representation of 69,3 percent.
The table shows that in terms of decisions making, women still occupy the lower ranks and tend to be in low occupations with low career development prospects. Top managerial posts are still male-dominated. The tourism sector study also revealed that at board level women are under-represented as there is only one woman in eight people in the Zimparks board, two women out of 13 people in Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and two women out of eight people in the Rainbow Tourism Group.
It is however commendable to note that women executive directors in the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and Zimparks are at 50 percent. Women at director level in the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality is at 33 percent.
The reverse is true however in terms of business ownership in tourism. The tourism sector study revealed that less than four women own large lodges in Harare and along the Zambezi River, about four women were holding 10-year lease hunting concessions in parks, estates and three women are known to own wildlife conservancy in Gwayi and Chiredzi. This anomaly shows the extent to which women are underrepresented in large tourism operations.
It must be noted that great strides have been made by the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Sedco, ZimTrade and the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises Development in assisting women businesses in all sectors including tourism, but women face major challenges in terms of weak business linkages, issues related to branding and absence of women’s business information networks. The Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development has over the years emphasised the issue of branding and to date quite a number of women groups and individuals are branding their products especially in the agro-processing cluster.
The study revealed that those few women in businesses do not interact with larger players in the tourism supply chain. Small enterprises operate as individuals without any linkages. This is the reason why those in the craft industry have also failed to link to global value chains thereby affecting their capacity to sell in bulk. Larger players too have also excluded the small players in their business deals. There is also need for women to diverse their products.
Female-led enterprises should network among themselves and within existing business associations and support institutions so that they can be well versed with business best practices. There is also need for the establishment of tourism business information networks for women.
Other prohibitive factors include limited access to technologies and difficulty in accessing appropriate production sites at competitive prices. Rural based tourism sub-sector’s growth is also hampered by long distances and travel costs, poor communications infrastructure and skills shortages among others. Last but not least a tourism policy silent on strategies to economically empower women is equally prohibitive to women’s participation in the tourism sector.
l Vaidah Mashangwa is the provincial development officer in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development Bulawayo Metropolitan Province. She can be contacted on: Tel: 0772 111 592/09 889224 e-mail [email protected]
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