Glass Ceilings and Glass Elevators as Gender Segregation in Female Employment in the Tourism Sector: Placing a Lens on the Issue With Reference to the Muslim World

Glass Ceilings and Glass Elevators as Gender Segregation in Female Employment in the Tourism Sector: Placing a Lens on the Issue With Reference to the Muslim World

Muhammad Faisal Sultan, Muhammad Nawaz Tunio, Afifa Sardar, Aamir Firoz Shamsi
Copyright: © 2023 |Pages: 9
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-8417-3.ch033
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Abstract

There is no need to highlight the importance of women as religious and cultural history is full of roles that women have played in religious, cultural, as well as business activities. Starting from Hazrat Khadija R.A., Muslim women are always admired and well-known for their acts and responsibilities. Although due to some adopted cultural, familial, political, and social barriers, professional growth of women is always hindered. Similar is the case in the Islamic world where women have to encounter several barriers in their professional growth. However, growth in the tourism industry is a special case due to the perception attached to the industry and working practices. The situation is not getting improved not only due to cultural and religious barriers but also due to inability of the educational sector to train and groom women as employees and entrepreneurs. Therefore, this chapter has been written specifically with reference to the hurdles that Muslim women are experiencing in their professional growth with special emphasis on barriers in the tourism industry.
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Issues And Challenges Faced By Women Workforce In The Tourism Industry

Issues Faced by Women Workforce:

A study by Mohanty et al (2018), indicated that women hold a fair share of the work activities associated with the tourism industry. Although several issues still need to be resolved

  • a)

    Lack of attention on female efforts and entrepreneurial work resulted in lesser appreciation and acceptance of women's intrapreneurship and efforts.

  • b)

    Family-owned businesses in the tourism industry are heavily dependent upon the role of women. However, the role has rarely been noticed and appreciated.

  • c)

    Lack of family support also reflected negatively upon women's intrapreneurship and efforts.

  • d)

    Male domination also causes women to work in lower-level jobs even in the tourism industry. Thus, their work and efforts go unnoticed.

  • e)

    Stereotyping and perceptual barriers regarding women's capabilities are restricting women to lower-level jobs and salary scales.

  • f)

    Sexual and Professional harassment of women is raising in the tourism industry.

  • g)

    Tourism is the most attractive sector for females and has a larger share of women. Although serious efforts are required to remove gender disparity from the tourism industry.

Challenges Associated With Women's Workforce

Mohanty et al (2018), also mentioned that the participation of the women workforce in tourism is essential for the sustainable development of the industry. Although there are several challenges that may intervene in the way of women's participation and sustainable growth of the tourism industry that are as under:

  • a)

    Level of literacy of women is one of the major challenges that interrupt women's role and intrapreneurship in the tourism industry.

  • b)

    Orthodox mentality regarding women's role is hindering in the way of women's intrapreneurship and participation in the tourism industry.

  • c)

    Women are earning lower salaries than their counterparts even in similar positions. This is creating a severe negative impact on women's career development and paths.

  • d)

    Religious Problems is also creating hindrance in the way of women's intrapreneurship.

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