Travel urged to make gender equality part of sustainability drive
Will PayneCampaign group Equality in Tourism International and its associates have signed a declaration urging the travel industry to ensure gender equality isn’t "left out" of discussions around the climate crisis.
The non-profit organisation said climate change "threatens women and contributes to negative impacts on their livelihoods", adding the pandemic had highlighted how "vulnerable" the sector is and how women are negatively impacted.
"In the context of the essential socio-ecological transition required to save the planet from climate catastrophe, we must rethink tourism and women’s place within it," said the group on Tuesday (9 November).
More: ’We must up the focus on gender at Cop26’
The declaration signed by the group called for further questioning of the "dominant tourism development model as an engine of continuous economic growth", stressing the claim that tourism produces around 8% of the world’s CO2 emissions – a figure expected to rise by 4% every passing year.
"Women constitute the majority of the world’s poor, and their livelihoods are very often dependent on the natural resources which are threatened by climate change," said the group.
"A re-orientation is therefore vital to reduce negative environmental impacts and tourism’s own contribution to climate change. Women leaders and women members on boards cause their companies to be more environmentally sensitive and to operate in a more sustainable way."
The group has, in particular, called on operators, tourism boards, and the accommodation and transport sectors, to ensure women’s rights are reflected in their participation in the planning and development of efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change, and to re-orientate tourism.
Tricia Barnett, director of Equality In Tourism, told TTG it came as little surprise to the group that declarations in relation to tourism, the environment and Cop26 didn’t include details on gender equality due to the "numerous reports about the fact that women don’t have equal opportunity or rights" within the tourism industry.
"We’ve got a world wide group of gutsy women associate members and we were all of one mind about the need to make sure women were also included, hence our declaration," she continued. "We can’t be excluded yet again.
"Can we please now move forward by working together? Women’s lives are complex, but that shouldn’t put the industry off of finding a way to use tourism development to further gender equality.
"We’d like to propose that we start by gathering together gender disaggregated information so that we can create gender sensitive indicators that will take us towards genuine gender equality."
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