Gender equality:The role of women in tourism, a symbol of a continuous struggle for gender equality

Gender equality and the emancipation of women have been a struggle for decades and of many people who have fought with true convictions for this cause, such as Emmeline Pankhurst, Virginia Woolf, Frida Kahlo, Betty Friedan, among others figures. Nowadays, women have a bigger involvement in many sectors of a country, such as tourism, and their percentage of participation is growing a lot.

For example, in tourism, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) on its official website, more than 50% of the global workforce in the sector are women, and in its last Global Summit held last April in Cancun, Mexico, it was agreed to increase this percentage by 30 to 50% and to encourage formal sponsorship and mentoring programs for young women in the business environment.

In this regard, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), together with the United Nations Organizations (U), proposed an action plan composed of specific activities such as:

1. Form a multi-stakeholder task force.
2. Create a global portal that constitutes a global network for the exchange of knowledge.
3. Promote international awareness of the opportunities that tourism industry offers to women.
4. Urge UNWTO members to take energetic measures to support the widespread integration of the gender perspective in national development processes, in order to achieve equality for women in the tourism sector.

A UNWTO press release states that one in ten people working in the tourism sector in the Middle East is a woman. The Regional Report on Women in tourism in the Middle East and the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia highlight the progress made, as well as the

opportunities to continue advancing in gender equality in the sector. Key aspects of this report are listed below:

• Of the total number of people employed in the tourism sector in the region, 8% are women, while in the economy, in general, the percentage is 16%.
• Women have good academic training but do not enter the tourism labor market. Women make up the majority in higher education, yet they remain considerably underrepresented in employment.
• The public sector is paving the way for women to assume leadership positions.

Another important fact reflected in this report is that, in the Middle East, 21% of tourism ministries are headed by women.

Thus, in the modern world, a greater individual and collective awareness regarding the rights of all to gender equality and individual self-improvement is essential.

The role of the press in this sense is essential, since only through successful communication and dissemination of information on the importance of evolving thought processes.

It should be directed towards a more modern approach where everyone has the right to improve and choose their own life. Gradually breaking the taboos that often go unnoticed by many, and damage the well-being of the overall society.

Therefore, Core Middle East, is a news agency which like many other organizations, promotes gender equality and the role of women as a crucial aspect of modern society. Being a medium of communication, it favors freedom of thought, personal autonomy, social equality, the political rights of all, citizenship including universal suffrage.

The support of companies and news agencies of international renown is critical to achieve the 5th objective proposed for the year 2030.

As far as, the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women is concerned, it guarantees women equal rights to economic resources such as land and property. The road ahead is still long, but only collective efforts by the governments and organizations involved can reverse the situation of violence and discrimination that millions of women face globally. And until we all join hands together to support this cause, it will become difficult to be able to live in a more just, more egalitarian, more comprehensive, and more humane society.