A gendered reflection on sustainable tourism

By Judy Kepher-Gona

Judy Kepher-Gona

When I started my journey in tourism, I believed, and still firmly believe, that sustainability holds the key to addressing challenges in the sector, including those related to women.

I have spent nearly three decades working at the intersection of sustainability and tourism, often advocating for more inclusive futures. Yet, as a woman in this space, I have also lived the very inequalities these frameworks claim to address.

One of the early statements I heard when I joined the sector was that tourism had potential to empower women and that women made a large percentage of the workforce. They were seen. I also heard about need for women empowerment so they can have more representation in leadership tables. They needed to be heard.  This was a contradiction. Therein was my inspiration – find your way to the decision-making table!

Indeed, we are everywhere in tourism – from the front desks, kitchens, rooms, restaurants, craft markets, shops, marketing, guest relations, guiding and hosting, among other roles. But I have learnt that presence is not the same as power. I have watched, and encountered, how women remain clustered in the low- to middle-role jobs. Sometimes in my career, the language of empowerment has felt hollow when decision-making remains out of reach for many women. Are women really still growing into power roles? 

I have learnt that there are many invisible layers to the women in tourism leadership. A critical invisible layer to this story, which discourse rarely acknowledges, is that women, who form a majority of the workforce, carry homes, care for families, and then step into tourism work – expected to do both excellently without recognition. I have seen brilliant women abandon or shy away from opportunities simply because the system was never designed with their realities in mind. Another troubling issue is how often gender is still treated as an afterthought; a box to tick within sustainability frameworks that remain largely focused on inputs and not impact. 

In my work as a sustainability assessor, I have also listened to countless women speak about safety and dignity, topics that are often sidestepped in mainstream discussions. That marketing narratives and working environments still quietly perpetuate harmful stereotypes – reducing women to images rather than acknowledging them as agents – should be a concern in the era of sustainability, but capital always seems to win over value. My take.

If there is one thing I would change to make tourism more gender-responsive, it would be the tendency to speak in a single, generalised narrative of “women in tourism.” That phrase, while well intentioned, hides deep inequalities between rural and urban women, between those with access to capital and those without, between global North and South, and among women themselves. Until we confront these layered realities, empowerment remains partial.

My message is simple: women in tourism do not want to participate in tourism, they don’t want to be invited. They want a fair chance.