TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Impact of Tourism in the Reduction of Gender Inequality
AU  - Genç, Ruhet
PY  - 2018
DA  - July
JF  - Trakya Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi E-Dergi
JO  - TEFE
PB  - Trakya Üniversitesi
WT  - DergiPark
SN  - 2147-2483
SP  - 20
EP  - 35
VL  - 7
IS  - 1
LA  - tr
AB  - AbstractIn this study, the role tourism sector on genderequality will be further investigated in order to propose a reliable solutionfor the ongoing debate on the relationship between gender inequality andtourism sector. The paper will start with a body of literature on the impact oftourism sector on gender equality based on the previous studies. Themethodology will be literature review and critical evaluation of the findings.Finally, the study will conclude the fact that tourism sector has a capacity toprovide significantly higher amount of specific benefits for women andtherefore positively contribute to the establishment of gender equality. Themanuscript will investigate the positive contribution of tourism sector on thewell-beings of women in three different aspects. First, the economic conditionsof women prone to increase in the presence of tourism sector corresponding tonew opportunities of employment as well as creating revenues for publicspending, specifically to finance the social policies for women. Secondly,tourism sector enables social interaction among people from different culturalbackgrounds and provide an opportunity for women in a particular destination toobserve which cultural rights other women have in other countries and open theeyes of local women for the rights that they can obtain. And third,psychological well-being of women which is measured by Quality of Life (QoL) islikely to increase as they take part in the economic activities and sociallife. The paper will also suggest a model in order to provide a quantitativeanalysis for the gender inequality, including the possible related economic andsocial variables.Key Words:Tourism, Gender, InequalityIntroductionGender inequality is one of the major problems oftoday’s world. Although there are some significant changes in recent years,gender inequality remains as a significant problem, particularly in terms ofeconomic aspects (Blau, 2016). There is still a big debate on whether tourismsector increase the burden on women by expropriating them further or it isbeneficial for women employment and gender equality. Some scholars claim thatthe challenges inherent in gender mainstreaming processes by public policiesworldwide are replicated and even exacerbated in the tourism sector (Ferguson& Alarcón, 2015) whereas studies conducted by other scholars depict thattourism is capable of providing specific advantages for women and has amitigating impact on gender inequality especially in the areas where tourismemployment is available (Khatiwada & Silva, 2015). Nevertheless, the genderresearch are claimed to remain limited within the tourism enquiry despite threedecades of study and the recent increase in investigations (Figueroa-Domecq et.al., 2015). Not even surprisingly, the gender discrimination in the field oftourism is not only limited to the women who are employed in the tourismsector, but rather the discrimination even reflects on the scientificinvestigation, and studies conducted by women scholars in order to complain howtourism research maintain the invisibility of women in academic field (Munaret. al., 2015).Some scholars argue that the recent paradigm in thepolicies regarding to development in tourism should be reconsidered to increasethe potential of tourism to a maximum level so that women can be empowered andother steps can be taken to promote gender equality (Ferguson, 2011). Merepresence of tourism will not provide equality by itself, as there are manysocial and cultural barriers that women need to overcome. Therefore, anunderstanding that increases the prosperity of women in financial, social andpsychological senses is required, not only in the academic field but also inthe policies of local and national level of governments. Hıstorical Development ofGender InequalitySince the earlier times of human-being, thedistinction between two sexes has been showing its impact on all aspects ofsocial, economic, political, cultural and artistic life. Although each societyhas its own traditions and cultural codes in terms of gender norms, the generaltendency of societies was to “evolve” into patriarchal communities where therole of women have been diminished to private space or house, the definition ofwomen has been made related to family whereas men enjoy their individual lives,independent decisions, and opportunities to engage in social realm. One of themain reasons that has historically widened the gap between men and women is theposition of women within the family, as they generally diminish theopportunities for participation into the labor force, and eventually this lackof participation leads to economic dependency of women to the breadwinner(male) of the family, hence reinforcing the gender inequality in the family(Donchin, 2010).Nevertheless, gender inequality is not one homogenousphenomenon that can be reduced into one aspect such as economic or social, butrather there are many facets of the problem which are diverse and interlinkedat the same time (Sen, 2001). For this reason, while gender equality is takeninto consideration within the scientific inquiry, the conceptualization showsdifference from one study to another. Some scholars focused on economic aspectsof inequality whereas some others focus on social properties, such as access toeducation and health (Arora, 2012). The principal interest of this paper willbe economic inequality between women and men based on current social andeconomic structure, and financial well-being will be assessed through wagedifferentiation and availability of employment for women. However, the impactof tourism will not be limited to economic gains, since social integration ofwomen also increases as tourism industry provides them an opportunity to getinto social life and meet new cultures. Therefore, social aspects of genderinequality will be included to the conceptualization of inequality of thisstudy.Besides, although the participation of women has beenincreasing in the sector of hospitality, scholars claimed that women are mainlyworking in the inferior positions and poorly paid jobs (Sigüenza, Brotons &Huete, 2013). Male superiority with respect to the understating of “malebreadwinner” leads to the perception of males as the head of household anddecision makers for the family (Duffy et. al., 2015). Bearing this fact inmind, policies need to be implemented with respect to increasing the prosperityof women in the social realm. Merely increasing the job opportunities whilepaying significantly less than men for the same job would not increase thewelfare of women, if not decrease it by degrading their power compared to men.In general, the structure and the organization withinthe labor market do not correspond to equality between genders, as it alreadyreproduces traditional gender roles which maintain the division in the sensethat women need to spend much more time and energy compared to men for thedomestic, family-related work such as cooking, cleaning, etc., hence men havean advantage in the labor market (Sigüenza, Brotons & Huete, 2013). Forinstance, cultural structure in lesser economically developed countriesdiscourage the participation of women into labor force, restricting the role ofwomen in the private sphere of house while keeping men active in the publicsphere of community (Duffy et. al, 2015). For that reason, presence of tourismsector is capable of mitigating the gap between women and men, if the policiestarget at increasing the prosperity of women implemented effectively.The Contribution of TourismSector to Gender EqualityFollowingthe rise of globalization, local economies started to integrate in larger ones,providing benefits to the economic actors. However, distribution of welfare isnot independent from the internal dynamics of a particular region, andtherefore the impact of globalization generally differs for different groupssuch as women, people with disabilities, or other type of marginalized groupsin rural or urban areas (Arora, 2012). If these differences are not regulatedproperly by the means of national or local government policies, then thepositive influence of any kind of new economic activity will not be realized,and rather the gap increases between advantages and disadvantaged, as in thecase of poor-rich gap, as well as the gap between women and men.It has been claimed that, tourism can offer analternative for women where they can engage in activism, community leadership,political realm, along with providing opportunities for employment andentrepreneurship, and therefore every two of three people in tourism workforceis female and women’s chance in tourism employment is twice more than beingemployers in other sectors (World Tourism Organization, 2011; Figueroa-Domecqet. al., 2015). Studies revealed the existence of women-managed tourismenterprises as well. For instance, homestay tourism in certain destinationsincluding Nepal, Malaysia, Costa Rica and Thailand re mainly managed by womenentrepreneurs (Acharya & Halpenny, 2013). Especially with the help of thesetypes of entrepreneurships, tourism employment is capable of providingadvantages for women, which help to alleviate the devastating impact of genderinequality (Khatiwada & Silva, 2015).Although the process of tourism development is assumedas being “gender-neutral”, scholars claim that gender dynamics are embedded inthe process (Ferguson, 2011), emphasizing the underlying impact of genderdiscrimination which is not limited to overt practice of sexism, but rather itsubtly reproduce the gender roles through sexual division of labor and everyday sexism. Hence, construction and reinforcement of new power relationsemerging as a result of tourism process cannot be acknowledged properly withoutunderstanding the complex structure of gender segregation in tourism and theexisting power relations (Kinnaird & Hall, 1996). In order to provide a better understanding for thecomplex structure of gender inequality and its relationship with tourismindustry, a model will be presented in order to explain the impact of tourismon women with respect to three main variables including economic gains, socialinclusion and quality of life. The ModelThere are three important aspects that determine thelevel of impact of tourism on gender equality, namely economic gains, socialintegration and psychological well-being of women. To begin with the economicimpacts, existence of tourism industry in a particular destination provides animportant source of economic welfare by increasing the job opportunities.Moreover, economic impact of tourism is not limited to employees who areworking in the tourism sector. As tourism is a key industry for overalleconomic development, it makes the emergence of side industry possible,increasing the overall labor demand. Sincethe aim of this study is to measure the gender equality with respect to tourismactivity, absolute numbers will not be sufficient. Tourism may increase thefinancial gains, hence economic well-being of individuals, but as long as therate of increase for the income of women is lower than men’s income, the gapwill be widened and the presence of tourism industry will reflect as a negativeimpact on the lives of women. Therefore, the rate of wage received by women tototal wage will be considered as an indicator for the impact of tourism.Other than economic gains, social inclusion is animportant determinant for the impact of tourism on decreasing genderinequality, and as women participates into the labor force and become visiblein the social realm; their social inclusion will be increased. Parallel to theincrease in financial well-being and availability of new job opportunities,social inclusion of lower socio-economic classes and financially disadvantagedgroups such as women, especially in patriarchal societies as in the case ofNepal, considerably increases (Ancharya & Halpenny, 2013). Furthermore,studies regarding to participation of disadvantaged, socially-excluded groupsin tourism sector claim that tourism provide opportunities to promote socialinclusion by facilitating social interaction, creating networks among people, andincreasing the possibility of communication (McCabe, Joldersma & Li, 2010;Grant & Kluge, 2012, Morgan, Pritchard & Sedgley, 2015). For thatreason, the degree of social inclusion is presented in the model as animportant indicator of the impact of tourism.Finally, overall change in the quality of life ofwomen is an important determinant for the impact of tourism on the women livingin a particular destination. There is no doubt that quality of life increaseswith holiday participation (McCabe, Joldersma & Li, 2010), however, theimpact is not limited to tourists, and tourism activity also increases the lifequality of local stakeholders, and especially those from disadvantaged,underrepresented groups, as in the case of women (Andereck & Nyaupane,2011) through encouragement of intercultural interactions, understanding basedon communication, peace, social and economic prosperity apart from economicgrowth (McCabe & Joldersma & Li, 2010). Although quality of life hasmany dimensions to be measured, presence of tourism as a reliable economicindustry will basically increase the self-confidence of women as they start totake part in the labor market. Economic independence from the family economynot only empowers the position of women in the society, but it also has asignificant positive impact on overall life quality for women. The overallwell-being of women can be measured by quality of life (QoL) variable in aquantitative manner, indicating the level of psychological wellness of localwomen in a particular tourism destination.Hence our model can be considered as: (1)TI = ß0 + ß1.RW/TR + ß2.SI + ß3.QL + ε where,TI implies the Impact of TourismRW implies Total RevenuesReceived by WomenTR implies Total RevenuesReceived by All ActorsSI implies the degree of SocialInclusion for WomenQL implies Quality of Life ofWomenß0, ß1, ß2and ß3 imply coefficients, andε implies residual (i.e. theeffect of other variables).Furthermore,total revenues received by women are not necessarily limited to the gains ofwomen working in tourism sector, as agents may receive direct or indirectbenefits when a particular region attract tourists, parallel to the emergenceof side industries including accommodation, restaurants, small-scaleself-employed tourism goods or service providers, and so on. Hence, the totalrevenue received by women is composed of two main groups, namely direct andindirect revenues. First, women who are employed in the tourism sector receivea direct economic benefit which is equal to wage (WT). Moreover,tourism enables development of other sectors, and new employment opportunitiesfor women in the side industries where women receive an indirect economicbenefit from tourism industry, which is equal to wage (WS) as well.Hypothetically, the wage levels for women who are working in the tourism sectorand other sectors will be equal to each other in a competitive marketstructure, as employers will be willing to employ women who would work at lowerwages and hence maximizing his profit by lower labor costs. Thus, the estimatedTotal Revenue Received by Women (RW) will be calculated as:(2)RW = WT + WSWhere; WT = WSTo recap, financial gains compared to men, along with the degree ofsocial inclusion and the quality of life of women are the three main variablesthat are capable of explaining the impact of tourism on women. All of the threevariables presented in the model have a positive relationship with the impact oftourism, such that the development of tourism in a particular region increases thejob opportunity, enabling women to earn money outside of their families,increasing their financial power compared to men and contributing to theireconomic independence, and as a result women have a position in social life andtheir psychological well-being improves with these gains.In addition to economic andsocial impacts, there may be other variables that are capable of explaining thevariance in the level of impact of tourism activity on gender equality that thesuggested model did not capture. For example, when tourists come to aparticular destination, they transform the cultural life of this region throughcultural interaction. As a result of adaptation towards the needs of tourists,cultural codes can be re-established, by allowing women have more space and decreasingtheir burden in terms of domestic labour. Because of this, a residual is presentedin the model, which implies the variance that cannot be explained by the two mainvariables.The model is suitable for anytype of numerical data, since the main target of this model is to measure thecontribution of tourism activity to gender equality in a quantitative form. Thus,the provided model is capable of responding to the complex nature of genderinequality, where various social and economic factors interplay, and allowingtheir measurement by the means of statistical analysis of objective scientificactivity, rather than qualitative evaluations where objectivity can bequestioned.Concluding RemarksIn conclusion, tourism enhances the economicwell-being of women and places them a more equal position compared to men onlyif there are specific, women-targeting policies implemented by local ornational governments. Previous studies suggest that women working in thetourism sector have worse conditions and paid less than men (Marrero &Huete, 2013). Likewise in all other sectors, tourism maintains the economic andsexual exploitation of women via atrocious employment practices, unequalpayments and recreating gender roles (Pritchard, 2014; Figueora-Domecq et. al.,2015). Therefore presence of tourism sector would contribute further toinferior position of women in the society and increasing the gender gap in theabsence of policies targeting to integrate women into social life by expandingtheir limit from domestic sphere where they are mainly entitled with foodpreparation, cleaning, biological and social reproduction of children, caringfor the sick and elderly, and so on (Ferguson, 2011; Duffy et. al., 2015).Engagement of disadvantaged individuals in a societysuch as minorities, people with disabilities as well as women withcommunity-based local level tourism enterprise has a valuable contribution toeconomic, social and environmental development (Acharya & Halpenny, 2013).Studies revealed the significant contribution of community based tourismcharacterized by community based natural resource management emphasizing thelocal resident participation and empowerment (Khatiwada & Silva, 2015). Allin all, empowerment of women is not only important for the lives of women, butit also plays a crucial role in the future of a society in a particularsociety, as integration of all individuals, and especially women, would belikely to increase the overall prosperity.The Impact of Tourism inthe Reduction of Gender InequalityAbstractIn this study, the role tourism sector on genderequality will be further investigated in order to propose a reliable solutionfor the ongoing debate on the relationship between gender inequality andtourism sector. The paper will start with a body of literature on the impact oftourism sector on gender equality based on the previous studies. Themethodology will be literature review and critical evaluation of the findings.Finally, the study will conclude the fact that tourism sector has a capacity toprovide significantly higher amount of specific benefits for women andtherefore positively contribute to the establishment of gender equality. Themanuscript will investigate the positive contribution of tourism sector on thewell-beings of women in three different aspects. First, the economic conditionsof women prone to increase in the presence of tourism sector corresponding tonew opportunities of employment as well as creating revenues for publicspending, specifically to finance the social policies for women. Secondly,tourism sector enables social interaction among people from different culturalbackgrounds and provide an opportunity for women in a particular destination toobserve which cultural rights other women have in other countries and open theeyes of local women for the rights that they can obtain. And third,psychological well-being of women which is measured by Quality of Life (QoL) islikely to increase as they take part in the economic activities and sociallife. The paper will also suggest a model in order to provide a quantitativeanalysis for the gender inequality, including the possible related economic andsocial variables.Key Words:Tourism, Gender, InequalityIntroductionGender inequality is one of the major problems oftoday’s world. Although there are some significant changes in recent years,gender inequality remains as a significant problem, particularly in terms ofeconomic aspects (Blau, 2016). There is still a big debate on whether tourismsector increase the burden on women by expropriating them further or it isbeneficial for women employment and gender equality. Some scholars claim thatthe challenges inherent in gender mainstreaming processes by public policiesworldwide are replicated and even exacerbated in the tourism sector (Ferguson& Alarcón, 2015) whereas studies conducted by other scholars depict thattourism is capable of providing specific advantages for women and has amitigating impact on gender inequality especially in the areas where tourismemployment is available (Khatiwada & Silva, 2015). Nevertheless, the genderresearch are claimed to remain limited within the tourism enquiry despite threedecades of study and the recent increase in investigations (Figueroa-Domecq et.al., 2015). Not even surprisingly, the gender discrimination in the field oftourism is not only limited to the women who are employed in the tourismsector, but rather the discrimination even reflects on the scientificinvestigation, and studies conducted by women scholars in order to complain howtourism research maintain the invisibility of women in academic field (Munaret. al., 2015).Some scholars argue that the recent paradigm in thepolicies regarding to development in tourism should be reconsidered to increasethe potential of tourism to a maximum level so that women can be empowered andother steps can be taken to promote gender equality (Ferguson, 2011). Merepresence of tourism will not provide equality by itself, as there are manysocial and cultural barriers that women need to overcome. Therefore, anunderstanding that increases the prosperity of women in financial, social andpsychological senses is required, not only in the academic field but also inthe policies of local and national level of governments. Hıstorical Development ofGender InequalitySince the earlier times of human-being, thedistinction between two sexes has been showing its impact on all aspects ofsocial, economic, political, cultural and artistic life. Although each societyhas its own traditions and cultural codes in terms of gender norms, the generaltendency of societies was to “evolve” into patriarchal communities where therole of women have been diminished to private space or house, the definition ofwomen has been made related to family whereas men enjoy their individual lives,independent decisions, and opportunities to engage in social realm. One of themain reasons that has historically widened the gap between men and women is theposition of women within the family, as they generally diminish theopportunities for participation into the labor force, and eventually this lackof participation leads to economic dependency of women to the breadwinner(male) of the family, hence reinforcing the gender inequality in the family(Donchin, 2010).Nevertheless, gender inequality is not one homogenousphenomenon that can be reduced into one aspect such as economic or social, butrather there are many facets of the problem which are diverse and interlinkedat the same time (Sen, 2001). For this reason, while gender equality is takeninto consideration within the scientific inquiry, the conceptualization showsdifference from one study to another. Some scholars focused on economic aspectsof inequality whereas some others focus on social properties, such as access toeducation and health (Arora, 2012). The principal interest of this paper willbe economic inequality between women and men based on current social andeconomic structure, and financial well-being will be assessed through wagedifferentiation and availability of employment for women. However, the impactof tourism will not be limited to economic gains, since social integration ofwomen also increases as tourism industry provides them an opportunity to getinto social life and meet new cultures. Therefore, social aspects of genderinequality will be included to the conceptualization of inequality of thisstudy.Besides, although the participation of women has beenincreasing in the sector of hospitality, scholars claimed that women are mainlyworking in the inferior positions and poorly paid jobs (Sigüenza, Brotons &Huete, 2013). Male superiority with respect to the understating of “malebreadwinner” leads to the perception of males as the head of household anddecision makers for the family (Duffy et. al., 2015). Bearing this fact inmind, policies need to be implemented with respect to increasing the prosperityof women in the social realm. Merely increasing the job opportunities whilepaying significantly less than men for the same job would not increase thewelfare of women, if not decrease it by degrading their power compared to men.In general, the structure and the organization withinthe labor market do not correspond to equality between genders, as it alreadyreproduces traditional gender roles which maintain the division in the sensethat women need to spend much more time and energy compared to men for thedomestic, family-related work such as cooking, cleaning, etc., hence men havean advantage in the labor market (Sigüenza, Brotons & Huete, 2013). Forinstance, cultural structure in lesser economically developed countriesdiscourage the participation of women into labor force, restricting the role ofwomen in the private sphere of house while keeping men active in the publicsphere of community (Duffy et. al, 2015). For that reason, presence of tourismsector is capable of mitigating the gap between women and men, if the policiestarget at increasing the prosperity of women implemented effectively.The Contribution of TourismSector to Gender EqualityFollowingthe rise of globalization, local economies started to integrate in larger ones,providing benefits to the economic actors. However, distribution of welfare isnot independent from the internal dynamics of a particular region, andtherefore the impact of globalization generally differs for different groupssuch as women, people with disabilities, or other type of marginalized groupsin rural or urban areas (Arora, 2012). If these differences are not regulatedproperly by the means of national or local government policies, then thepositive influence of any kind of new economic activity will not be realized,and rather the gap increases between advantages and disadvantaged, as in thecase of poor-rich gap, as well as the gap between women and men.It has been claimed that, tourism can offer analternative for women where they can engage in activism, community leadership,political realm, along with providing opportunities for employment andentrepreneurship, and therefore every two of three people in tourism workforceis female and women’s chance in tourism employment is twice more than beingemployers in other sectors (World Tourism Organization, 2011; Figueroa-Domecqet. al., 2015). Studies revealed the existence of women-managed tourismenterprises as well. For instance, homestay tourism in certain destinationsincluding Nepal, Malaysia, Costa Rica and Thailand re mainly managed by womenentrepreneurs (Acharya & Halpenny, 2013). Especially with the help of thesetypes of entrepreneurships, tourism employment is capable of providingadvantages for women, which help to alleviate the devastating impact of genderinequality (Khatiwada & Silva, 2015).Although the process of tourism development is assumedas being “gender-neutral”, scholars claim that gender dynamics are embedded inthe process (Ferguson, 2011), emphasizing the underlying impact of genderdiscrimination which is not limited to overt practice of sexism, but rather itsubtly reproduce the gender roles through sexual division of labor and everyday sexism. Hence, construction and reinforcement of new power relationsemerging as a result of tourism process cannot be acknowledged properly withoutunderstanding the complex structure of gender segregation in tourism and theexisting power relations (Kinnaird & Hall, 1996). In order to provide a better understanding for thecomplex structure of gender inequality and its relationship with tourismindustry, a model will be presented in order to explain the impact of tourismon women with respect to three main variables including economic gains, socialinclusion and quality of life. The ModelThere are three important aspects that determine thelevel of impact of tourism on gender equality, namely economic gains, socialintegration and psychological well-being of women. To begin with the economicimpacts, existence of tourism industry in a particular destination provides animportant source of economic welfare by increasing the job opportunities.Moreover, economic impact of tourism is not limited to employees who areworking in the tourism sector. As tourism is a key industry for overalleconomic development, it makes the emergence of side industry possible,increasing the overall labor demand. Sincethe aim of this study is to measure the gender equality with respect to tourismactivity, absolute numbers will not be sufficient. Tourism may increase thefinancial gains, hence economic well-being of individuals, but as long as therate of increase for the income of women is lower than men’s income, the gapwill be widened and the presence of tourism industry will reflect as a negativeimpact on the lives of women. Therefore, the rate of wage received by women tototal wage will be considered as an indicator for the impact of tourism.Other than economic gains, social inclusion is animportant determinant for the impact of tourism on decreasing genderinequality, and as women participates into the labor force and become visiblein the social realm; their social inclusion will be increased. Parallel to theincrease in financial well-being and availability of new job opportunities,social inclusion of lower socio-economic classes and financially disadvantagedgroups such as women, especially in patriarchal societies as in the case ofNepal, considerably increases (Ancharya & Halpenny, 2013). Furthermore,studies regarding to participation of disadvantaged, socially-excluded groupsin tourism sector claim that tourism provide opportunities to promote socialinclusion by facilitating social interaction, creating networks among people, andincreasing the possibility of communication (McCabe, Joldersma & Li, 2010;Grant & Kluge, 2012, Morgan, Pritchard & Sedgley, 2015). For thatreason, the degree of social inclusion is presented in the model as animportant indicator of the impact of tourism.Finally, overall change in the quality of life ofwomen is an important determinant for the impact of tourism on the women livingin a particular destination. There is no doubt that quality of life increaseswith holiday participation (McCabe, Joldersma & Li, 2010), however, theimpact is not limited to tourists, and tourism activity also increases the lifequality of local stakeholders, and especially those from disadvantaged,underrepresented groups, as in the case of women (Andereck & Nyaupane,2011) through encouragement of intercultural interactions, understanding basedon communication, peace, social and economic prosperity apart from economicgrowth (McCabe & Joldersma & Li, 2010). Although quality of life hasmany dimensions to be measured, presence of tourism as a reliable economicindustry will basically increase the self-confidence of women as they start totake part in the labor market. Economic independence from the family economynot only empowers the position of women in the society, but it also has asignificant positive impact on overall life quality for women. The overallwell-being of women can be measured by quality of life (QoL) variable in aquantitative manner, indicating the level of psychological wellness of localwomen in a particular tourism destination.Hence our model can be considered as: (3)TI = ß0 + ß1.RW/TR + ß2.SI + ß3.QL + ε where,TI implies the Impact of TourismRW implies Total RevenuesReceived by WomenTR implies Total RevenuesReceived by All ActorsSI implies the degree of SocialInclusion for WomenQL implies Quality of Life ofWomenß0, ß1, ß2and ß3 imply coefficients, andε implies residual (i.e. theeffect of other variables).Furthermore,total revenues received by women are not necessarily limited to the gains ofwomen working in tourism sector, as agents may receive direct or indirectbenefits when a particular region attract tourists, parallel to the emergenceof side industries including accommodation, restaurants, small-scaleself-employed tourism goods or service providers, and so on. Hence, the totalrevenue received by women is composed of two main groups, namely direct andindirect revenues. First, women who are employed in the tourism sector receivea direct economic benefit which is equal to wage (WT). Moreover,tourism enables development of other sectors, and new employment opportunitiesfor women in the side industries where women receive an indirect economicbenefit from tourism industry, which is equal to wage (WS) as well.Hypothetically, the wage levels for women who are working in the tourism sectorand other sectors will be equal to each other in a competitive marketstructure, as employers will be willing to employ women who would work at lowerwages and hence maximizing his profit by lower labor costs. Thus, the estimatedTotal Revenue Received by Women (RW) will be calculated as:(4)RW = WT + WSWhere; WT = WSTo recap, financial gains compared to men, along with the degree ofsocial inclusion and the quality of life of women are the three main variablesthat are capable of explaining the impact of tourism on women. All of the threevariables presented in the model have a positive relationship with the impact oftourism, such that the development of tourism in a particular region increases thejob opportunity, enabling women to earn money outside of their families,increasing their financial power compared to men and contributing to theireconomic independence, and as a result women have a position in social life andtheir psychological well-being improves with these gains.In addition to economic andsocial impacts, there may be other variables that are capable of explaining thevariance in the level of impact of tourism activity on gender equality that thesuggested model did not capture. For example, when tourists come to aparticular destination, they transform the cultural life of this region throughcultural interaction. As a result of adaptation towards the needs of tourists,cultural codes can be re-established, by allowing women have more space and decreasingtheir burden in terms of domestic labour. Because of this, a residual is presentedin the model, which implies the variance that cannot be explained by the two mainvariables.The model is suitable for anytype of numerical data, since the main target of this model is to measure thecontribution of tourism activity to gender equality in a quantitative form. Thus,the provided model is capable of responding to the complex nature of genderinequality, where various social and economic factors interplay, and allowingtheir measurement by the means of statistical analysis of objective scientificactivity, rather than qualitative evaluations where objectivity can bequestioned.Concluding RemarksIn conclusion, tourism enhances the economicwell-being of women and places them a more equal position compared to men onlyif there are specific, women-targeting policies implemented by local ornational governments. Previous studies suggest that women working in thetourism sector have worse conditions and paid less than men (Marrero &Huete, 2013). Likewise in all other sectors, tourism maintains the economic andsexual exploitation of women via atrocious employment practices, unequalpayments and recreating gender roles (Pritchard, 2014; Figueora-Domecq et. al.,2015). Therefore presence of tourism sector would contribute further toinferior position of women in the society and increasing the gender gap in theabsence of policies targeting to integrate women into social life by expandingtheir limit from domestic sphere where they are mainly entitled with foodpreparation, cleaning, biological and social reproduction of children, caringfor the sick and elderly, and so on (Ferguson, 2011; Duffy et. al., 2015).Engagement of disadvantaged individuals in a societysuch as minorities, people with disabilities as well as women withcommunity-based local level tourism enterprise has a valuable contribution toeconomic, social and environmental development (Acharya & Halpenny, 2013).Studies revealed the significant contribution of community based tourismcharacterized by community based natural resource management emphasizing thelocal resident participation and empowerment (Khatiwada & Silva, 2015). Allin all, empowerment of women is not only important for the lives of women, butit also plays a crucial role in the future of a society in a particularsociety, as integration of all individuals, and especially women, would belikely to increase the overall prosperity.
KW  - Gender
KW  - Inequality
KW  - Tourism
CR  - ReferencesAcharya, B. P., & Halpenny, E. A. (2013). Homestays as an alternative tourism product for sustainable community development: A case study of women-managed tourism product in rural Nepal. Tourism Planning & Development, 10(4), 367-387.
CR  - Andereck, K. L., & Nyaupane, G. P. (2011). Exploring the nature of tourism and quality of life perceptions among residents. Journal of Travel Research, 50(3), 248-260.
CR  - Arora, R. U. (2012). Gender inequality, economic development, and globalization: A state level analysis of India. The Journal of Developing Areas, 46(1), 147-164.
CR  - Blau, F. D. (2016). Gender, inequality, and wages. OUP Catalogue.
CR  - Donchin, A. (2010). Reproductive tourism and the quest for global gender justice. Bioethics, 24(7), 323-332.
CR  - Duffy, L. N., Kline, C. S., Mowatt, R. A., & Chancellor, H. C. (2015). Women in tourism: Shifting gender ideology in the DR. Annals of Tourism Research, 52, 72-86.
CR  - Ferguson, L. (2011). Promoting gender equality and empowering women? Tourism and the third Millennium Development Goal. Current Issues in Tourism, 14(3), 235-249.
CR  - Ferguson, L., & Alarcón, D. M. (2015). Gender and sustainable tourism: Reflections on theory and practice. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(3), 401-416.
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UR  - https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/trakyaiibf/issue//428077
L1  - https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/510734
ER  -