Big Gender Imbalance Discovered in Leisure Industry

Despite a slight increase in women in senior hotel management positions, there are still zero female chairs or CEOs at major hotel groups around the world.

Women hold only 7% of the CEO and chair positions. However, progress is being made in the casino and entertainment industries.

A new study examining publicly listed companies revealed that only 7% of top positions in the leisure industry are held by women. This contrasts with the 50-50 gender ratio of the overall workforce.

The first report in the series, "The numbers that support women in leadership: Leisure", was done by Aptamind Partners, a private advisory firm. It is supported by World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). Based on publicly available data from some of the largest hotels, casinos, and entertainment companies around the world, it shows that the gender gap increases the higher you go up the career ladder.

The overall balance of the leisure industry's workforce is 50%. However, the proportion of women in management drops to 42% at mid-level and 33% at high level.

Only one fifth of C-Suite executives is female, dropping to 7% at very the top.

Casinos and the entertainment industry are more successful than hotels. There are three female CEOs and four female chairs in the casino and entertainment industry, but it is not easy to beat them.

A slight increase in the number of female hotel executives has not translated into more women holding leadership and senior positions. Alison Brittain was the only female representative in the CEO group when this report was written. She resigned in January 2023 leaving major PLC hotels with no women in their top CEO or chair positions.

The report shows that there is hope for change. This can be seen in the increase in women who sit on boards of leisure businesses, which has increased from 17% in 2007 up to 28% by 2022.

Recent trends have seen a rise in the number and gender balance of women on the boards of entertainment and casino companies. In the period 2019-2021, this number has increased to 6% and 12% respectively. During the same time, the number and gender balance of female CEOs within the group has increased to 3% and 9%.

Aradhana Khowala is the CEO of Aptamind Partners, and the author of this report. She says that while some progress has been made over the past two years, there's still much to do. It is time to make a fundamental shift in how we think, talk and act about leadership and gender. We must go beyond the box-ticking exercise and take concrete steps to correct the imbalance.

"The lack of robust and insightful data in the public domain is one of the biggest barriers to gender diversity. We can't wait for history to change its course. It is important to know where we stand so that we can move forward with collective, concerted action.

Julia Simpson, President & CEO WTTC, mentioned that: "This issue goes beyond equity and fairness. Companies need to hold themselves accountable to guarantee progress is made over time.

"Putting women on centre stage of Travel & Tourism will ensure a better future for the sector."

Six steps can be taken by the leisure industry to increase female leadership in their sector, including improved disclosure and regular reporting, independent regulation, verification, and incentivizing leadership for gender diversity.

This report is one of four that examines the role of women in high-ranking positions within the Travel & Tourism industry, including cruise, leisure, and OTAs.

Source: traveldailynews.com