29 Mar 2021

It is the responsibility of the nation to empower more women and encourage them to upskill themselves in readiness for leadership positions. 

This was said by Minister of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism Ms Philda Kereng when addressing a Women in Tourism symposium in Gaborone on Saturday.

Empowering women economically and closing gender gaps, she said, were key to achieving 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Ms Kereng said women economic empowerment boosted productivity, increased diversification and income equality. 

 Speaking specifically about tourism, Ms Kereng said empowering and encouraging women in the sector to upskill themselves and get better paying jobs would contribute to livelihood improvement. 

She noted that while women made up the majority of the tourism workforce in most parts of the world, they still held lower positions and received lower pay. 

Quoting Department of Tourism, Minister Kereng said as at December 2020, women made up 60 per cent of the sector’s total employment of  20 283.

She said out of the total number of  female employees, 11 562 were citizens and 608 foreigners.

In terms of tourism enterprise ownership, out of a total of 2 594 licensed tourism operations, 1 294 were owned by women, Ms Kereng said. 

She said women were getting into male dominated roles such as professional guides which had been the preserve of men. 

Therefore they should be empowered to take up more roles of responsibility within organisations, she said. 

The minister said government was committed to support the tourism sector as evidenced by the wage subsidy and the P200m Tourism Industry Support Facility. 

Hospitality and Tourism Association of Botswana (HATAB) chief  Ms Lily Rakorong said the sector played a crucial role in achieving the objectives of the 2030 agenda, especially gender equality and empowerment of women. 

She said the high numbers of females employed in the sector both internationally and locally  meant that women were hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Noting that the impacts of COVID-19 were unprecedented, Ms Rakorong said an urgent inclusive response was needed to ensure that women were not left behind. 

She said the tourism sector was resilient to economic downturn and crisis and would therefore play a key role in reinvigorating economies. 

Saying there was an opportunity in every crisis,  Ms Rakorong noted that the sharp decline in the tourism industry had taught governments the importance of the sector to economies. 

She said gender equality should be at the center of the ‘Build Back Better’ post COVID-19 to improve alignment with Sustainable Development Goals which would lead to a more inclusive and resilient industry. 

If more women took part in shaping the post COVID-19 tourism recovery, chances were it would be more responsive to everyone’s needs, she said. Ends