The United Nations specialized agency celebrates the achievements of women in tourism while highlighting the fact that women continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions, face barriers to career advancement and have limited access to education and training. training.
#InvestInWomen
This year's theme, #InvestInWomen, highlights the need to invest to address the projected annual shortfall of $360 billion in financing if the world is to achieve the global gender equality goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular Sustainable Development Goal 5. – achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
"International Women's Day gives us the perfect opportunity to reflect on the progress that has been made and highlight the enormous investment we need to achieve gender equality in the tourism sector," says UN Secretary-General of Tourism, Zurab Pololikashvili. "In many countries we are seeing the fruits of previous investments, but more is needed to help unlock new opportunities for economic growth, social inclusion and sustainable development." “The benefits of greater investment in women could be enormous, and evidence shows that closing gender gaps could increase GDP per capita by 20% and create almost 300 million jobs in the global economy by 2035.”
Supporting Members to take concrete action
In the week leading up to International Women's Day, UN Tourism organized a series of webinars in different regions of the world calling on governments, businesses, civil society organizations and individuals to take concrete action to invest in women and promote gender equality in the tourism sector. These include:
Implement policies and initiatives that promote gender equality and women's empowerment in tourism, including equal pay, access to education, training and leadership opportunities.
Support women-owned businesses, businesses and initiatives in the tourism value chain.
Foster alliances and collaboration to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women in tourism at the local, national and international levels.