Women’s participation in tourism in Pokhara

In the last few decades, the tourism industry has undergone a period of massive growth. As a labor intensive industry, there has been continuous development of tourism and consequent job creations at rapid pace. Tourism development can bring about a positive outcome for the economic prosperity of the people in many underdeveloped countries like Nepal, the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, , who suffer rampant poverty, increased unemployment, subsistence agriculture and inaccessible geo-structure. In Nepal, the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, , the beautiful country, tourist based country, , tourism has been considered an important sector for its potential contribution to  strengthen  national  economy,  gender  inclusion,  improvement  of the quality of lives and poverty alleviations by generating employment opportunities and foreign exchange earnings.

Tourism is basically a labor-oriented service industry where the work of  skilled  and  efficient  labor  (work force) has  a  positive  effect upon its promotion and development. Hospitality attribute is a factor that matters for the efficiency of labor output. Due to the inseparable nature of guests and hosts in tourism service management, good hospitality attributes of the service providers are prerequisites for the successful tourism businesses and their sustainable operations and management. This rational state of affairs in one way or another is also linked with the optimum satisfactions of tourists as guests and is a dependable source of income (economic independency) of labor forces who are engaged in tourism industry as hosts. In this context, various hospitality attributes like aptitudes, mannerisms, softness, listening abilities, and responsible habits which women workforce naturally possess, can be additional advantages for tourism industry. However, these roles, characters and contributions of women are incontestably associated with their inclusion, meaningful participations and decision making abilities in tourism and hospitality industry.

The   available   literature   (Acharya,   Thapalia   and   Bhattachan   2001; Acharya  and  Wannet  1981;  Hemmati  2000;  UNWTO  and  UNIFEM

2011;  Upadhayaya  and  Upreti  2008;  Vidya  2008)  reveals  about  two major aspects of women in tourism. One is about the lack of complete information on their status in tourism industry. The other is about the gloomy picture of women from the perspective of gender in tourism. The vertical typical "gender pyramid" is prevalent in the tourism sector where lower levels and occupations with the few career development opportunities are dominated by women and key managerial positions are held by men (Hemmati 2000, pp.17-20).

As a hospitality industry, the involvement of women in tourism industry in Pokhara can be important for industry as well as for the women workers and entrepreneurs. However, gender inequality prevailed largely in the tourism industry of Pokhara as it was mostly dominated by males (Acharya 2001; Khanal 2005 as cited in Pahari 2008; Khatiwada 2009; Pahari 2008). The entry of women in the tourism industry of Pokhara is a recent phenomenon which started only from 1988. At that time women had to struggle hard for their entrepreneurship in tourism, which was mostly captured by males.

Since tourism is an ever-changing and never-ending phenomenon (Shakya

2008), it is assumed that the state of women participation can also not

remain static forever. The possibility and potential of any recent changes

on women involvement in this industry of Pokhara cannot be neglected.

Nonetheless, there is a knowledge gap on the dynamics of any recent

changes on women’s involvement. In this context, this chapter focuses on

the following questions from the perspective of women’s participation in

the tourism industry of Pokhara:

a.      Are there any exciting changes on the women’s participation at present?

b.      Have the working women experienced a considerable growth in their skill and capacity-related opportunities?

c.      Along  with  the  opportunities,  what  challenges  are  women facing for their dignified participations?