Gender Disaggregation: A comparison of men and women in the hospitality sector.
Author: Hayley Crossland
0 Commentries
“The hospitality industry has been traditionally male dominated partly because of the culture and nature of the industry.†(Chan, R, cited in Howe, 2012). Hotel managers must be flexible and be able to relocate if they are required. Chan discusses that female hoteliers often face decisions where they have to choose between family and career, but naturally, women will always choose family. Another issue is where abouts within hotels women do work, whether it is front of house, including reception, waitresses, bar work etc. or back of house such as housekeeping, administrations etc. Back of house workers are often underappreciated which, therefore, demotivates workers, possibly leading to a large turnover of staff. A lot of women who work in the hospitality sector are also migrant workers.
“Women are more likely to fill part time roles. 54% of females working in the sector part time, compared to 46% of men.†(Women 1st, 2010). Women are more likely to fill these part time jobs, so they can still have a large amount of their time for home life, whereas men, naturally, are more devoted to working full time. Therefore, the number for women working in part time roles was higher than men.
Women are often undervalued while working within the hospitality sector. This includes being paid less than men for doing jobs of equal value. “In Europe, this factor only explains a small part of the gender pay gap, due to the effectiveness of the EU and national legislation.†(Baum, 2013). The legislation put a barrier on women being paid any less for jobs of equal value to men.
“Women experience greater difficulties than men when it comes to balancing work and private life.†(Baum, 2013). Baum states that women find it hard to balance work and home life. This too can be undervaluing for women, as this will become an issue in terms of career developing. Hotel management want their staff, like above, to have a responsibility for capital, career focussed and good with balancing the 2.
Women 1st (2010) found that there was 5 main barriers preventing women’s advancement into management and senior roles. These included:
1. Difficulty of combing work at senior level with caring responsibilities
2. Dominant masculine organisational culture
3. Preconceptions and gender bias
4. Lack of networking and exclusion from informal networks of communication
5. Lack of visible women in senior positions
Although these 5 factors are all individual barriers for women progressing further, they do not operate alone, and are influenced by one another through a range of factors including social, business and individual factors. (Women 1st, 2010).
“A major cause of occupational segregation is discrimination on the part of employers and clients.†(Campos-Soria et al, 2010). The author discusses that businessmen prefer to hire men over women for certain jobs within hotels. Hotel management would often rather have a member of staff who is keenly interested in putting everything into work, rather than a part time member of staff.
It has also been considered that women are more interested in the service delivered to customers and guests. This is because women are naturally more maternal and caring. Women will want to put the customer or guests needs first before the business. Although this is good in terms of customer satisfaction, hotel managers want to put their hotel and the business first.
It is wrong to assume that women stereotypically work in the hotel industry more than men. Women seem to have more front of house jobs such as waitressing, receptionists and back of house where women are housekeeping.
“Women are disproportionately represented in lower skills and lower paid areas of hospitality catering and tourism work, notable housekeeping and some customer contact areas.†(Baum, 2013: 59). Women are underrepresented within other areas of hotels, such as kitchens, engineering and security. The author has discussed the fact that female participation in the hospitality, catering and tourism workforce is increasing, there is various evidence that shows there is an impact of gender balance in tourism employment.
The role of female migrant workers impacts the gender imbalance too. Migrant workers are predominantly all female too, and mainly work within the housekeeping area. They are also paid low amounts, however, migrant workers staff turnover is at a high number as they aren’t working in the hospitality sector long term or permanently.
Baum (2013) lists a number of recommendations to promote women working within hotels, catering and tourism. “Hotels, catering and tourism enterprises could promote male careers within areas of work traditionally dominated by women such as housekeeping in order to reduce workplace segregation.†(Baum, 2013: 60). The point Baum is making is that women often don’t progress their careers within the hospitality sector due to a male dominated management. However, if men worked in a female dominated sector, they would more than likely feel exactly the same.
References
Campos-Soria, J.A., Marchante-Mera, A. & Ropero-Garcia, M. A. (2010) Patterns of occupational segregation by gender in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 30(2011) 91-102.
International Labour Organisation. (2014). Migrant workers are essential to hotel industry. [Online] Available from: http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/comment-analysis/WCMS_185870/lang--en./index.htm [Accessed 17th April 2014].
Women 1st. (2010) The case for change: women working in hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism. [Online] Available from: http://www.women1st.co.uk/system/assets/files/000/000/004/original/Women_1st_Case_For_Change_Executive_Summary_November_2010.pdf?1342707875 [Accessed 17th April 2014].
“Women are more likely to fill part time roles. 54% of females working in the sector part time, compared to 46% of men.†(Women 1st, 2010). Women are more likely to fill these part time jobs, so they can still have a large amount of their time for home life, whereas men, naturally, are more devoted to working full time. Therefore, the number for women working in part time roles was higher than men.
Women are often undervalued while working within the hospitality sector. This includes being paid less than men for doing jobs of equal value. “In Europe, this factor only explains a small part of the gender pay gap, due to the effectiveness of the EU and national legislation.†(Baum, 2013). The legislation put a barrier on women being paid any less for jobs of equal value to men.
“Women experience greater difficulties than men when it comes to balancing work and private life.†(Baum, 2013). Baum states that women find it hard to balance work and home life. This too can be undervaluing for women, as this will become an issue in terms of career developing. Hotel management want their staff, like above, to have a responsibility for capital, career focussed and good with balancing the 2.
Women 1st (2010) found that there was 5 main barriers preventing women’s advancement into management and senior roles. These included:
1. Difficulty of combing work at senior level with caring responsibilities
2. Dominant masculine organisational culture
3. Preconceptions and gender bias
4. Lack of networking and exclusion from informal networks of communication
5. Lack of visible women in senior positions
Although these 5 factors are all individual barriers for women progressing further, they do not operate alone, and are influenced by one another through a range of factors including social, business and individual factors. (Women 1st, 2010).
“A major cause of occupational segregation is discrimination on the part of employers and clients.†(Campos-Soria et al, 2010). The author discusses that businessmen prefer to hire men over women for certain jobs within hotels. Hotel management would often rather have a member of staff who is keenly interested in putting everything into work, rather than a part time member of staff.
It has also been considered that women are more interested in the service delivered to customers and guests. This is because women are naturally more maternal and caring. Women will want to put the customer or guests needs first before the business. Although this is good in terms of customer satisfaction, hotel managers want to put their hotel and the business first.
It is wrong to assume that women stereotypically work in the hotel industry more than men. Women seem to have more front of house jobs such as waitressing, receptionists and back of house where women are housekeeping.
“Women are disproportionately represented in lower skills and lower paid areas of hospitality catering and tourism work, notable housekeeping and some customer contact areas.†(Baum, 2013: 59). Women are underrepresented within other areas of hotels, such as kitchens, engineering and security. The author has discussed the fact that female participation in the hospitality, catering and tourism workforce is increasing, there is various evidence that shows there is an impact of gender balance in tourism employment.
The role of female migrant workers impacts the gender imbalance too. Migrant workers are predominantly all female too, and mainly work within the housekeeping area. They are also paid low amounts, however, migrant workers staff turnover is at a high number as they aren’t working in the hospitality sector long term or permanently.
Baum (2013) lists a number of recommendations to promote women working within hotels, catering and tourism. “Hotels, catering and tourism enterprises could promote male careers within areas of work traditionally dominated by women such as housekeeping in order to reduce workplace segregation.†(Baum, 2013: 60). The point Baum is making is that women often don’t progress their careers within the hospitality sector due to a male dominated management. However, if men worked in a female dominated sector, they would more than likely feel exactly the same.
References
Campos-Soria, J.A., Marchante-Mera, A. & Ropero-Garcia, M. A. (2010) Patterns of occupational segregation by gender in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 30(2011) 91-102.
International Labour Organisation. (2014). Migrant workers are essential to hotel industry. [Online] Available from: http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/comment-analysis/WCMS_185870/lang--en./index.htm [Accessed 17th April 2014].
Women 1st. (2010) The case for change: women working in hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism. [Online] Available from: http://www.women1st.co.uk/system/assets/files/000/000/004/original/Women_1st_Case_For_Change_Executive_Summary_November_2010.pdf?1342707875 [Accessed 17th April 2014].