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Summary of the Gender Assessment of the Gambian Tourism Sector

Core Content

This document presents a comprehensive gender assessment of the tourism sector in The Gambia, focusing on employment, entrepreneurship, and leadership. It highlights the opportunities and challenges women face in the sector and provides recommendations for improving gender equality within the context of the World Bank Tourism Diversification and Resilience in The Gambia Project.

Main Viewpoints

• Tourism as a Sector for Women's Participation: Tourism offers more opportunities for women's employment, entrepreneurship, and leadership compared to other sectors, due to lower entry barriers and flexible work arrangements.
• Persistent Gender Disparities: Despite these opportunities, significant gender disparities exist, particularly in employment and earnings, with men dominating the sector.
• Challenges for Women in Tourism:
  • Employment: Women are underrepresented in full-time roles, often confined to part-time or seasonal jobs with lower pay.
  • Entrepreneurship: Women-owned businesses face barriers such as lack of skills, access to finance, and market connections, limiting their growth and profitability.
  • Leadership: Women are underrepresented in leadership and decision-making roles, which affects the sector's inclusivity and the development of supportive policies.
• Impact of Social Norms and Institutional Factors: Social norms and a lack of formal protections contribute to the vulnerability of women in tourism, particularly in informal and low-income settings.
• Need for Data and Policy Improvements: The sector lacks comprehensive sex-disaggregated data, which hinders the development of targeted interventions. There is a need for better data collection, improved policies, and stronger enforcement to protect women from harassment and exploitation.

Key Information

Employment Disparities

• Gender Gap: Women constitute 35% of full-time employees in the tourism sector, compared to 65% for men, resulting in a 29 percentage point gap.
• Job Roles: Women are more likely to be employed in lower-paying roles such as receptionists, waitresses, and housekeeping staff.
• Barriers: Lack of skills, restrictive gender norms, limited information on lucrative jobs, and discriminatory hiring practices hinder women's employment prospects.

Entrepreneurship Challenges

• Business Ownership: Women-led businesses are predominantly micro (83%), with very few classified as medium or large.
• Earnings: Median monthly profit for female-led businesses is 3000 GMD, compared to 5000 GMD for male-led businesses.
• Constraints: Women entrepreneurs face challenges in skills development, access to finance, and market access, with limited exposure to high-value tourism segments.

Leadership and Decision-Making

• Representation: Women make up only 8.6% of parliamentary seats in The Gambia, indicating a lack of political representation that affects policy development.
• Sector Leadership: None of the key public tourism organizations are led by women, despite the sector offering better leadership opportunities than other industries.
• Impact of Female Leadership: Women in leadership roles create a more inclusive and supportive environment, encouraging other women to report harassment and participate more actively.

Cross-Cutting Issues

• Policy and Institutional Context: The lack of strong legislation and enforcement mechanisms poses risks to women's safety and economic participation.
• Tourism Education: While women are the majority in formal tourism programs, they lack the necessary high-level and soft skills training for career advancement.
• Social Norms: Societal stigma and safety concerns prevent women from pursuing certain roles, particularly in hotels and restaurants.

Recommendations

1. Strengthen Data Collection: Improve the collection of sex-disaggregated data to better understand and address gender disparities.
2. Enhance Policy and Legal Frameworks: Enact and enforce legislation to protect women from sexual harassment and exploitation.
3. Support Women Entrepreneurs: Provide training and access to finance and markets for women-led businesses.
4. Promote Diversification: Encourage the development of emerging tourism segments such as eco-tourism and conference tourism to offer safer and more inclusive opportunities.
5. Improve Education and Training: Develop new curricula that include soft skills, networking, and business management to support women's career progression.
6. Foster Inclusive Workplaces: Encourage the inclusion of women in leadership roles to inspire and support female employees.

Conclusion

The tourism sector in The Gambia has significant potential for women's economic empowerment, but it is hindered by structural and cultural barriers. Addressing these issues through targeted interventions, improved data collection, and inclusive policies can enhance women's participation and leadership in the sector, contributing to more sustainable and equitable economic growth.