women occupational empowerment in the omani tourism sector

Tourism
EJTHR Research
Tourism
EJTHR Research
Vol. 5, Issue 1, pp. 53-84, 2014
© 2014 Polytechnic Institute of Leiria. All rights reserved
Printed in Portugal
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Tourism
EJTHR Research
European Journal of
Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation
Tourism
EJTHR Research
European Journal of
Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation
WOMEN OCCUPATIONAL
EMPOWERMENT IN THE OMANI
TOURISM SECTOR
Galal M. H. Afifi
Sultan Qaboos University, Sultanate of Oman
Nashwa Al-Sherif
Helwan University, Egypt
ABSTRACT: Investigating issues on women empowerment and employment are relatively
well established in research. However, few works have been conducted in regard to tourism
and even less in the Arabic region. Although tourism is a relatively new industry in Oman,
women’s contributions to the tourism profession in this evolving country have evidentially
increased in the recent years. Accordingly, this research aims to examine the attitude of the
Omani women working in tourism toward this profession and to explore the extent to which gender horizontal or vertical gender segregation exists in the tourism employment, before
in this research, which helped identify both qualitative and quantitative feedbacks. The reseempowering women in Oman. Keywords: Oman, women employment, women empowerment, tourism, gender
RESUMEN: Los estudios relativos a la capacitación y a la empleabilidad de la mujer se encuentran relativamente bien fundamentados en la investigación. Sin embargo, pocos trabajos investigativos han sido conducidos en lo que respecta al turismo, menos aún en la región
Árabe. Aunque el turismo sea una industria relativamente nueva en Omán, el contributo de
la mujer para las profesiones turísticas en este país en desarrollo ha aumentado visiblemente
en los últimos años. De este modo, esta investigación busca examinar la actitud de las mujeres de Omán que trabajan en el área del turismo en la relación con esta profesión y analizar
hasta qué punto la segregación de género vertical y horizontal existe en el sector de la empleabilidad en el turismo, para que después ilustremos los varios factores impulsores y limitadobiertas en lo que respecta a la situación actual de las funcionarias del sector turístico Omanés,
la capacitación de la mujer en Omán. Palabras clave: Omán, empleabilidad femenina, capacitación femenina, turismo, género.
RESUMO: Os estudos relativos à capacitação e à empregabilidade da mulher encontram-se
relativamente bem fundamentados na investigação. Contudo, poucos trabalhos investigativos
têm sido conduzidos no que diz respeito ao turismo e ainda menos na região Árabe. Embora
o turismo seja uma indústria relativamente nova em Omã, a contribuição da mulher para as
Oman. E-mail: [email protected]
Nashwa Al-Sherif: Assistant professor, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt. E-mail: [email protected]
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WOMEN OCCUPATIONAL EMPOWERMENT IN OMAN
timos anos. Assim sendo, esta investigação visa examinar a atitude das mulheres Omanis que
género vertical e horizontal existe no sector da empregabilidade no turismo, para depois ilusda mulher Omani. Utilizámos nesta pesquisa uma combinação de entrevistas semiestruturatitativos. A investigação aponta para grandes descobertas no que diz respeito à situação atual
dos esforços continuados a favor da capacitação da mulher em Omã. Palavras-chave: Omã,
empregabilidade feminina, capacitação feminina, turismo, género.
INTRODUCTION
In their inclusive report entitled “
”, the United Nations Development
Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the UN Global Compact (2010)
claim that empowering women to participate in the economic development at all levels and in all sectors is essential for building
strong economies and stable, just societies. Other reports (e.g.
UN, 2000; UNICEF, 2007) deem that empowering women is not
a matter of luxury or just for strengthening women’s rights, but
associated with poverty, assuming that if women are empowered
to do more, economic growth will be more approachable. Conhave detrimental effects on the economy of that nation. Accordingly, “women empowerment” has recently become a noteworthy topic of research. In this context, numerous researchers (e.g.
Ciulla, 1998; Page and Czuba, 1999; Blanchard et al., 2001) argue
that “empowerment” does not mean giving people power, as they
have power in their wealth of knowledge and motivation to excel,
but letting this power out by encouraging people to express their
skills and knowledge to overcome obstacles in life and ultimately
develop within their societies.
Although women are currently working in almost all the different aspects of life, segregation between genders in terms of
employment, earnings, positions and promotions is still broadly evidential. For instance, Mitra (2003) states that even though
educational equality has opened up more possibilities for female