Although more than 50% of hospitality, tourism and events employees are women, there is a persistent lack of women in top leadership positions (National Travel and Tourism Office, 2020). A combination of both structural and social factors contributes to this inadequacy, including societal expectations of women’s roles and cultural stereotypes at work and home, lack of informal social support, embedded institutional, and organizational biases (e.g., lack of/limited maternity, paternity and work and family support, physical and mental health support during menopause, gender and race biases, mentorship, career advancement opportunities, etc.). Many of which have been exacerbated through the pandemic, undoing years of progress towards gender parity in leadership.
The purpose of this workshop is to bring together current academic research and evidence from the industry on how to develop and support women in leadership. The workshop aims to unpack and discuss approaches towards optimising the skills of the female workforce, productivity and performance of operations within organisations and enhancing employee wellbeing. It will build on comprehensive integration of multiple theoretical perspectives (i.e., leadership, diversity and inclusion, feminist theories, psychology, sociology of work, and occupational health) to explore the causes and contexts of women’s underrepresentation in leadership positions and strategies for addressing the challenges, towards making positive impact on the sustainability, health and wellbeing of women in leadership.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Carol Fergus, Fidelity International
Emily Ma, University of Surrey
Fiona Anderson, GEC PR Travel and Lifestyle
Jane Pendlebury, HOSPA, The Hospitality Professionals Association
Whitney Smith, University of Essex
ORGANISERS
Dr Tracy Xu, School of Hospitality & Tourism Management
Dr Albert Kimbu, School of Hospitality & Tourism Management
Professor Emily Ma, School of Hospitality & Tourism Management
Dr Sumeetra Ramakrishnan, School of Hospitality & Tourism Management
Dr Lorna Wang, School of Hospitality & Tourism Management
Dr Anke Winchenbach, School of Hospitality & Tourism Management
