Does your business give everyone what they need to be successful?

The theme for International Women’s Day on March 8, 2023, is #EmbraceEquity. The words equity and equality are often used interchangeably, but for IWD 2023 it means giving everyone what they need to be successful.

Equality focuses on providing all genders with equal opportunities. Yet, women often require more than a level playing field. What’s needed is a move towards a culture that actively promotes and supports them in all aspects of their life, from education to health and of course, the workplace.

Although hospitality and tourism are among the few gender-balanced industries, women still remain underrepresented in management and leadership roles.

In 2019, in the tourism and hospitality industries, women had 52 percent representation in non-management roles but only 32.6 percent representation in leadership roles and 41.6 percent representation in management roles.

With this in mind, AccomNews has collated a list of ways you can make some simple positive changes within your workplace to further empower women.

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Mentorship programs

The statistics show that women are less likely than their male counterparts to be promoted into leadership roles.

Mentorship has proven to be an effective tool when building future leaders. Studies have found that employees with mentors are promoted five times more often than their non-mentored peers.

For women, mentors can be a powerful tool in building their confidence to step into leadership roles. Mentorship programs also help retain those star employees and can help develop a leadership succession plan within your business.

Consider developing an in-house mentorship program, or look to organisations like Women In Hospitality or Women In for guidance.

Build a safe culture

Recently, a study in South Australia uncovered a disturbing culture of sexual harassment and abuse within the hospitality industry.

The study, aptly titled ‘Not So Hospitable’, collected more than 260 testimonials from hospitality workers who told their stories of workplace harassment and abuse.

The testimonials largely came from women and highlighted the need to build safe and inclusive workplaces.

Ensure you implement mandatory training for all employees on appropriate behaviour and encourage staff to report any incidents of harassment or abuse.

Women who feel safe and supported within your workplace are more likely to stay there long-term and also recommend it to other potential employees.

Support mothers in the workforce

According to a McKinsey Global Institute report, the jobs of women were 1.8 times more vulnerable during the COVID-19 crisis than those of men.

For working mothers, these numbers were even higher. Because as schools, nurseries, and daycares closed, many mothers ended up taking on the additional responsibility of homeschooling their children.

In hospitality and tourism, working from home may not always be an option for all employees but there are changes that can help improve your workplace for working mothers.

Ensure you offer flexible rosters for employees with children. Maybe they need to be at school pickup, or attend the school sports carnival? Work with your staff to ensure they feel supported to balance both home and work.

Does your accommodation business offer kids club or other school holiday activities? How about allowing staff to enrol their children so that they can save on childcare or babysitting costs?

For working mothers, these small changes can help them feel supported to thrive both at work and at home.

Sarah Davison

Sarah is a freelance journalist with experience across print, digital and audio. After working for Multimedia Publishing as a contributing writer, she has recently joined the team in a part-time capacity for School News AU and AccomNews.