Gendering the tourism sector: Women managers' experiences in hotel and travel businesses in Portuga

This research aims to analyse to what extent gendering processes explain women managers' career and life paths in the tourism sector in Portugal. The subsectors analysed are hotel establishments, travel agencies and tour operators.;It is a mixed methods research study that includes both the quantitative analysis of official personnel databases, and the qualitative analysis of interviews with women in leadership positions in the tourism sector (hotels and travel businesses). This study is influenced by a feminist perspective on gender, management and organisations, since it aims to produce 'situated knowledge' about women and their experiences, which can both raise awareness about persisting gender inequalities and inspire political action.;In the quantitative study, it is concluded that despite there being more women working in the tourism sector, men prevail in top positions and earn higher salaries. The gender pay gap increases with education and hierarchy. There is evidence that tourism is far from being gender equal, in particular the hotel sector.;In the qualitative study, the experience of women top-level managers is the focus of analysis. Women's interpretations of their own career paths are analysed, as well as gendering processes affecting them in their organisations and in the family sphere. It is also analysed how women do and re-do gender in response to gendered contexts and gendering processes, and how this challenges the gender order in the different spheres of their lives.;The findings of this investigation suggest that, although the tourism sector may be more 'women-friendly' than some male-dominated sectors, it still reinforces gendered patterns of employment and gendered stereotypes. The main constraints seem to be the notion of the 'abstract' worker, the assumption that women are less competent than men, and masculine organisational cultures materialised in male homosocial ties. The extent to which women are affected by these constraints seems to be moderated by the following factors: working in their own businesses, being childless, splitting of tasks with the partner, existence of a network of support within the family and existence of a 'critical mass of women' in management positions in their organisations. Women who work for larger businesses and who have climbed to the top of their careers instead of becoming entrepreneurs see more inequalities in the tourism sector than entrepreneurial women.