PANJIM: Even as a large number of women have plunged into the tourism sector on par with men, the gender gap continues to haunt with the Centre for Responsible Tourism (CRT) working at giving them justice.
The organisation seeks that policies related to women in the tourism sector be included in the Tourism Policy, so that they do not face injustice.
“In the absence of a rigorous gender analysis in the thinking, development, practice and evaluation of tourism, women will continue to be exploited. It is about women and men working together to contest the patterns of exploitation and injustice done to women. Our conviction is that tourism policy must be made inclusive and that policy related to women in tourism are mainstreamed,” CRT General Secretary Fr Freddy Braganza said.
The association members met media persons on Friday discussing the problems faced by women in this sector.
The question of women in tourism assumed priority in CRT’s work in 2008 when the World Tourism Organisation declared women as the focus that year. A seminar in this regard rejected that tourism opens doors for women to step in and benefit.
“They are exploited as cheap labour or as objects of pleasure for men seeking pleasures at their cost. Sex tourism is not a commonly used expression in Goan tourism, but it is a common fact. Goa has acquired the dubious distinction of becoming the centre for sex, drugs, cheap booze and gambling. In each of these, somehow, somewhere the woman is brought into equation in an abusive manner,” was the discussion even as the attendees claimed that there are no credible studies to validate this claim.
CRT, Braganza said believes that as women represent a significant category in the tourism sector their issues must be addressed as part of an integrated approach to empowering Goans who serve the sector but are prone to being exploited.
A book on “Women Workforce in the Tourism Sector in Goa” authored by Evangeline Arethwala was released that dwells on the issue in detail.
