Career Challenges Faced by Women in

the Hospitality Industry

Natassia Johnson

Certificate in International and Tourism Operations

HTMi Switzerland
Introduction

The hospitality industry has witnessed a large (35% from 1980 to 1990) growth

within the past decade and is expected to continue to grow (Kavanaugh, 1994).

Although there is an ample amount of female managers in the industry, there are

still many hurdles that put a roadblock in front of them from attaining senior

roles in management; this is due to gender inequality (Clayton et al., 1998).

Gender inequality has been rooted in society since historical times and indication

of gender discernment has been a major stigma that has led to impairment of

women’s thinking about their merit and self-worth to themselves and to society

(Kamray, 2014). There are many women who aspire to a senior role are capable

and do hold the talent to obtain such managerial positions but are held back by

the stigma that gender equality has created. With very few woman leaders,

achievement is a root of apprehension and it embodies a challenge for woman in

today’s society (Mwando, 2014). Based on a study by Powell (2011), the

managerial field remains to be in support of men and performances of the

masculine gender stereotype, ‘a phenomenon that still occurs despite what

leadership theories and field evidence would suggest.’ (Ibid, 2011)

Current issues for women in the workplace

Men are favoured in the industry over women as they are known for making

more practical decisions and tend to make big decisions using less emotion than

women. Men are also more flexible and are easy to relocate wherever they are

needed. It is not common for a man to follow a woman where she may go but it is

common for a woman to follow a man (Welbourne, 2009).

Therefore men are more hireable for managerial positions in the hospitality

industry. However According to the research done by Brownell (1994), the skills

that are required to pursue these higher-level positions e.g. General Manager, are

attainable for both women and men as they have the same advantages and

essential merits to thrive in the industry if they work hard. Furthermore a

majority of females are of the belief that they have to put in extra effort just to

prove their credibility (Gupta, 2010) such as working longer hours, bringing in

more revenue, securing more stakeholders. Studies have demonstrated that

women can be entitled to uniform employment but cannot enjoy promotional

opportunities. The purpose of the author’s research is to determine why women

have such disadvantages and bias against them when it comes to pursuing

higher-level positions in the hospitality industry.

‘The Glass Ceiling Effect ‘

The author has determined that one of these factors is the ‘glass ceiling’ theory

devised by Morrison et al. (1987). The phrase ‘glass ceiling’ refers to an invisible

barricade that prevents a person from progressing in their career. It is known

that this can be due to age, gender or ethnicity (Ibid, 1987). This theory can also

be used to describe the challenges that women face while climbing up the

corporate ladder and have created many discussions about how they are

disadvantaged simply by being a woman.

Below is a table taken from a study conducted by the Labour Force Survey (2009)

that shows the percentage of different positions held by men and women in the

hospitality industry.
(Figure 1: Labor Force Survey, 2009)

From this table it can be seen that the percentage of women in managerial and

senior positions is at 17.7% compared to the males at 24.9%. Furthermore, the

lower ranked jobs such as “Personal Service Occupations” have a much higher

percentage of occupancy by females at 8.1% than males at 3.3%. This shows that

women occupy lower skilled jobs and men occupy more high-level jobs that

require more managerial skills.

Age

Further, in a study conducted by (author, year), around 95% of female middle

managers agreed that there was an invisible barricade preventing them from
climbing up to senior positions. Additionally, 50% of respondents say that

women who are younger and unmarried are preferred more in the industry and

that this is accepted. But that is not to say that married women with children

should be discriminated against even at a hiring stage (Tamilmani, Kumar and

Ravichandran, 2010). Based on the glass ceiling theory, regardless of the

woman’s capabilities, the opportunity to move climb the career ladder is taken

away from her because of gender discrimination.

Availability of networking opportunities

The second significant reason for the presence of the glass ceiling is the lack of

networking opportunities. Based on a study by Chan and Lee (1994), women in

Singapore and USA are excluded from “old-boy” (activities that are typically

participated by men) and professional networking. This affects the progression

of women promoting to senior positions as they are restrained by cultural values

from entertaining their business counterparts and establishing networks and

“learning through the grapevine”. Due to the deficiency of interaction and

exclusion, female managers have little prospect to associate with prominent

executives (predominately males) who could benefit and grow their career

development.

Work Life Balance and The Dominance of a “Masculine

Organizational Culture”

These reasons present itself when a woman starts a family and chooses not to

continue work or their career becomes less important to them whilst a man is
more likely to stay focused on his career (Committee for Economic Development

of Australia, 2010) Because of this women are seen as not being able to balance a

family as well as work and men are more suited for the long hours that is

required in the hospitality industry. Another factor is the dominance of

‘masculine organizational culture’. With the already precedent image of women

being fundamentally absent from senior positions these jobs in the hotel industry

are considered masculine and therefore there are respondents that agree that it

is a job that requires male dominance. However Gupta (2010) says that these

conceptions are purely based on social studies as opposed to gender differences.

(Figure 2: challenges at work, Mwando, 2009)

This chart done by the Mwando (2009) proves that women are not able to take

up managerial positions due to prejudice and stereotyping of women. As you can

see insufficient time is almost half of prejudice and stereotyping. Some

respondents from this survey claimed that when a women’s opinion was
expressed to a board, a males voice was more favoured. Also, there were some

feelings of men feeling threatened of being guided by a woman.

Conclusion

According to Gupta (2010), despite the fact that women career prospects are in

fact equal to men in this day and age, hotels are still favouring men. Even though

there are equal hiring policies. The study implies that management does in fact

prefer men for higher managerial positions. According to Roberson (2011),

stereotyping on woman has positive and negative effects on the individual. A

positive affect would be that they are more likely to work harder and excel in

their chosen field, thus making them more productive than men. The negative

effects on women are the chances that she may not be able to break through this

glass ceiling despite working harder. In the future if more employees react to

these stereotypical threats, they can help to foster a new diverse and inclusive

environment at work and help woman excel based on their abilities and not their

gender (Breakwell, 1986).

Recommendations

According to Derby (2013), in order to tackle this stereotype and unconscious

bias about woman is to firstly tackle this ignorant unconscious cognitive thinking
that society prevails on woman taking on high positions. It is not possible to

change the way people, society and higher-ranking executives think. But there

are ways that hotels can help women break through the ‘glass ceiling’ effect, and

that is to establish “no tolerance policies” throughout the hotel against

discrimination of gender. Furthermore, when addressing these issues for future

misconceptions, group sessions in the workplace can help grow sensitivity

between colleagues and educate them and know each other personally. Once

individuals are placed together and are viewed individually; not based on gender

the stereotyping is more likely to diminish. (Lipscomb, 2014). While there were

sufficient academic journals to support and guide the authors research however

there was a lack of current research.

References

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of factors related to career development. International Journal of Hospitality

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Clayton, H., Odera, V., Emenheiser, D. and Reynolds, J. (1998).`The relationship of

job satisfaction and family life: female managers in health care foodservice,

Marriage & Family Review. Vol. (28) Nos ½., pp. 167-85.

Kamrany (2014). (The Global Problem of Gender Inequality.Available on

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nake-m-kamrany/gender-

inequality_b_1417535.html [Accessed on, 24 November 2014].

Mwando, M. (2014). Challenges being faced by women in ascending to decision

making positions in the hotel sector in Zimbabwe. IOSRJHSS, 19(7),, pp.131-136.

Madsen, A., McKagan, S. and Sayre, E. (2013). Gender gap on concept inventories

in physics: What is consistent, what is inconsistent, and what factors influence

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Welbourne, T. (2009). Women “Take Care,” Men “Take Charge”: Managers’

Stereotypic Perceptions of Women and Men Leaders.