Blogs
The theme for International Women's Day this year is: #BreakTheBias. With this in mind, let's explore what recent research has revealed about gender equality across the hospitality industry.
So, how far away from gender equality are we?
According to The World Economic Forum’s ‘Global Gender Gap Report 2021’, another generation of women will have to wait for gender parity. As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be felt, closing the global gender gap has increased 135.6 years. (In its 2018 report, this was reported at 108).
When it comes to the hospitality, travel and leisure sectors, WiHTL, an independent cross-industry body supported by firms including PwC and The MBS Group, look specifically at gender diversity across these industries.
In its latest report, released in February, its Founder, WiHTL concluded that “There is still much to do to ensure parity of gender representation and opportunities in the workplace, however every step forward can contribute to making a significant difference to pay equality and the broader diversity and inclusion agenda.”
The year 2020/2021 was the fourth year of mandatory gender pay gap reporting however, within the hospitality industry, only 60% of companies disclosed this information. Comparing this to 80% across all other industries, indicates that it is likely due to the effects of the pandemic across the hospitality, travel and leisure sectors.
The report revealed that the pay gap has increased for the first time in 3 years from 5.4% to 7.7%. It did however also show that amongst the 25% of highest paid positions within hospitality, travel and leisure, 58% are held by men. Among the lowest paid 25% of positions, 54% are held by women. So, there is still plenty of work to be done.
