A Girls Guide To Dealing With Inequality In The Workplace
18th November 2022
The events and hospitality industry are mainly run by women – so why is there still clear gender inequality in 2022?
How Is It a Problem Today?
Gender inequality remains a big problem for women in the events industry. This is particularly true with issues such as the gender pay gap and the difficulties with progression for women in the industry. In 2020, the amount of women globally that held senior hospitality management positions was 29% . This shows how difficult it is for women to reach senior positions and break through the glass ceiling. Women are often prevented from this progression by invisible pressures such as having families, which can lead to them being mentally sorted by management into junior positions. This is usually because it is perceived that their job will not be a priority over starting and looking after a family. For every 100 men promoted in the workplace, only 86 women are, which shows how gender inequality still needs to be addressed in the industry.
How Has it Been Improved?
Throughout the events, tourism, and hospitality (T.H.E) industry some things have been changed to help improve how women are treated in business. 52% of companies in 2020 reduced their mean pay gap. This means that over half of hospitality companies have taken steps to ensure women are paid the same amount as their male colleagues. Women account for 79.5% of T.H.E workforce, however, this does not equivalate to the number of women in senior management. Further development of how women are paid and treated in a work environment should be taken for women to feel they are respected and receive the same opportunities as their colleagues.
Why Are These Improvements Not Enough?
These improvements are still not enough. The gender-pay gap issues and opportunities presented to women have improved, but it is still unsatisfactory. There has been significant improvement in female representation at the non-executive director level but that cannot be said for representation of women at the senior and executive-level. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation collaborated with organisations to produce statistics on gender-inequality in the industry, and the report found that in only 47 out of the 1,045 firms the CEO position was held by a women. This shows that women have come a long way in receiving the same opportunities as men in the industry, but it is still clear how far they are from achieving gender equality.
Overcoming the Issues:
Overcoming gender inequality in the workplace will take commitment by both companies and individuals. A large part of what companies can do to help is to recognise the existence of the barriers in place that stop women progressing and the pay differences they experience. Once it is acknowledged, conversations can begin within the organisation on how these issues can be managed. This could be though training around unconscious bias, reviewing the promotion and recruitment strategies in place and mentoring within the organisation to support women to reach their goals.
What Can Women Do Themselves to Deal with Workplace Inequality?
I really enjoyed reading your blog, it is such a current issue for students to consider especially when most are looking at graduate roles next year.
Have you considered ways in which women can increase their confidence in the workplace? Potentially methods or any tips?
Thank you for your thoughts! We think the best way to gain confidence in the workplace is by making sure you know your worth when asking for what you want, even in the face of rejection. This can help women feel more empowered and confident that they are deserving of equality in the workplace.
I am well aware that this is a huge issue however, both equal opportunity an equal outcome seem pretty improbable. I think maybe the word equal is part of the problem, while there are people that have traits of all genders it is clear that there are some fundamental differences that we will have to work with more importantly to acknowledge.
I also think a mens guide to inequality at the work place could also prove really relevant since we are all working toward the same goal.
Thank you for your response, this is a very important point as gender and equality are such wide reaching topics. A guide aimed towards men should definitely be considered in the future!
Very relevent information but unfortunately it will take time for change to happen and starts right from recruitment. Typically, campanies look for strong, confident leadership in Senior management positions, females that show these traits are considerd pushy or bossy whilst it is admired in males. Females need to be confident in applying for Senior positions, it would be great to give interview success tips.
Thank you for your reply! We agree with your comment and think it would be beneficial to learn about different interview tips – maybe this can be arranged soon !
I really enjoyed this blog, it looks into not only what inequalities women face but also how to help overcome them.
My question is, do you believe that it is only men who reinforce these traditional views that women are inferior to men in the workplace, or do women also reinforce them?
Thank you for your thoughts, after careful consideration we believe that as a society it is a problem in general and we should work all together to help minimise these issues as discussed within this blog.
Very insightful! Do you have any experiences of this in the workplace or in and educational setting?
Thank you for your response. As a group we have have all faced some inequality in the workplace and therefore felt that this was a very important issue to be discussed.
This is a great way to spread awareness about gender equality within the work place and really informative! As a female student it’s so important to be aware of my worth and my rights for when i’m looking into post graduate work next year. i will be sharing this with my fellow female students!
Thank you for your thoughts! We’re so glad you found our blog insightful and helpful when looking for post graduate work next year – good luck with this! Thank you for sharing.
Great blog on such an important and prevalent issue. This blog highlights well the factors contributing to the inequality and proposes good ways to create change. This is especially important as people of all ages work in hospitality and should have the same opportunities to progress as their peers 🙂
Thank you for your comment. We’re glad you found our blog helpful! It is important for people to learn more about important issues like this 🙂
This is such an important topic to be addressed and you’ve done it in an eloquent and factual way. I didn’t realise just how bad the gap is. There is definitely more that can be done to fix this!
Thank you for your comment, we’re glad you found our blog informative! There is definitely a long way to go and spreading awareness is just a step in the right direction !
Great post and great subject, it’s so important for this issue to be recognised by all and for steps to be taken to ensure equality in the workplace. I’m currently working in the tv industry, which is events heavy and all of my bosses are actually women. Some industries are showing great potential for the evolution of gender equality in the workplace but there is clearly a long way for to go in all industries including T.H.E, made evident by your statistics. It’s blogs like these that help spread awareness and hopefully contribute to a better future.
Thank you for your response ! It is great to hear that there are more women in managerial and CEO roles and how this has become more frequent recently but as you suggested there is still a long way to go! We hope blogs like this can create conversations and awareness to help women feel more empowered in the workplace!
A very insightful blog. Its about time women and men stood shoulder to shoulder in the workplsce with equal opportunities and pay.
Hi Lee, thank you for your response! We completely agree and hope that this blog brings awareness to issues in the workplace so these issues can be minimised!
I found this blog truly fascinating. It is important for women to finally become recognised in the workplace for their dedication and hard work to their careers. However I feel as well that more changes need to happen quicker as the progression of women in the workplace still has a long way to go.
Hi Amelia, Thank you for your thoughts on our blog. It is inspiring to see equality heading in the right direction however as you said, there is still a long way to go before that is reached. Hopefully blogs like this, raising awareness and sparking conversations about these topics can allow for change to start happening!
Such an important topic !! Very informative post thank you
We’re really glad you found it so helpful! We think it it such a current issue that needs to be discussed.
Great post! 💞 I hope it reaches lots of people! Men should be reading this too!
Thank you Issy! We agree, please feel free to share and spread the information!
Such an insightful blog about the reality of what women go through in the workplace, I really enjoyed reading it.
In the top tips, it says women should have the confidence to go for promotions and engage in reviews which is completely true but if all women did these, do you think it would completely abolish the pay gap or will there still be one but smaller?
Thank you Mel! We’re glad you found it useful! Our top tips aim to help women push through the glass ceiling and following these tips could certainly help to minimise the gap, but co-operation from the businesses themselves will also be necessary to completely close the gap. Commitment is needed from companies to ensure women are paid the same as their male counterparts.
There is definitely a long way to go, with lots of stereotypes, both conscious and unconscious acting as barriers. I love your use of statistics here, it really emphasises the extent to which this is a problem. I think a further thought should be, ‘what can men do as ally’s in the fight against workplace inequality?’ If men don’t understand or refuse to address the issue, progress can only go so far.
Thank you Molly! The current statistics really do show how much more progress is needed. We believe all genders should work together to help equality to be achieved – some of our top tips can also apply to men such as developing self-awareness of issues within their company. Having this knowledge that help them to be good allies to women in the fight for equal pay!
What a great post and such an insightful read! Such an important topic… more awareness needs to be made especially in a corporate environment. Great use of statistics and really helpful top tips.
Thank you Izzy, so glad you found the blog useful and the top tips helpful! We feel it’s a topic that needs to be discussed more in larger industries to help shrink the gender pay gap.
I love that this is such a huge and important topic, the blog is very insightful and an Interesting read.
It’s a subject that is on going and will continue to be discussed for years to come.
The statistics you have show the extent of the problem.
Thank you, we’re so glad you found it interesting, we feel its a topic that needs to be talked about event more. hopefully in a few years those statistics will be even lower in the pay difference.
This is an excellent blog on an extremely important topic that should be addressed more often. I believe many people are unaware of the extent of gender inequality in the workplace, and I think more should be done to raise awareness of this issue.
Thank you, we felt it was an important issue that needed to be discussed, more awareness should be made throughout the industry and hopefully this can help minimise the issues of the gender pay gap.
Great blogpost of such an important topic! I love your guidance on what women can do if they encounter gender inequality in the workplace. they are all very helpful, but the first one especially hits the nail on the head- know you’re worth!! Such an important message.
Thank you Petra, we completely agree that it is so important to know your worth in the workplace, we are so glad you found the blog informative and helpful!