Gender issues in Tourism industry: A case of tourist hotels and curio shops in Tanzania

While the importance of tourism industry on enhancing socio economic development of the local community is widely recognized in Tanzania. There is scant information on gender issues that exists in the tourism industry. This paper addresses the nature and character of gender issues in tourism industry in Tanzania. The study adopted mixed methods approaches where both qualitative and quantitative data were collected. Data were analyzed using SPSS computer program, descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated to describe gender issues in tourism industry. The study found that women faces gender discrimination in work places but had low level of knowledge about gender issues. Economic factors was found to be a major cause for gender issues in tourism industry. Furthermore, the study found that women fear to expose gender issues due to different reasons such as to loose their jobs when exposing their male bosses and stigma from fellow colleagues and ignorance. The study recommends the employers of tourist industry to develop and strengthen workers knowledge to address gender issues in their respective work places. Moreover, the government and NGOs should design gender sensitive monitoring and evaluation tools for tracking gender issues in the tourism industry.