Women in Tourism, Challenges of Including Women in the Maldivian Resort Sector

Abstract: In the Maldives tourism dominates the economy directly and indirectly with 70% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) making the country’s economy heavily dependent on this sector. This should (theoretically) also imply many job opportunities for the Maldivians; however only 3% of the tourism labour force is made up by Maldivian women as opposed to 51% which are Maldivian men. This low number of female workers confounded us so a qualitative study was undertaken in the Maldives during the second half of 2010 to find out reasons why. The purpose of this thesis was to explore the challenges for including Maldivian women in the resort sector, and it aims to show some initiatives taken by resorts to include women as either employees or entrepreneurs. Involved participants in the study were private sector, the government, UNDP Maldives, an NGO and Maldivian women from local communities. Based on our findings guided by theoretical approaches in the feminist political economy and cultural theory this thesis serves as an examination and analysis of the low female participation in the Resort industry. The findings showed that there is not only a sea between the resorts and the women on the local islands. Historical aspects, perceptions based on culture and religion, as well as woman’s role in society were factors that have a large impact on the limited participation of Maldivian women in the resort sector.