Iranian Female Tour Guides’ Perceptions of Working in the Tourism Industry

Abstract: It is expected that tourism industry is one of the fields that can boost female employment and therefore, can help redress the balance and empower women in Iran. Equal opportunities in employment assist them for empowerment. Being a tour guide is one of these opportunities, although most jobs are created elsewhere, e.g. hotels and restaurants. But for this thesis, tour guides are important from two aspects: first, it is a challenging condition that you find out what you are capable of and second; it is not an extension of traditional domestic roles, and it is a new role for women in a male-dominated job market.This study aims to investigate how female tour guides perceive their roles in the tourism industry and the elements of these perceptions among their family, colleagues, and tourists who could serve empowering or disempowering.