Gender, flexibility and the ‘ideal tourism worker’

Abstract

This article reports part of the results of a wider research project on gender issues in the tourism sector that was conducted in Portugal over a six-year period, in two phases. The findings presented in this article refer to the second phase, which involved top tourism managers. A questionnaire was used to unveil managerial perspectives and patterns regarding gender in tourism labour, and focus groups were conducted to gather more in-depth and complex information through participants' conflicting opinions and knowledge co-creation between participants and researchers. The study shows how recruitment practices in tourism are influenced by gender roles, through a feminist analysis of 'ideal tourism worker' discourse. While there is an overall impression that attaining 'ideal worker' status all has to do with the attitude, availability, professionalism and the willingness to accomplish, this study uncovers the ways in which social reproductive gender roles influence female workers' ability to adhere to current 'ideal tourism worker' models. Women are considered to be less flexible than men are, mainly because of the stereotyped connection between femininity and prioritisation of social reproduction.