Hong Kong holds forum on empowering women

A White Paper entitled 'Women in Tourism and Hospitality: Unlocking the Potential in the Talent Pool' was unveiled at the Women in Tourism and Hospitality Forum held in Hong Kong on March 5.

The White Paper was produced by the Hospitality Industry Pipeline (HIP) Coalition to explore the challenges of talent shortages in the tourism and hospitality sector.

Sam Fischer, president of Diageo Greater China and Asia, said, the HIP Coalition and White Paper have the common aim to raise people's awareness of the talent shortage in tourism and hospitality sector, further guiding the sector to address those issues. Two thirds of the global hospitality industry workforce is comprised of women. Although 73 million jobs will be created in the industry by 2022, women in the tourism and hospitality sector, according to the UN World Tourism Organisation, are underpaid, under-utilized, under-educated and under-represented.

At Diageo, employees have shared value by building communities where people particularly women can use their capabilities and skills to build a better future for themselves. The HIP Coalition is an integral part of Diageo's programme 'Plan W: Empowering Women through Learning'. Diageo, through the Plan W, will empower two million women by 2017, providing them with opportunities to learn and develop skills, thereby making contributions to the social economy.

HIP Coalition was founded in 2014 with an aim to find, share and promote the best practices in recruitment, employment and diversity and inclusion. Led by Diageo, HIP Coalition has other members such as Accor Group, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, Sala Ba？ Hotel & Restaurant School and CARE International. The Coalition has doctor Tom Baum from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and doctor Catherine Cheung from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University as its research partners.

Tom Baum said, tourism plays an important role in international commerce. It represents one of the main income sources for many developing countries. A healthy talent recruitment channel needs to be established to guarantee the sustained development of the tourism industry.

From a global perspective, women in hospitality account for 70 percent of total workforce, over 70 percent of all work in the informal hospitality sector is done by women, women hold less than 40 percent of managerial and supervisory positions in the international hospitality industry, less than 20 percent of general management positions are held by women, women account for less than 20 percent of hospitality businesses owners in the world, 10 percent of hotel owners in the world are women, and women only make up 5 percent to 8 percent of corporate board members of publically-quoted hospitality businesses.

These statistics show that women are still under-represented in senior positions and general management roles even though women account for the majority of the hospitality industry's workforce. Many multinational companies and institutions have come up with plans to promote women in large numbers into leadership positions.

White Paper suggests that enterprises, government organizations and coalition members should join hands to realize the potential of women in the workplace and to promote gender equality in the tourism and hospitality industry. The suggestions are based on the business proposition for gender equality with an aim to deal with the issues from a fresh and strategic perspective.