Women Employment in Tourism Businesses: A Case Study of Eldoret Town, Kenya

Abstract

The tourism industry besides being a leading foreign exchange earner in Kenya is also a source of employment for citizens. Moreover, it has been heralded as an industry that creates diverse employment opportunities for women. In spite of this gender consideration, tourism studies in Kenya have not yet been placed centrally within such a debate. This study adopted a survey research design and used the case study of Eldoret town to investigate the employment of women in tourism businesses. Specifically, the study investigated the extent to which women were employed in tourism businesses. Both primary and secondary data were collected. Primary data were collected through questionnaires and interviews while secondary data was collected from a review of both published and unpublished literature such as books, journals, magazines and the internet. The target population included all employees working in tourism and hospitality enterprises, who were sampled through simple random sampling to get a sample size
of 150 respondents. To enhance the reliability of the questionnaire, a pilot study was undertaken. The questionnaires were edited in the light of the results of the pilot study. The data was organized, tabulated and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Basic tallies and percentages were done, and significant differences between the tallies were assessed using Chi-Square Goodness-of-Fit test. All statistical tests were done at an alpha of 5%. Finally, results were presented using percentages, frequencies, means and tables. The findings reveal that women are concentrated in the lowest paid and lowest skilled sectors of the tourism industry. In addition, the study established that lack of female-work friendly practices, empowerment, involvement in the governance of tourism resources, policy, skills, family commitments, and cultural beliefs, nature of work, gender discrimination and inequality in sharing tourism benefits are the main challenges facing women employees in the tourism industry. The study recommends that tackling these gender based obstacles will enable women in Kenya to make a fuller contribution to the economy and improve their families’ livelihoods.