IWD2023: The larger industry players have a vital role in creating access and building capacity of women - Jetwing Hotels Chairperson
“The larger industry players have a vital role in creating access and building capacity of women outside the industry to provide entry into the industry, as well as those within the industry to develop their skills and opportunities.”
With their unique and innovative women empowerment and inclusive recruiting programme Second Careers, Jetwing Hotels won the "Women Empowerment Project" category at PATA Gold Awards 2022.
Jetwing Hotels launched the winning concept in 2021 to provide an opportunity for women aged 45 and up from economically challenged backgrounds to enter the workforce. Thus far, the project has shown to be a sustainable solution to the challenges of attracting female talent to the tourist profession, while also empowering local women in need socially and economically through capacity building for better access to skilled positions in hospitality.
Hear from Shiromal Cooray on how a private organisation can bring great changes to women in the community.
1. What comes to your mind when you hear the term ‘social innovation’ and how does it relate to gender equity?
Achieving gender equity is a challenge due to the various conventional social and gender norms. Tackling these crippling norms and ideologies which hinder women and other minority groups from becoming economically and politically active through the conventional strategies may be challenging or even unsuccessful. Social innovations are a great way of trialing solutions to address such conventions. These new approaches are essential to drive and inspire social change, within the industry and beyond, as the private sector is an influential stakeholder in social development.
The barriers which affect each gender group may be different, and the solutions to overcome these challenges are equally diverse. Therefore, there is much scope to introducing innovative solutions to address gender inequalities which limits a person's participation and accessibility to opportunities.
2. Can you briefly introduce Jetwing Hotel’s women empowerment and inclusive recruitment project Second Careers, which won PATA Gold Award 2022?
Second Careers for middle-aged women initiated at Jetwing Yala. (Jetwing Hotels)
We are thrilled at the recognition the Second Careers programme received for its impact on lives of the beneficiaries and communities. The programme was implemented as a solution to addressing one of the key deterrents in female participation within hospitality - childcare responsibilities, in which women conventionally play a major role and one of the challenges that curtails women from joining and continuing tourism. This results in the industry and economy losing a considerable amount of talent as they have little support to pursue a career once these responsibilities are completed due to their age.
Second Careers is an innovative solution to attract this pool of talent, as we create opportunities for women between ages 40 – 55 to engage in entry level jobs in the Kitchen and Housekeeping departments, through structured onboarding to a professional working environment, and capacity building to finetune their existing skills in cooking and housekeeping. This programme is conducted in various locations, extending opportunities for local women keen on being gainfully employed in hospitality. Through the opportunities provided, many women have been empowered both financially and socially, as they earn a steady income and find a purpose beyond their households, broadening exposure and social circles.
3. How has the Second Careers project since changed the livelihoods of women in the tourism industry?
The local women who joined our hotels are benefitting through a steady monthly income, while also being exposed to the realities of a challenging yet promising, global industry. They have secured the opportunity to become career women, broadening their horizons, dealing with various personalities making them more socially aware. The impact of the programme goes far beyond its economic gains, as they fulfill themselves through experience and exposure, managing their professional career and families, and empowering their families. They also play a key role in becoming opinion leaders in their local communities, dispelling misconceptions of the industry through their success.
4. How can companies in the industry develop social innovative initiatives for local communities like Jetwing did?
It is our belief at Jetwing that tourism cannot exist in isolation, but with harmonious relationships with our environs and local communities. The conversion of this ethos to action through our sustainability strategy have integrated the local communities into the business as valuable stakeholders. Our relationships are strengthened through our willingness to deviate from the usual approach to address social barriers, which affect these communities as well as our business through identifying potential to offer bridging solutions through various creative, and sustainable approaches to create lasting impact. Through the Second Careers programme, we have been successful in tackling conventional norms through out-of-the-box solutions, inspiring change of perspective for other industry players, to adopt strategies to bridge the gender gap.
In essence, strong relationships with the community makes us more aware of the problems and barriers they are faced with. Understanding these ground realities are essential in addressing these various social issues and developing solutions to skillfully tackle them. It is also important to be open-minded and creative, and the willingness to take possibly an untrodden path to trial out these out-of-the-box solutions. These efforts need not be done single-handedly. The potential for corporation and partnership is immense, with the public, private and development sectors, as well as community-led organisations.
5. How can women in the travel industry find the resources and/or support they need to be empowered?
The larger industry players have a vital role in creating access and building capacity of women outside the industry to provide entry into the industry, as well as those within the industry to develop their skills and opportunities. The regional and national level industry organisations play a major role in being resource hubs for industry professionals including women, offering opportunities for capacity development, mentorship, grants and opportunities for exposure, provided by industry bodies, public and development sector.
One may also find inspiration by just looking around and reaching out. There are plenty of professionals who may qualify to be role models as well as young budding influencers for inspiration who may be able to share their experiences and resources that they may have benefitted from.
