Tourism and Socio-cultural Development Issues - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 224

force. Ninety-three percent of market traders in Accra, Ghana, 87% of market
traders in Lagos, Nigeria, and 77% of market traders in Haiti are women
(Momsen, 1991). Momsen observed two types of retail workers in the Cari-
bbean: young male beach vendors who sell jewellery or suntan oil for a few
years, hoping to meet young female tourists, and older women who braid
hair or sell home-made clothing because of the flexibility of work hours. This
flexibility facilitates childcare (Momsen, 1991). Momsen also noted that
many Caribbean women prefer working as a vendor rather than running a
guesthouse due to the caring image of women in retail businesses (Momsen,
1994). Similarly, Samoans consider women to be better at hospitality jobs
than men, and the seasonal nature of jobs in tourism suit women's need to
look after domestic chores (Fairbairn-Dunlop, 1994).
As an example of successful empowerment, the West Samoan Women's
Advisory Committee began with one woman who started a small-scale hotel
business. Her hotel now incorporates historical tours, village tours, business-
skills workshops, and is even expanding into ecotourism and conservation
workshops. The committee helps workers to develop modern handicrafts for
tourists and provides necessary workshops for the women who are the pro-
ducers. The development of this hotel complex features deliberate educa-
tional input at each step and the small size of the business enables it to
respond to changes (Fairbairn-Dunlop, 1994).
As another example, Indonesia has been operating a national pro-
gramme primarily funded by UNDP, which has been called P2WIK since
1981. Under this programme, local women are supported in becoming inde-
pendent batik (traditional wax-dye textile) producers. Even though women
enjoy equal rights and the same levels of respect as men in the household,
and though many families rely on a wife's income on the island of Java,
Indonesia, women do not always enjoy equality of opportunity (Overholt,
1991). Batik production has traditionally been seen as a woman's job; ensur-
ing that opportunities for women to produce and distribute their finished
products exist means that not only do a few households benefit, but the
entire village that participates in this P2WIK project benefits as well. The
finished batik products are sold not only to wholesalers, but also to tourists
(Overholt, 1991).
The empowerment of women through tourism is not only happening in
developing nations. Hashimoto and Telfer (2011, 2013) found that the situ-
ations of female farmers in rural areas in Japan are not very different from
that of women in developing countries. In the depopulating and declining
rural agricultural areas or fishing villages in Japan, with government sup-
port to develop green tourism (agriculture based tourism) and blue tourism
(fishing based tourism) to rejuvenate these areas, women play prominent
roles. By supplying food products or traditional arts-and-crafts as souvenirs
women play a significant role in the preservation of traditions and the intro-
duction of innovations (Hashimoto & Telfer, 2013). By running farm stay