Tourism, Development and International Studies - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 418

relations is then bound to be primarily about men and masculinity (Tick-
ner, 1992). Consequently, women have largely been absent from the acc-
ounts of international relations and international history (Mansbach &
Rafferty, 2008). Feminist theory then views the world from the perspective
of the disadvantaged, while taking greater account of inequality, ecological
dangers and human rights in defining security than conventional or male
international relations, which has tended to focus on the military (Mans-
bach & Rafferty, 2008; Sylvester, 1994). While there are many differences
between the various theories in this chapter, some have common links,
such as the links between feminism and post-colonial theory (see Lewis &
Mills, 2003). Aitchison (2009) further differentiates between liberal femi-
nists, Marxist feminists, radical feminists, social feminists and post-
structural feminists. In the context of gender development, there have been
various phases shifting from 'women in development' (WID) to 'women
and development' (WID) to 'gender and development' (GAD) (Tucker &
Boonabaana, 2012).
In tourism, feminist studies have examined a range of issues including
employment, sex inequality, sex tourism and gender-power relations in tour-
ism (Aitchison, 2009; see Chapter 7). Numerous studies in tourism reflect
that the relative benefits of the tourism development process are often con-
trolled by a local elite and these groups usually comprise men (Tucker &
Boonabaana, 2012). The third UN Millennium Development Goal is to
promote gender equity and equality and empower women. Tucker and
Boonabaana (2012) argue in a study on tourism that there is a need to move
beyond instrumentalist approaches which are Eurocentric in approach to one
that moves beyond simplistic notions of female empowerment, particularly
in non-Western settings, to consider cultural complexity and shifting dynam-
ics of how gender roles, norms and inequalities affect and are affected by
development and the poverty reduction outcomes. Numerous development
agencies and NGOs have programmes specifically targeting women and girls.
'Plan' is one of the oldest and largest development agencies and focuses on
improving the lives of children. One of their current campaigns is 'Because I
am a Girl' (Plan Canada, 2013). Linked to this campaign is a programme to
stop child sex tourism. Their website states '[in] Colombia, where extreme
poverty and tourism combine to make this country the sex tourism capital
of the Americas, our programs are educating and empowering girls who are
at risk to challenge local attitudes and call on officials to enforce the law and
protect young people' (Plan Canada, 2014). World Vision is another NGO
that has a programme aimed at ending child trafficking. Understanding
places of conflict from a feminist perspective is another example of the role
of international studies in studying tourism. Dowler (2013) utilised feminist
geopolitical analysis in the context of West Belfast in Northern Ireland in
understanding the 'politics of hospitality' as a way to reframe an understand-
ing of security.