The Women Making Tourism Powerful

Celebrate International Women’s Day by supporting women around the globe through unique tourism experiences that benefit women’s empowerment and travel with female-led groups. International Women’s Day is honored annually on March 8th to celebrate the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women and serves as a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

Globally, women face many disadvantages simply because of their sex such as: obtaining an education, surviving violence, the gender wage gap, and much more. Females account for two-thirds of the world’s illiterate people with 16 million girls between the ages of 6 and 11 never receiving any education. One-third of all women have faced gender violence. Globally, there are 120 million girls under the age of 20 that have been raped or sexually assaulted.

Empowering local women in the communities you visit is easier than ever thanks to these entrepreneurs who are paving the way to make tourism more impactful all while directly benefiting marginalized women.

 

Impact Travel Alliance

As the world’s largest global community of travelers and professionals in sustainable tourism, Impact Travel Alliance (ITA) is dedicated to empowering those that empower women. The independent 501(c)3 nonprofit operates 30 local chapters in cities around the world with members who are dedicated to doing good as they travel and advocating for responsible tourism in order to transform the $7.6 trillion dollar industry into one that makes a positive long-term impact on the planet and people. To celebrate International Women’s Day, ITA is hosting free feminist travel events on March 8th to support gender equality in the tourism industry in New York City, Washington, D.C., Hong Kong, and Kathmandu, Nepal.

“Empowering women is one of the single easiest things that we can do to improve our world – it has a ripple effect with positive impact across all areas of a community,” says ITA founder and intrepid traveler Kelley Louise. “By supporting women when we travel, we have an opportunity to have a better, more immersive experience, as well as play a small part in helping to have a positive, long-term impact on that destination.”

Louise is a firm believer that the tourism industry support at-risk women around the globe by investing in them. ”Give them opportunities to amplify their voices, and help to create opportunities that they have ownership over. Be deliberate and intentional about inclusion and diversity in every action of every business plan,” she says. To keep up the momentum of feminist travel year-round she suggests support female-founded companies and female artisans.

Some of Louise’s favorite women’s empowerment charities include Humanity Unified, which works to build long-lasting, sustainable solutions for entire communities by investing in women. She also recommends Community Homestay Network, a Planeterra project originally launched as the CSR arm of Royal Mountain Travel. “CHN is one of my personal favorite examples of how the travel industry can empower a group of women, and in turn, have a lasting and positive impact on an entire community,” says Louise. She also supports Kiva, a micro-loan platform that allows you to give loans to female entrepreneurs for as little as $25.

Ixoq Ajkeem

On the remote shores of Lake Atitlán in Guatemala is the Mayan village of San Juan. Since 2003 the local tourism cooperative, Rupalaj Kistalin, has been creating community-based experiences so that villagers can showcase their unique way of life to curious travelers. The cooperative supports seven different projects including rotating homestays with 26 indigenous Mayan families. Many of the initiatives support women including an art gallery and a medicinal herb farm.

Ixoq Ajkeem is a weaving women’s cooperative that’s a part of the Rupalaj Kistalin project. Travelers can visit the showroom for a hands-on demonstration of the completely all-natural yarn-making and dying process. Forty female artisans use tools of nature to make phenomenal colors from seeds, bark, leaves, fruits, and even insects. The women benefit directly from their craft, which is a rarity in the male-dominated economy in Guatemala. In addition to fair wages, weavers take home 85% of the sale of each product they’ve created. The woven goods in the shop are labeled with tags that state who made the piece—an incredibly personal touch that makes a powerful difference. Economic independence allows them to support their family while honing in on their skills. For hand-crafted and sustainably produced items, the prices are reasonable for travelers as well; ponchos sell for around $30.

Click to book your stay near Lake Atitlán

 

Purposeful Nomad

Feminist travel organization Purposeful Nomad builds immersive travel itineraries in unique destinations around the world that focus on the empowerment of women. The female-owned company takes small-groups of women on active and ethical experiences to far off destinations such as Tanzania, India, Ecuador, and beyond. The tours go behind the tourist facade to enter the inner workings of communities to cultivate cross-cultural connection. Purposeful Nomad adventures center around empowering women through responsible community engagement.

Ock Pop Tok Living Crafts Centre

Ock Pop Tok is a fair trade social enterprise in Luang Prabang, Laos that employs 150+ women in six remote villages. Ock Pop Tok was created by two creative female powerhouses, Veo Liu, a local master weaver, and Jo, a photographer, in 2000. They’re committed to the fair employment of craftswomen and create economic opportunities for ethnic tribal women through the creation of 100% handmade local textiles using natural materials. Each woman benefits from paid leave, profit sharing, and health insurance. Fifty percent of all revenue from the Ock Pop Tok specialty boutiques goes directly back to the villages.

Tourist can partake in a variety of hands-on craft workshops such as the half-day natural dyeing class, which is held at the Living Crafts Centre overlooking the Mekong River. This is also the home to the on-site production facility where skilled craftswomen create unique woven masterpieces. Ock Pop Tok provides machinery and raw materials so that the women can work in a safe and fair environment. You’ll work alongside the women to create a one-of-a-kind souvenir with techniques that date back to the year 800.

 

Click to book your stay in Luang Prabang, Laos

 

The Heart of Travel

Heart of Travel is a female-owned and operated tour company that not only supports female travelers and female tourism entrepreneurs but also collaborates with local charities every step of the way to give back to the local communities they visit on their tours around Latin America. All Heart of Travel trips includes at least one visit to a community-based organization.

Heart of Travel is based in La Antigua, Guatemala and was at the front lines of providing grassroots aid after the devastating Fuego volcanic explosion in June 2018. Their fundraising efforts have supported relief for natural disaster victims from earthquakes in Mexico, Hurricane Harvey, flood relief in Peru. They also support educational projects at an elementary school in Ecuador and support the Cala Flor Scholarship Fund.

Co-Founders Ana Castillo and Chelsea Glass believe that it’s incredibly important to support marginalized women as we travel. “It’s important to support women for the wellbeing of each individual woman and also because studies show that as women have more access to education, employment opportunities and healthcare services it has a positive impact on their communities at large in regards to safety, health, and the economy.”

They explain how tourists can support women as they globetrot. “We can have a positive impact in the lives of women by actively seeking out female-led businesses, cooperatives, and organizations and supporting them through fair and ethical patronage and employment opportunities. We can also participate in activities, classes, and workshops that increase our education.”

Some of their favorite women’s empowerment organizations in Latin America include Fundación En Vía, which provides micro-financing opportunities to women in Oaxaca, México and is funded by sustainable tourism experiences. They also recommend La Casa de Las Nubes, a community-driven project that brings educational and skill-based workshops to the youth and adults in the unregistered zone of Guanajuato, Mexico. In Antigua, they support WINGS Guatemala, an NGO that provides sexual education and healthcare services to women in the area and fights for reproductive rights.

Sambhali Trust

The UN-recognized NGO Sambhali Trust in Jodhpur, India has been creating economic opportunities and educational programs for disadvantaged Indian women and girls in Rajasthan for over a decade. Over 10,000 women and girls have benefitted from vocational training in sewing, clothing manufacturing, embroidery, and block printing through the grassroots program.

Tourists can visit Sambhali Trust to learn about traditional artisan crafts directly from the beneficiaries and have a chance to shop the ethically made clothing and small goods at the Sambhali Trust Boutique that funds the charity.