Tourism and Gender Inequality in GB
Pakistan’s tourism industry is growing fast and contributing significantly to the country’s economy. The country was considered the “Best-performing destination” in terms of tourism in 2023 according to the ‘World Tourism Barometer’ published by the World Tourism Organization of the United Nations.
According to the World Bank, the tourism sector contributed to the country’s GDP by 5.9 percent in 2022 creating 4.2 million job opportunities. Whereas, in 2023 an estimated 975 million tourists travelled internationally between January and September.
Gilgit Baltistan is known as the capital of tourism in Pakistan due to its landscape which covers lakes, valleys, mountains, glaciers, and historical sites. The region has experienced rapid growth in revenue collection for the last couple of years due to a huge inflow of tourists. In the rest of the world, both men and women benefit from tourism, especially in hoteling, cooking, serving, tour guides, and vice versa. However, in Pakistan, there is a lack of female representation in the tourism industry. Based on cultural, religious, and social restrictions, women are not encouraged to participate particularly in this industry. In Gilgit Baltistan, women are confined to their homes due to the conservative attitudes and traditional values that discourage women from working in public spaces along with men. Moreover, the increasing risks of gender-based violence in working places especially in the tourism industry make it a less attractive field for women.
There is a significant wage disparity between men and women in the tourism industry. Women face several challenges, particularly in the northern areas of Pakistan.
Men predominantly benefit more from the opportunities as they have more resources, networks, social accessibility, familiarity with automobiles, etc. On the other hand, women are mostly offered low-skilled and poorly paid jobs, they are constrained to housekeeping and customer services. According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), only 25% of women occupy formal tourism jobs and are seldom seen in managerial positions. In Gilgit Baltistan, women mostly do unpaid work in the family businesses, and they have limited opportunities in the tourism industry, except in Hunza where women-owned tourism businesses are making huge profits. Another barrier women face is low representation in decision-making roles. This lack of representation hampers the creation of inclusive policies and practices that could support and protect female workers.
Apart from this, Gender-based violence is a significant concern behind the lack of women’s participation in workplaces. According to the data revealed by the National Commission of Human Rights (NCHR), more than 63000 cases of gender-based violence (GBV) have been reported in Pakistan for the last three years. More than 80% of these cases were related to domestic violence, while some 47% of domestic rape where married women experienced sexual abuse. The literacy rate in Gilgit Baltistan is higher as compared to other provinces of Pakistan, but unfortunately, gender-based violence is widespread across the region. In 2020, around 300 students gathered outside the office of vice-chancellor Karakoram International University Gilgit against a girl harassment case by an employee of the scholarship affair. In June 2021, a newly married Adiba was murdered by her father-in-law in Shimshal Valley Hunza, and her body was thrown on the bank of the Shimshal River. Later, the murderers were released on bail by the local police. According to Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission report 90% of women in Gilgit Baltistan face violence and the female suicide ratio in district Ghizer is the highest among all districts in Pakistan. In the tourism industry, there is a higher risk of violence for women, especially in Gilgit Baltistan. In 2022, a female tour guide was harassed by tourists in Hunza which highlights the ongoing insecurity faced by women within the industry in GB.
Senator Shery Rehman put very staggering statistics to dawn which stated that 90% of women face some form of domestic violence in their lifetime, 50% do not report, and only 0.4% of them knock on the doors of courts. She further said, “Violence against women is a display of ‘power’ and called such cases a ‘hidden pandemic’ and ‘statistic of shame’. Our society is layered with patriarchy, and it subjugates women through a series of institutional, social, and cultural norms that allow and normalize violence against women”. Shazia Marri a Pakistani politician in an interview with Dawn said, ‘Be a man’ and similar phrases prevalent in society are an attempt to tarnish women, and any society that excludes women is restricting its economy as well as social growth.
Articles 26 & 27 of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan provide equal access to public places for women and employment equality in the public and private sectors. The women in Gilgit Baltistan have the potential to generate revenue in all industries including tourism. Yet, their family heads need to sideline the cultural barriers and support and encourage their initiatives.
Therefore, law enforcement agencies must revisit the domestic violence law to ensure its implementation on the ground level and take strict actions against people who are involved in domestic violence and harassment cases. The family heads must encourage women in decision-making roles to get them trained to participate in economic opportunities. The Gilgit Baltistan tourism department should arrange workshops and training sessions on women’s tourism entrepreneurship and sustainable development and provide opportunities for talented women. GB, ‘s tourist police should assign duties to raid hotels and guest houses that are involved in sex tourism. A highly trained lady tourist police team should be recruited to provide specialized assistance and safety measures to those women entrepreneurs in the tourism industry. Anti-harassment facilitation centers should be established to provide rapid action on harassment complaints. These initiatives will not only enhance safety measures within the industry but also encourage other women who are confined to their homes due to harassment risks, to participate more actively.
Ijlal Haider is an MPhil scholar at the National Institute of Pakistan Studies (NIPS), Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad. He can be reached at ijlalhaider@nips.qau.edu.pk
