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characteristics laid down by their society are often
ridiculed and seen as unnatural �WGSG 1997).
For feminists, one of the most important points
to make regarding the social construction of what it
means to be male and female in a particular society
is that most often the masculine and feminine
characteristics attributed by society are defined in
relation to one another. Boys are expected to be
boisterous, girls compliant; men are expected to
lead, women to follow. This oppositional relation is
particularly important because each side of the pair
is not equally valued. Most often, masculine
attributes are valued more than feminine ones:
Thus, it is not just the case that males and
females are gendered differently; rather they are
gendered differently and as a result valued
differently. The social construction of the two
genders relate in a way that works to the general
advantage of men and to the general disadvantage
of women.
�WGSG 1997: 52±3)
Why does gender matter to tourism? As a
leisured goal and the industry that supports it,
tourism interacts with global and local constructs
and conditions of gender relations. Tourism is a
major component of the world political economy,
affecting massive migration over national
boundaries. Gender is a primary factor in the
industry in terms of employment, consumption
patterns and cultural representations of place.
Gender, within the context of tourism, can thus
be seen as a system of culturally constructed
identities, expressed in ideologies of masculinity
and femininity, interacting with socially structured
relationships in divisions of labour and leisure,
sexuality and power between women and men.
Recent articles on gender and tourism studies
�Swain 1995; Kinnaird and Hall 1996) attest that
while feminism is not often named, it does
indeed sometimes inform tourism inquiry. In this
literature we find ideas behind feminist theorising
about sex, gender and sexual difference as sites of
distinct identities and hierarchies. The gendering of
tourism's attractions, commodities and work is an
issue of great importance which raises many
questions, including cultural relativity, hierarchy,
subjectivity, aesthetics and human rights. Issues of
positionality and representation in ideas about sex
gender 247
and gender are also important insights from
feminism for tourism inquiry.
The literature pertaining to gender within
tourism inquiry is relatively recent. However, one
can begin to identify the ways in which researchers
have and are working with the concept of gender.
First, issues surrounding gender as a concept are
about women. One good example of this genre is
the focus on `work'. There have been a number of
case studies presented �see for example in Kinnaird
and Hall 1994; Swain 1995; Sinclair 1997) which
outline the ways in which women are working
within various facets of the industry. All of these
studies are location specific and attempt to highlight
the efforts of women in contributing their
labour to meet the objectives of the local, national
and international tourism businesses. Time
and time again, the hierarchical and unequal
nature of tourism-related work is highlighted.
Men tend to dominate those occupations at the
top of the hierarchy, while the labour of women is
often classified as semi-skilled or unskilled. Second,
tourism is seen by many, particularly in areas
developing or changing their tourism industry, to
have profound implications on gender roles and
relations. The work of men and women and their
respective positions in society may change. Examples
can be found in Swain's �1993) work in
Mexico and China, Kousis's �1989) work in
Greece, or Cukier et al.'s �1996) work in Bali,
where the roles and responsibilities of women may
be changed or be re-emphasised as part of the
processes of tourism development. Third, the
representation of a place through tourism strategies
can be analysed from a gendered perspective.
Brochures can evoke a gendering of representation
and the tourism product can itself be a
representation of either feminine or masculine
�dominant) ideology �see for example Edensor and
Kothari �1994) on the masculinisation of Stirling's
heritage). Finally, feminist ideas about the body and
self are emerging in the tourism literature. Soile
Veijola and Eeva Jokinin's `The body in tourism'
�1994) moves in the direction of `sexing the tourist'.
They review prominent tourism theorists, exposing
the exclusively masculine nature of `the tourist's
body' and experiences in these constructs: there is
no gender here, just men. They also offer a
discussion of the relationship between the tourist