Challenges facing women working in hospitality industry: A case of Zanzibar

Despite an increase in women in a high percentage in the tourism and hospitality industries, Zanzibar society does not seem to agree that women should work or engage in the hospitality industry. Thus, female employees keep experiencing more barriers. This study investigates the challenges encountered by women working in the hospitality industry in the tourism sector of Zanzibar and aims to investigate and address those problems. The research adopted a qualitative methodological design. To answer the research questions, an interview guideline was developed, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with a sample of 20 female employees from various hotels in Zanzibar using purposive and snowball sampling. The data was analyzed using thematic analysis and presented through Acker's abductive theoretical framework. The findings of the study revealed that the majority of women employees face different challenges including sexual harassment, gender discrimination, wage determination, division of work, nature of the job itself and women, work-life balance, a male-dominated system, the image of women and stereotypes, difficulty in obtaining promotion opportunities for career advancement, religious and cultural beliefs, negative perceptions and attitudes from society, and dress code regulations. However, sexual harassment and gender discrimination emerged as the most prevalent challenges experienced by nearly all participants. The study recommended the government to ensure the implementation of human rights and address gender equality policies and strategies to reduce the challenges in Zanzibar.