Problems and difficulties of women working in tourism: Example of antalya

Today, the importance given to the development of human resources has increased with the effect of globalization. As a result, efforts of women with the aim of advancing to the management levels continue to increase. Generally, their efforts in work life are not awarded. This situation has caused women to concentrate only in lower levels or in occupations attributed as women's work. The fact that jobs that require technical knowledge and skills are attributed to men, and jobs that require patience and effort attributed to women cause gender discrimination in the tourism sector as in many other sectors. Tourism sector is a laborintensive service sector. It is a difficult and demanding field of work. In this sector, there is a strong need for female employees in some departments. Concentration of women only in these labor-intensive occupations is a result of gender discrimination. In addition, all these situations constitute the reasons for gender discrimination experienced in the tourism sector due to patriarchal culture. This study aims to examine the experiences of women working in accommodation services in the tourism sector at the stage of finding a job and throughout their work life. It is based on a qualitative research method and evaluations have been made in the context of feminist methodology. The feminist method is a woman-oriented research method. At the same time feminist methodology is a research method based on the "woman perspective". Interviews have been made with 12 female participants working in accommodation services in tourism sector in Antalya. As a result of in-depth interviews with semi-structured questions, the thoughts and opinions of the participants about the difficulties experienced by women working in accommodation services have been obtained. The results have been interpreted according to these data. In addition, the obtained findings have been evaluated and explained in the perspective of gender and women studies. According to the results, the effects of gender and patriarchal understanding in the tourism sector have been observed. In addition, it can be seen that all these have negative effects on the working life of women working in the sector. However, the tourism sector has no gender, and as it should be in every field in society, men and women should be equal in working life. With this social perception, women will have a greater voice in working life. Keywords: Woman, Tourism, Gender, Patriarchy