The study will help in framing policy recommendations to achieve gender equity, or ‘fairness of treatment’ for employees of all genders and possibly enable India to rise a few notches in the Global Gender Gap Index.

WICCI National Hospitality & Tourism Council and Indian School of Hospitality (ISH) collaborate for a new research project that aims at evaluating and capturing the representation of women in the hospitality and tourism Industry of India.

The official commencement of the research study happened at the Le Meridien, New Delhi and was executed as a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the WICCI and ISH, with Rupinder Brar, Additional Director General, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India endorsing the need of the study and gracing the occasion. 

Speaking on the occasion, Kanika Hasrat, National President, WICCI Hospitality & Tourism Council said, “We are delighted to join hands with the Indian School of Hospitality to announce this meaningful initiative that will not only help us understand the current situation but will also help us identify challenges and come up with innovative solutions to bring about a transformation – whether it’s representation of women in our industry or charting a way forward to make the women workforce emerge stronger together.”

Agreeing with her statement, Anika Gupta, Honorary Advisor, WICCI Tourism & Hospitality National Council added, “It is a matter of immense pride for us to undertake this study together with ISH that endeavours to address the topic of representation of women in the industry and instil a sense of awareness within the space. The ultimate objective is to enhance considerably the participation of women within the industry.”  

Expressing his thoughts on the collaboration, Dilip Puri, CEO & Founder, Indian School of Hospitality commented, “As an institute built on the principles of equality and diversity, we are honoured to be working with WICCI. In many ways, this this project is a big step forward for research and development at ISH. We are constantly making a conscious effort to create an enabling environment for our community and with this initiative, we aim to bring about a change at the policy level and make the industry a more inclusive and progressive space for people, irrespective of their gender.”

The collaborative endeavour is to conduct research which will examine the representation of women through content and data analysis by implementing a qualitative and quantitative approach, followed by the publishing of a whitepaper. In the same light, the research will also include key factors that impact growth in the hospitality and tourism industry. 

ISH, the Chief Research Body for this project, will conduct a structured study which will delve deep into the role of women in the hospitality industry and the inequality that persists despite women constituting a significant percentage of the industry. The primary motivation and need for the research stems from a plethora of evidence which suggests that while women form well over 50 per cent of workforce globally in the industry, their pay is significantly less as compared to their male counterparts. 

Statistically, the Indian hospitality industry sees a larger distribution of men in senior positions even though a sizeable number of women enter the workforce. The research will aim at examining the antecedents of why there are so few women in leadership positions in the hospitality and tourism industry in India, through in-depth interviews of leaders and employees, both male and female. It will also find out the total representation of woman leaders in different segments of the industry, and address existing prejudices. 

ISH works closely with renowned researchers, academicians and leaders in order to create value for the education and industry ecosystem. Dr. Payal Kumar, a noted academician, writer and researcher will be leading this research project for ISH. Dr. Payal is the author of 9 books with international publishers such as Palgrave Macmillan and Emerald Publishers and is working on several others. She is also an editorial board member of several prestigious international journals and has served as the Vice President Editorial and Production for SAGE Publications Pvt Ltd. and the Editor-in-chief at The Princeton Review.  An alumna of universities like SOAS and XLRI, her major research areas include gender and leadership, entrepreneurship, diversity and inclusion. 

This study will lead to policy recommendations suggesting how to achieve gender equity, or ‘fairness of treatment’ for employees of all genders in terms of rights, benefits and opportunities, and possibly enable India to rise a few notches in the Global Gender Gap Index.