The Third Shift? Gender and Empowerment in a Women’s Ecotourism Cooperative

Abstract

Ecotourism is lauded as a path toward sustainable development and women’s empowerment in rural areas around the world, but little is known about how gendered expectations shape its processes and outcomes. This paper employs an in‐depth qualitative case study of a female‐only ecotourism cooperative in rural Mexico to investigate how local gender dynamics influence women’s opportunities to benefit from ecotourism development. Findings show that women’s family and work commitments prevent their ability to devote the resources and energy necessary to make the cooperative successful. In this context, women are first expected to be wives and mothers, and to fulfill the substantial daily expectations associated with those roles. In addition, most women work outside the home. This leaves little time or energy for a “third shift” as ecotourism entrepreneurs running their own cooperative. Women put their own interests and goals on the back burner, because of the demands of the first two shifts. If ecotourism is to empower women, localized gender structures must be understood and addressed. Overlooking these challenges can mean that ecotourism projects, even those specifically aimed at empowering women, may only further burden women and reinforce gender models that perpetuate inequality.

Exploring Future Research Agenda for Rural Mother’s Empowerment: A Study at the Intersection of Bibliometric and Systematic Literature Review

“…A study has shown that maternal employment does not need to be consistently helpful for the children’s nutritional factors (Debela et al, 2021). Further, the literature has identified that women’s entrepreneurial aspirations are affected by the prevailing gender dynamics in society (Morgan & Winkler, 2020). However, it is also found that cash transfers without income-generating efforts save childcare time (Tonguet-Papucci et al, 2015).…”

O que sabemos sobre a relação das mulheres com o turismo de aventura e ecoturismo?

“…Apesar dos benefícios citados, também há a constatação de impactos negativos como a exploração das trabalhadoras e a problemática da divisão do trabalho. O que ocorre é que as mulheres acabam por acumular funções, pois seguem com a responsabilidade dos trabalhos domésticos e familiares, considerados invisíveis (Gentry, 2007;Díaz-Carrión, 2014;Morgan & Winkler, 2020;Fezeka & Stella, 2020).…”

“…Entre eles, está o sentimento de autoconfiança, bem-estar e empoderamento feminino. Entretanto, também é observado, nos artigos, que ainda existem barreiras culturais, sociais e econômicas a serem vencidas pelas mulheres nesse segmento (Doran, Schofield, & Low, 2018;Morgan & Winkler, 2020). Nesse sentido, encontram-se também sugestões para que se façam mais estudos sobre a participação das mulheres no segmento de aventura, a fim de que se possa compreender melhor a dinâmica dessa participação, bem como, consiga-se identificar o papel de redes que fornecem apoio à construção de experiências não normativas para mulheres no turismo de aventura.…”

Turismo rural comunitario en destinos de rutas turísticas

“…2015; Guo y Jordan, 2021), incrementar la carga laboral de la mujer y consolidar una división sexual del trabajo que la precariza (e.g Schellhorn, 2010;Phommavong y Sörensson, 2014;Sánchez y Winkler, 2020),. o empobrecer a los sectores productivos tradicionales al apropiarse de recursos (naturales, humanos, económicos,…) necesarios para su funcionamiento…”