Future Higher Education in Tourism Studies and the Labor Market: Gender Perspectives on Expectations and Experiences

Abstract

Although women prevail among tourism graduates in Portugal, men earn higher salaries and fill most top-level positions in the tourism sector. This study diagnoses disparities between male and female tourism graduates in the following domains: areas of activity, positions, and salary. Expectations of students are compared to the real situation of tourism graduates. Data from a survey covering all Portuguese higher education institutions with tourism degrees were used. It is concluded that male graduates have more favorable situations in employment than female graduates do and that the reality in the labor market is far from corresponding to enrolled students' expectations.

Keywords:

• tourism
• higher education
• employment
• gender
• Portugal

Acknowledgments

This article results from a research project being carried out on gender issues in the tourism sector. The authors would like to thank the support provided by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality, as well as the cofinancing of the European Union through the National Strategic Reference Framework, European Regional Development Fund, and the Operational Program for Competitiveness Factors. The authors would also like to thank Statistics Portugal (Instituto Nacional de Estatística) for providing part of the data, which were essential for the conduction of this research.

Notes

¹ Licenciaturas were traditionally 5-year degrees, but their length was reduced to 3 years with the recent introduction of the Bologna process.

² The gender pay gap is the difference between male and female earnings expressed as a percentage of male earnings.