Beyond the glass ceiling: Gendering tourism management

This article considers how Acker’s (1990, 2012) framework of gendering processes can be a tool for the analysis of women managers’ careers in tourism organisations. Twenty-four women top-level managers in hotels and travel businesses were interviewed. The analysis of gendering processes in the organisations where these women work revealed that hidden discrimination is more pervasive than overt discrimination. Three main gender subtexts underlie these gendering processes: the notion of the ‘ideal’ unencumbered worker and assumptions of women’s greater family-orientation; the expectation that women are less competent than men; and male homosocial ties and exclusionary practices. It is concluded that Acker’s framework can be a good tool for de-legitimising subtle and normalised forms of discrimination in tourism organisations.