Beginner’s Guide to Gender-Mainstreaming for the Public Sector in Tourism

Beginner’s Guide to Gender-Mainstreaming for the Public Sector in Tourism

Tuesday November 26, 2024 | 08:30AM – 10:00AM (ET) / 14:30 - 16:00 (CET) | Simultaneous interpretation available in Arabic, French and Spanish

Co-organized by

UN Tourism
UN Women

UN Tourism and UN Women are organizing and introductory online seminar for governments and public tourism bodies on how to implement a gender-mainstreaming across the policy and programme cycle.

The public sector in tourism has a responsibility to integrate gender equality and women's economic empowerment into its work, in line with commitments made by governments to the Sustainable Development Goals (specifically Goal 5 – gender equality and empower all women and girls), international women's rights treaties such as the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), relevant ILO Conventions such as C183 – Maternity Protection Convention, 2000, and C190 – Violence and Harassment Convention and other national and regional policies and legislation.

Gender-mainstreaming is the globally accepted strategy for promoting gender equality and is defined as: "The process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women's as well as men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated."

In the tourism sector, in practice few public strategies substantially integrate gender perspectives in their future planning. In addition, the experience of UN Tourism's flagship 'Centre Stage' capacity building programme for gender equality in tourism has revealed an urgent need to provide more tools and guidance on gender-mainstreaming for public sector actors in tourism.

UN Tourism and UN Women, together with the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, published in 2022 the Gender Mainstreaming Guidelines for the Public Sector in Tourismintended to boost gender-mainstreaming in tourism.

This online seminar is a continuation of this work and will contribute to an increased understanding and implementation of gender mainstreaming in the public sector in tourism. It will address important questions including:

  • What does gender-mainstreaming mean and why do we need it in tourism?
  • How can I implement gender-mainstreaming?
  • What support + resources are available for the public sector in tourism?

Objectives:

  • Increase awareness of gender-mainstreaming and its implementation by national tourism administrations and other public tourism bodies;
  • Facilitate national tourism administrations and other public tourism bodies work in reducing gender-inequalities in a systematic fashion.
  • Share main lessons learned in designing gender-transformative interventions in tourism, focusing on the specificities of the sector and the different challenges this can pose;
  • Share practices and tools that can help to ensure tourism policies and public programmes are designed to respond to the specific needs of women, girls, men and boys.

Speakers

Women
Zoritsa Urosevic
Zoritsa Urosevic
Executive Director, UN Tourism

Ms. Urosevic joined UN Tourism in 2006 as Executive Secretary of the Business Council. Since 2010, she has led work on positioning tourism in the development cooperation and trade agendas, while strengthening UN Tourism’s institutional framework, leading the inclusion of UN Tourism in the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list, as recipient organization for Official Development Assistance (ODA). From 2015, Ms Urosevic was UN Tourism Special Representative to the United Nations in Geneva and Director of the Institutional Relations and Partnerships Department – providing policy advice for external relations, strategic partnerships and innovative financing to the Secretariat, including integration of the 2030 Agenda and the UN Reform in UN Tourism’s strategic work and delivery. She is also a member of the United Nations Chief Executive Board’s High-Level Committee on Programmes (HLCP) and Management (HLCM).

Women
Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda
Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda
Deputy Executive Director for Normative Support, UN System Coordination and Programme Results, UN Women

Ms. Gumbonzvanda is the Founder and Executive Director for Rozaria Memorial Trust based in Zimbabwe.  Prior to that, she served as the General Secretary of the World Young Women’s Christian Association and United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) Regional Programming Director in the East and Horn of Africa. She has also served in the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as a Human Rights Officer in Liberia and National Child Rights Adviser in Zimbabwe.

Before joining UNICEF, she served as the Interim Coordinator for the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association and Assistant Law Officer at the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Constitutional Affairs of Zimbabwe, and was also appointed the first African Union Goodwill Ambassador on Ending Child Marriage. Ms. Gumbonzvanda holds a Doctor of Laws degree (Honoris Causa) from the University of Massachusetts in the United States, a Master in Laws degree from the University of South Africa, a Post-Graduate Certificate in Conflict Transformation from Uppsala University in Sweden and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) degree from the University of Zimbabwe.

Women
Mai Bright Urey
Mai Bright Urey
President, Liberia National Tourism Association (LINTA)

Ms. Urey started her entrepreneurial career with the formation of Data Technology Solutions, Inc., Liberia’s first ever Internet service provider (ISP) in January 1997. In the same year she established and became the CEO of Wulki Farms, an agrotourism resort, growing the entity in the largest agrotourism establishment in the country.

In early 2014, she founded U-Foundation, a local NGO, which is noted for its “Ebola Home Care Service” during the Ebola Virus Disease epidemic in Liberia, where the Foundation provided medical care and food supplies to over 6,000 Ebola affected individuals across the country.

Ms. Urey currently chairs several influential industry and women’s organizations in Liberia and is the president of the Liberia National Tourism Association.

Women
Kamila Zardini
Kamila Zardini
General Coordinator at the  International Relations Advisory, Ministry of Tourism of Brasil

Kamila Zardini has over 13 years of experience in International and Governmental Relations, specializing in public policy, project management, and the articulation of international strategies. As General and Multilateral Relations Coordinator, she leads initiatives in sustainable tourism, innovation, and social inclusion.

Her experience in the legislative sector and multinational companies provides a solid foundation for developing projects that integrate social responsibility, sustainability, diversity, and economic growth. She works to foster collaboration between public and private sectors while engaging with international organizations to advance Brazil’s strategic interests.

Kamila has represented Brazil in global forums, contributing to the alignment of public policies with international priorities. She focuses on key topics such as market expansion, innovation, and responsible tourism development. Her recent efforts aim to position Brazil as a leader in inclusive and sustainable tourism.

Facilitator

Women
Lucy Ferguson
Lucy Ferguson
Trainer and Senior Consultant in Gender Equality

Dr. Ferguson is a senior specialist in gender mainstreaming, with a special focus on the tourism sector. She has collaborated with UN Tourism on gender equality since 2008, was the lead author of the Global Report on Women in Tourism 2nd Edition, and a key contributor to the Centre Stage project.

Lucy has worked on gender mainstreaming with a with range of UN entities, including UNDP, UNIDO, and WHO. She has worked with UN Women since 2013, and is currently developing a Gender Mainstreaming Training Package for the UN Women Coordination Division.

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