On the occasion of International Women’s Day, the United Nations specialized agency, based in Madrid, applauded women’s achievements in the sector, although it recognized that ‘they are still underrepresented in managerial positions, face obstacles to professional advancement and have limited access to education and training.’
This year’s theme, #InvestInWomen, emphasizes the need for investment to address the projected 360 billion annual shortfall in funding if the world is to achieve the global gender equality goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it added.
In its press release, UN Tourism particularly noted the Sustainable Development Goal 5: achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, and the unpostponable need to meet it.
International Women’s Day provides us with a unique opportunity to reflect on the progress made and to call for the enormous investment needed to achieve gender equality in the tourism sector, the UN agency stressed.
It pointed out that the benefits of increased investment in women could be enormous, ‘as it is proven that closing the gender gap could increase the per capita GDP by 20 percent and create nearly 300 million jobs in the global economy by 2035.’
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