A woeful gender imbalance exists in the travel technology space. Not only is the lack of females from junior to senior roles wrong, but this lack of diversity is also holding back the whole of the sector.
You only need to look down the list of attendees at travel technology events to see how male-dominated the space is - there’s not much statistical analysis needed - and again, when you look at who is speaking on stage or who are the CEOs, the gap is even more obvious and worrying.
No doubt many females reading this have had their own personal experiences over the years of discrimination against them, and perhaps some of you feel it doesn’t get any easier, not least because we’re living in 2024 and so often are told, by men normally, that gender is no longer an issue.
In case you aren’t convinced, then here are a few hard facts for you: Only 28% of tech employees are female and more worryingly still the percentage of women serving as CEOs in technology companies is only roughly 17%, while between 2016 and 2022 an average of only 15% of tech startup founders were female, according to Startup Genome.
When are we going to realize that without bringing about change rapidly in the travel technology space we really risk falling behind? Diversity is a strategic advantage that fosters creativity and a broader range of perspectives, ultimately benefiting the industry. Other parts of tech are waking up to this and will poach all our best female talent.
This lack of diversity perhaps explains why many travel tech companies from a product perspective don’t always meet the needs of female audiences. For example, how many review platforms allow you to see reviews from females only? Meanwhile, most online travel agencies don’t have filters for options females might understandably want, say “female only” hotels or “female only” gyms or pools or saunas within a property.
One way to solve this might be if some of the big B2C travel tech companies, or travel suppliers such as hotels and airlines selling online, created the role of “chief female user experience officer.” Such a person could look at the user experience from a female perspective and begin to introduce changes that not only morally make sense but also would result in more sales and greater loyalty.
After all, there’s a great deal of research that shows that in the context of family or group holidays, females play a disproportionately high role in planning and booking the trip. Female solo travelers are an important market too; they are worried by safety issues and harassment concerns – something that not many travel websites or services really have in mind when providing travelers with information on services or destinations.
And yet this very important demographic somehow goes overlooked in marketing campaigns and product development. Why? Basically, there is no other reason than because too many of the top management and leadership positions in the travel technology industry are occupied by men.
How do we bridge the gap? How do we accelerate progress?
It starts with leadership buy-in and commitment.
Leadership plays a crucial role in setting the tone for gender equality. Having leadership that ensures the gender diversity initiatives are being prioritized is essential to drive this meaningful change. Fostering an inclusive culture is an imperative. Many companies, like TerraPay, who empower global businesses with the ability to move payments seamlessly and in real time, are creating mentoring opportunities and (ERGs) employee resource groups that aim to foster a diverse, inclusive workplace.
Diversity across organizations and of all sorts, not just gender, is the only way forward. We all have a responsibility to actively confront this problem head on.
About the author ...
Maria Sellar is general manager of travel solutions at
TerraPay.