For women in travel, the path to leadership is often a road without a map

Graham Greene, the famous British writer and MI6 agent, wrote a fascinating and hilarious travelogue about his monthlong trek through the wilds of Liberia, in coastal West Africa, called Journey Without Maps.

In 1936, the interior of Liberia was largely mysterious to Westerners; United States Government maps just showed a blank space with the word “cannibals” stretched across it.

Exploration into such a dangerous area wasn’t something to be undertaken alone, of course, so Greene relied heavily on a series of rotating local guides, porters and the occasional kindness of strangers.

Also, an unhealthy amount of whiskey, as it was safer to drink than water.

Which brings me (in a roundabout way) to the recent Phocuswright gender parity study, conducted for the Women’s Leadership Initiative late last year.

One of the goals of the initiative is to foster the advancement of women in technology leadership roles in the travel industry, because women are still largely underrepresented in these roles relative to their presence in lower levels of company jobs.

The study uncovered some interesting and not unexpected trends, as we’ve seen in prior op‐eds here. When breaking down the responses further by gender* (female vs. male respondents), we can see there are some startling differences - but also similarities - in how the availability of leadership opportunities are perceived in our industry.

For women in particular, the path to leadership can indeed feel like a journey without maps.

Start here… but where is here?

Both female and male respondents were in general agreement as to sentiments regarding the equal availability of leadership opportunities across the industry.

The only notable gaps between female and male responses were at the extremes (“Strongly Disagree” or “Strongly Agree”), but those extremes in total represented just 12% of responses.

More intriguing, however, was the split when asked whether “there is a clear, available path for leadership cultivation” in the industry:

A majority of female respondents (56%) either Disagreed or Strongly Disagreed with this statement, compared to just 24% of male respondents. More than two‐thirds of male respondents were neutral‐to-positive on this point.

Key takeaway: For some reason(s), female respondents are missing a map to get to the leadership roles they seek, whereas their male counterparts do not feel that same lack of direction.

Digging deeper into the top obstacles to leadership opportunities, however, we again see alignment between female and male respondents - implying that these obstacles are more or less “gender-neutral.”

Respondents were presented a list of common obstacles to leadership roles and asked to rank their top three. Responses were quite similar between genders for the top three obstacles, suggesting they are a common pain point for everyone.

Both female and male rated the "absence of a plan" as the top obstacle at a similar rate, although males rated it slightly higher (79% vs. 76%) – a somewhat inconsistent response given male feedback on the prior question (and may deserve further analysis).

Management bias and lack of training were close number-two and number-three obstacles, and fairly consistent between genders.

Where we notice a split: Females cited work‐life balance as a top‐three obstacle more often than males, but males felt insufficient skills was a more critical barrier more so than females.

Make a new plan

So, what does this tell us? It’s a small sample set, but the results point to more commonalities than differences when it comes to opportunities for cultivating leadership.

Women and men both feel the lack of a clear path, including training and skills development, hinder their advancement in the industry. It’s indeed a journey without a map.

What to do about it? As both individuals and as an industry, we can be the local guides, porters and kind strangers who can lend a hand to those on their journey.

That can take any number and combination of forms: dedicated leadership programs within your company, informal mentoring of colleagues, intentional recruiting beyond your usual network, volunteer or participate in industry events to gain insight and exposure and so on.

We can be each other’s maps and help fill in the blank spots as we collectively explore the landscape.

The main thing I took away from Graham Greene’s story was that he started his journey WITHOUT a map; he didn’t let the lack of any direction stop him from exploring.

So even if your company doesn’t have a formal “leadership track” or skills training program, you can still make your own way. It may take a bit more effort and you’ll perhaps have to rely more on other people, but the payoff is that you get to fill in your own map your own way (preferably without the cannibals).

The whiskey, however, is up to you.

* Recognizing that there are evolving, non‐binary ways to consider gender, this study used “female” and “male” in its responses, so that is what is referenced here.