JAIPUR, India – When I first arrived in New Delhi, the capital of India, I was asked a burning question: Where are all the women?
As the G Adventures press group I was traveling with weaved through the throngs of men crowding the street corners, alleys, shops and restaurants of the area around the New Delhi railway station, I felt a little scared and outnumbered. The woman was barely noticeable.
Our group took part in a walking tour organized by the Salaam Baalak Trust, a community tourism organization supported by Planeterra, a non-profit organization of adventure tour operators. This was one of the Planeterra projects that visited India’s “Golden Triangle” of New Delhi, Agra and Jaipur just days before the company’s second annual GX Summit.
Salaam Baalak Trust supports, shelters and educates street children in India through tourism initiatives and partnerships and raises awareness of the conditions that push them into the streets. Its efforts are geared toward providing safe housing, education, and ultimately employment.
My question about the absence of women during the walk was partially answered.
Our three guides, Jafar, Kadjal and Salman, explained that it is easier for homeless boys to participate in Salaam Baalak’s programs because they are easier to find in public places. distance. But girls are harder to find and help because they live on the streets and often have to take special precautions to protect themselves while in hiding. Sometimes street girls are much more difficult to find as they have to seek refuge in brothels.
Salaam Baalak Trust tour guides (center, from left: Kadjal, Jafar and Salman). Photo Credit: Nicole Edenedo
My questions will be answered in more detail later this week by Meenu Vadera, founder of the Azad Foundation and Women With Wheels, a women-led transportation service in New Delhi. During a GX Summit panel on community tourism enterprises empowering women, she said others had also questioned the lack of women in public spaces. It’s a common question her organization asks when it picks up first-time visitors to the city.
“India is a society with very strict gender roles. Women’s place should definitely be within the walls of the home,” she said.
Vadera told those on the panel that this was partly what led her to start the Azad Foundation and Women With Wheels in 2008. She wanted to provide Indian women with a dignified livelihood and help them assert their means of independence and discover a life outside of traditional ways. Gender norms.
By training women to become drivers, Vadera said, “we are breaking down the concrete walls surrounding women and getting them out on the road so they can become active citizens of this world.” Germany and France.
“They don’t just make money. They don’t just become empowered women. They learn to take control of their careers, their lives, their bodies,” she said.
Walking tour of Salaam Baalak Trust in New Delhi. Photo credit: Nicole Edenedo
Women are leading the way
The focus on women is back in the spotlight as G Adventures launches a female-focused sustainability initiative and a new solo travel collection for 2025 that will be led by female tour guides. The message is: the future of travel; It’s the future of travel.
Bruce Poon Tip, founder and chairman of G Adventures, said, “63% of tourism industry employees are women, and 65% of the people who participate in our trips are women. “85% of couples drive the tourism economy by planning trips.”
Ahead of the GX Summit, held on World Community Tourism Day, around 400 travel professionals (suppliers, travel advisors and media) were invited to an itinerary that included visits to women-led tourism projects supported by Planeterra.
In Agra, awareness of violence against women in India, particularly in the form of acid attacks, was highlighted during a visit to Sheroes Hangout, a coffeehouse and cultural center run by female survivors of these attacks. Survivors, many of whom are physically disfigured, face discrimination and, among other things, find it difficult to find work.
Thanks to Sheroes Hangout, they can work in a safe environment, reclaim their lives, and advocate for stricter laws and protections for women.
In Jaipur, women entrepreneurs are provided a safe space to sell their handmade products and services while learning skills for financial independence at Anoothi India, a women-led social enterprise. G Adventures travelers can participate in craft-making and shop for locally produced products at a pop-up marketplace set up by Anoothi.
The goal for this year’s GX Summit was simple. It not only demonstrates how community tourism can help educate, employ and empower women, but also how investing in women-led tourism initiatives can advance the industry towards the goal of sustainable and responsible tourism.
“There is so much data that shows that when you educate women and educate girls, everything becomes better – communities become stronger, more vibrant and more successful,” said Poon Tip.
