Tourism development and women’s empowerment; the impacts of tourism on women in Gizo island , Solomon Islands | Tuarism divelopment an hao hemi save mekem oloketa mere for usim paoa blo oloketa; hao tuarism hem afektim oloketa mere wea stap lo Gizo aelan, Solomon Aelans.

Abstract

The empowerment of women has been a long-standing and significant concern worldwide, generating a substantial body of literature across disciplines (Reshi & Sudha, 2022b). The concept of women’s empowerment is broad, multifaceted, and context dependent, with a growing literature recognising tourism as a platform for empowering women, especially in a developing nation context. Previous studies have also shown evidence of tourism empowering women. However, most of the studies which have been carried out on the impacts of tourism on women’s empowerment focused largely on other contexts, and there have been little published data in the Pacific region. So far, there has been little known about how tourism empowers women in Gizo, Solomon Islands (SI), hence the central objective of this study. Adopting an interpretive qualitative research approach, this study aims to understand the link between tourism and women’s empowerment in Gizo. The six dimensions used to measure and analyse women’s empowerment for this study were derived from the empowerment framework developed by (Scheyvens & van der Watt, 2021). Online interview was used as the tool to collect empirical data from thirty participants, both men and women living in Gizo from the month of May-September 2021. The key finding of the study suggested that the women’s motivation to engage in tourism is a derived motivation. To obtain money was the women’s primary motivation to engage in tourism. Tourism is only a means to an end; it is a tool for the women to earn an income. The women’s levels of empowerment were initially facilitated by tourism income which economically empowered the women. When the women were empowered economically, it creates opportunities to become empowered in other dimensions. Secondly, the motivation to earn an income offered a platform for women to engage in tourism, and because of the special characteristics of tourism as a special import, the consumer (tourists) come to the producers (hosts), enabling social interactions between the tourists and the women. Through these host-guests’ interactions and socialisations, the women acquired the English language, resulting in psychological empowerment. In addition, the women were able to acquire environmental conservation information from tourists, which is a marker for environmental empowerment. However, this was not the principal reason for women to participate in tourism, they did not anticipate this outcome prior to participation. Their goal was to advance economically. Despite obtaining some levels of empowerment, the experiences of the women suggested variations in the level of empowerment within the six-empowerment dimensions. There are some women from the study who are yet to fully achieve certain levels of empowerment. The study’s outcome also discovered some factors which continue to hinder the women from achieving full empowerment. These elements include the persistence cultural norms embedded within the society and the women, structural and personal constraints. Nevertheless, the study findings also reveal the women utilised some strategies to mitigate the impediments and navigate their journey through the process of empowerment. To understand the nuances from the current study and its implications to empowerment, a model on the process of empowerment is derived from the women’s experiences in Gizo. The model emphasises the process of empowerment starts with an entry point which varies with individuals and is influenced by several other factors. Secondly, empowerment is an intrinsic and ongoing process which can be facilitated by external change agents. However, the ‘power to’ to create change must first be enacted by the individual. The third component of the model indicate, one key empowerment dimension leads to other forms of empowerment, otherwise empowerment dimensions can be directly achieved through interactions with an external actor(s). Finally, empowerment is a relational process concept with a complex interplay of powers which act as barriers and enablers. For empowerment to be realised and obtained, these elements must be navigated and considered from within each context.