Happy International Women’s Day!
As the IWD website states, today is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality.
While today is a day to celebrate, every day is a day for action. The travel and tourism industry is uniquely-placed to champion equality and diversity in the workplace. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s 2019 economic report, one out of every 10 people in the world, in every country in the world, work in the sector. As an industry, we have the opportunity to lead by example when it comes to helping women advance in their careers and to cultivate gender balanced teams and leadership.
Our commitment to diversity and inclusion at GBT is integral to our success. As a global company, we know that to perform at our best as a team, our people need to feel free to be their authentic selves. We embrace and encourage different perspectives and believe we are made stronger by our unique combination of culture, race, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and physical or mental ability.
Some recent initiatives GBT is proud of include:
- WINiT – GBT is a founding sponsor of Women in Travel (WINiT), an organization which serves as a catalyst to drive change, provide support and educate about the benefits of career development, visibility and promotion of women in the travel industry.
- Recognizing and supporting women– At the inaugural WINiT Awards at the end of 2019, GBT’s Patricia Huska and Jennifer Charlton were named among the Top 40 Women in Travel, while David Reimer won the award for ‘Best Mentor or Coach – Male’.
- Parity.Org – We are also proud to be a founding member of Parity.org, and voluntarily took the #ParityPledge toward gender parity at the highest levels of business.
- Women of the World – WOW is an internal employee resource group for women and men who are committed to cultivating strong female leaders at GBT.
However, there is always more that can be done. Throughout the month of March, we’ll be talking to men and women from across GBT about what #EachForEqual means to them.
Keep an eye out on GBT’s social media channels – Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram – to hear how they strive to champion equality for women, and the leaders who inspire them to set the tone for equality.
Collectively, each one of us can help create a gender equal world. Let’s all choose to be #EachForEqual.
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