Aymanam in Kottayam to showcase women’s talent

In line with the Kerala government’s plan to create a women-friendly tourism network in the State, authorities have embarked on a plan to redress the gender balance in the tourism enterprise of ‘Aymanam’ by showcasing women’s talent.

• The plan envisages turning the village into a hub of women-friendly destinations in Kottayam, which extends across a vast area from Kumarakom to Maravanthuruthu.
• A model Responsible Tourism (RT) village in Kottayam is set to include women across the state of Kerala to become part of it.
• Objective: The establishment of women-friendly networks that give women an equal voice in tourism is one of the key benchmarks for achieving the status of a model RT destination.
• Significance: The programme also helps empower women at the grassroots level.

• Other developments: Recently, the Aymanam Fest highlighted the tourism, agricultural and cultural potential of the village.                                                                       

Need of such initiative:

• The contribution of women in economic development is quite large, one in four industrial employees and four out of ten workers in agriculture and services are women.
• A woman contributes 66% of services b. work, but only gets 10% of his wages. Women are responsible for 50% of world food production, but only control 1% of existing material goods.
• Women enjoy less than men as c. its contribution to national production; the average hourly wage is lower than that of men; legal protection for them is lacking, the role of women is limited to low-paid or unpaid work and access to production sources is very small.

Women and Tourism sector:

• Tourism is a sector that has generated many job opportunities for both men and women. This makes tourism one of the largest industries in the world.
• The involvement of women is an important component in tourism as;
• The existence of women in tourism is regulated in Ministerial Regulation No. 50 of 2011 concerning the National Tourism Development Master Plan Article 28 (b) which states that one of the community empowerments in tourism includes optimizing gender mainstreaming through tourism development.
• Optimizing the role of women in tourism is also regulated in the Regulation of the Minister of Culture and Tourism of 2011 which explains that the community is actively involved in activities starting from the planning, implementation, supervision, maintenance and utilization processes, by providing broad opportunities for active participation from women.
• Women as part of society have the right and potential to participate in tourism activities. The involvement of women in tourism can reduce gender inequality in development.

Potential benefits:

• Increase women’s income
• Promote gender equality
• Increase GDP of state and country
• Make a women-friendly environment for Tourists