Tourism and sustainable development goal-5: A pathway for women’s empowerment

Abstract

This paper explores the role of tourism in women’s empowerment through the framework of Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5). The targets and criteria of SDG 5 were used as a gap analysis tool to understand the status of accomplishment of women’s enablement by taking the Kumarakom tourism model as an example. Both primary and secondary data were incorporated in this study. Thirteen semi-structured interviews and sixteen field visits were conducted. Secondary data used were government documents, online resources, and newspaper articles. Leximancer software was used to analyze the data collected. The findings offer evidence indicating that tourism in Kumarakom enriched the economic, socio-cultural, and psychological status of womenfolk in the region. This has been attained through grassroots level planning and initiatives such as women’s self-help groups. The results suggest that the Kumarakom tourism model contributed to and attained many of the criteria and targets provided by the United Nations guidelines of SDG 5. At the same time, this study identified room for improvement. Also, we argue that the criteria like SDG 5.1 need to be revised considering the broader cultural framework for land ownership and related practices. This study addressed a relevant yet unaddressed issue of women’s empowerment through tourism and issues of the measurement framework of SDG 5.