The hospitality a-gender: How the gender divide has changed

“In the hotel business, I would say there were definitely less females at the top level, but a lot of females in the industry. There were not many female chefs back then, your kitchens were predominantly male. But certainly in the housekeeping roles, the reception roles, maybe even sales roles, it tended to be more females, but not at the senior level,” says Jill Chalmers, managing director of Glenapp Castle in Scotland.

Historically the hospitality industry has always welcomed women however, it has never been women led with women often being left in the lower ranking jobs.

According to a white paper from Hospitality Industry Pipeline in 2015, women made up around 70% of the workforce in the hospitality and tourism industry. However, only 8% of these women were in leadership positions.

Fast forward to 2021 and data from the Castell Project’s Women in Hospitality Industry Leadership report showed that 30% of the leadership positions in the industry were held by women, a huge increase in just a few years.

This trend is something that Chalmers has seen develop over her long career in the hospitality industry.

Chalmers started her career in the industry as a receptionist at a hotel in Edinburgh straight after leaving school. Here she worked her way up the hotel until she was in a sales role. Following this she moved onto various hotel chains like Swallow and Embassy before moving on to Scandic Hotels.

For six out of the 10 years she worked at Scandic she worked out of the head office in Stockholm as international sales director for the leisure market. “I started out with the Edinburgh property and then I was there for 10 years, with six of those 10 years working out of the head office in Stockholm, my role was international sales director for the leisure market.”

She then moved on to become chief sales and marketing officer in a.com startup called all hotels.com during the .com boom of the late 90s. “I was invited to take a job as chief sales and marketing officer in a .com startup called all hotels.com. Back then, Expedia didn’t exist. booking.com was a tiny little company and it was fascinating. My plan was to become a .com millionaire out of that, well, obviously, that didn’t happen.”

Following this, she moved back closer to family and has now found her home at Glenapp Castle.

From the past to today

All this experience in various facets of the hospitality industry, as well as the longevity of her career, gives Chalmers a unique perspective on the hospitality industry and plenty of room to discuss how the industry has changed for women over the years.

When Chalmers thinks upon what the industry was like 20 years ago for women she explains how there were many women in the industry at the time but not many in certain parts of the industry such as in leadership positions or in kitchens.

But Chalmers believes that this is now changing. She explains that better childcare is allowing women to move up the ladder and that attitudes towards women in senior positions have changed.

“I think there’s much more opportunity, and I think back then we lost a lot of females, because simply childcare wasn’t really there. It wasn’t in the same way that it is today. So I think that makes a big difference. And 20- 30 years ago, your expectation was always not to work when you had a family.

“[Childcare] just didn’t exist for those that want to keep working. There is definitely a different approach to female senior females in the industry. I think there’s still a bit to go, but I definitely feel that it’s becoming a bit more balanced.”

She added: “I think in life in general, there is a shift in attitudes towards all and I think that makes a big difference. I think the flexibility of being able to work from home whether it’s a male or a female actually can really help.

“It’s maybe just the understanding of females and men. We’ve all got similar skills, but also different skills as well.So I think it will continue to change over the next five years.”

Having a voice in the room

Chalmers goes on to explain how important it is for women in the hospitality industry to be in leading roles and how that can help change the industry. She says that it allows senior leadership to have perspectives that they could not have without women in the room.

“Nowadays, the topic of the moment in regards to females is menopause. I don’t think men really will ever understand that and having somebody [that does] is probably a great help to any business. To have somebody that says, you know what, this is actually really what it feels like, I do think it has benefits. So it’s not just representation in terms of people looking to get up in the industry, but also having a different voice in the room with a different perspective.”

It has not always been that way in the industry according to Chalmers, but one thing that she believes has really changed and is continuing to grow is women supporting other women in the industry.

“I don’t think that existed probably 20 years ago, when I was coming through it, but I think it’s growing. I think it’s all part of trying to get this actual equality and I do see females really supporting females. I don’t see the same thing with males.”

Chalmers concludes with one piece of advice for anyone trying to emulate her success, male or female.

“First of all, you have to enjoy what you do. Do work hard, do give it your all you do aspire to be the best that you can be if you really put your mind to it. There’s no reason you can’t reach for the stars.”