Microsoft Word 2007 ichrie conference Proceedings Final-Final 06-06-07. doc

 
INTRODUCTION 
The American Hotel and Lodging Association Lodging Industry Profile (AH&LA, 2005) reported that in 
2004, the hospitality industry paid $163.3 billion in travel-related wages and employed 1.8 million hotel workers. 
One of eight Americans was employed either or indirectly in the industry (AH&LA). According to the U.S. 
Department of Labor, it is projected that women will be 47% of the total labor force by the year 2012. Women 
continue to be underrepresented in management positions compared to their overall employment, and are inequitably 
hired, promoted, and rewarded. Catalyst (2006) reported, there were only eight women CEOs in the Fortune 500 
companies in 2005. The report concludes that, at the current rate of progress, it will take another 70 years for women 
to be equally represented in corporate leadership positions (Catalyst, 2006). 
Along with increased numbers of women in the workforce in recent decades, more women have enrolled in 
higher education. In the year 2002, women received 57.4% of all undergraduate degrees, 58.7% of master’s degrees 
and 46.3% of doctoral degrees (U.S. Census Bureau, 2005). The number of women who enroll in and graduate from 
hospitality/tourism and related programs also has increased. Although strides have been made by women in 
achieving management positions since the middle of the last century, the increasing number of women in both 
hospitality education programs and the hospitality industry has not produced a proportional increase in the number 
of women in higher management positions, making women’s status in the industry an important concern. For 
example, Brownell (1994) noted that in its first 83 years, only one woman served as chairperson of the American 
Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) (Brownell, 1994).
Researchers have assessed the underrepresentation of women managers and issues of gender discrimination 
in the workplace (e.g., see Woods & Kavanaugh, 1994). Some have suggested that women and men with similar 
educational backgrounds and performance have different work-related experiences (Gregg & Johnson, 1990; 
Melamed, 1995). Recent studies showed that males and females have achieved almost even distribution in hotel 
management (Woods & Viehland, 2000); however, most female managers in the lodging industry worked in 
positions that are less likely to lead to the general manager position (e.g., sales, housekeeping). Studies also have 
confirmed that women in the executive hierarchy are more than twice as likely to hold staff positions than the line 
positions required for advancement to senior level positions (Catalyst, 2006; Galinsky, et al., 2003).

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