An Assessment of Women Career Participation and Advancement in the Hospitality Industry in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: - A Case Study on Five Star Hotels

Abstract

This study is undertaken to investigate the factors that influence women career participation and advancement in the hospitality industry in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia:  A case study in five star hotels.  The study employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches so as to answer the research questions and achieve the stated objectives. Primary data mainly through a self-developed questionnaire with five point likert scale (5= strongly agree (SA) to 1= strongly disagree (SD) as well as dichotomous and checklist questions were used for this study. besides, face to face interviews and secondary data including government documents and reports, hotel management broachers, several published and unpublished materials were utilized to gather information for the study. After the completion of the data collection, all the questionnaire  survey  were coded and enter into statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 20.0 for analysis. The study clearly indicated that women participation in hospitality industry particularly in higher position is dominated by men and women work in low status, and unsecure jobs such as waitress, housekeeping, and front-line services. The major societal and organizational factors which contribute to women to have such low position are the stereotypes about women’s commitment to work in the hospitality industry and the job characteristics of the hospitality industry respectively. Besides, lack of general management experience and lack of confidence among women are the major personal factors that influence women participation and career advancement in the hospitality industry.

Keywords: Hospitality industry, Career advancement, Stereotypes