Challenges to Cracking the Glass Ceiling among Saudi Women in the Tourism Industry

Abu Elnasr E. Sobaih () and Ahmed E. Abu Elnasr
Additional contact information
Abu Elnasr E. Sobaih: Management Department, College of Business Administration, King Faisal University, Al-Hassa 31982, Saudi Arabia
Ahmed E. Abu Elnasr: Higher Institute for Specific Studies, Future Academy, Cairo P.O. Box 11771, Egypt

Tourism and Hospitality, 2024, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-22

Abstract: Women’s participation in the tourism workforce is growing intensely in response to Saudi Vision 2030. Notwithstanding this, Saudi women still have limited access to senior management positions. This study explores the barriers that Saudi women face to reach top managerial positions in the tourism industry and explores how Saudi women could crack the glass ceiling. For these reasons, this study undertook a phenomenological approach using in-depth interviews with Saudi women who were able to reach senior management. The purpose of the interviews is to explore their lived experience and their accessibility to senior management positions. The results of a thematic analysis showed that there were four overlapped barriers for the glass ceiling among Saudi women: cultural and social barriers, regulatory barriers, organizational barriers, and personal barriers. These main barriers have sub-barriers that contribute to the glass ceiling and prevent many women from reaching senior positions. This study shows that overcoming these barriers, particularly cultural and social barriers, could help Saudi women to crack the glass ceiling and achieve their dream of leadership. This study discusses the implications for policy makers, academics, and practitioners on the effective contribution of Saudi women to the tourism labor market, which contributes to sustainable tourism development and, ultimately, to Saudi Vision 2030.

Keywords: glass ceiling; gender equality; SDG 5; career progression; leadership; women’s empowerment; Saudi Arabia; tourism industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Z3 Z30 Z31 Z32 Z33 Z38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5768/5/1/14/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5768/5/1/14/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jtourh:v:5:y:2024:i:1:p:14-224:d:1355227

Access Statistics for this article

Tourism and Hospitality is currently edited by Mr. Philip Li

More articles in Tourism and Hospitality from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().