WinIt: Women lack sufficient pathways to senior travel positions

Data released at the GBTA Foundation’s WinIt Conference last month paints a picture of how the managed travel industry is powered by female professionals — but not as often shaped by female leadership.

The foundation’s survey of 600 travel professionals found that among corporate travel buyers, women held a strong number of director-level roles but failed to garner the most senior travel management titles available. On the supplier side, the situation was similar: women achieved strong positions but failed to keep equal footing in leadership.

On the corporate side, women represent 67% of travel managers and buyers. That number jibes with BTN studies — and has remained constant for at least 15 years. According to the GBTA survey, 68% of female respondents held a manager or senior manager role, compared to 29% of male respondents, indicating an equitable distribution of men and women at this level given the overall industry demographics.

Distribution of director-level positions begin to departs from that equilibrium, with just 59% held by women, lagging their overall representation in travel management roles. Further, as titles shift to vice president or above, female representation drops drastically. Only 46% of survey respondents who cited vice president-level roles or higher were female, compared to 50% who were male (select respondents opted out of identifying their gender).

On the supplier side, the picture was equally discouraging — and perhaps more so. Only 39% of vice president or executive leadership roles at travel suppliers and TMCs were held by women, though women represented 57% of all roles on the travel supplier side. A strong plurality of female travel professionals held account management roles — at 22% — compared to just 8% of male travel professionals in those roles. Moreover, only 2% of female respondents cited roles in technology; men cited such roles more than three times as often as women.

The GBTA Foundation report suggested that lack of dedicated career development opportunities for women were to blame for bracketing talented female professionals out of leadership positions. Only 37% of travel companies that participated in this survey had such programs, which report authors cited as “crucial” for developing female leaders.

“There is a clear opportunity for more robust initiatives that focus on promoting women to the executive levels and for further investment in mentorship, development programs, and gender diversity initiatives in leadership and technical roles,” said GBTA foundation managing director Delphine Millot.

Source: Business Travel News