Gendering the tourism curriculum whilst becoming an academic

Abstract

Pedagogy should be understood as transformative practice, and yet in many cases the neoliberalization and patriarchal structure of higher education institutions can stifle teachers and students. Tourism has been promoted as a vehicle for female empowerment, yet here it is suggested that in order for this to happen, gender must not only be taught in tourism classrooms, but it must be taught adopting a feminist approach. The motivation for this paper is to explore how power dynamics intersect and relate to teaching gender in the tourism classroom in order to highlight potential barriers to gendering the curriculum. Reflexively engaging with my own practice I highlight potential future strategies for academicians.