Hellen Lebone, Regional Human Resources Director for Hilton Africa and Indian Ocean. Picture: Supplied
As South Africa commemorates Women’s Month, 4 in every 10 employees working in tourism in the country are female. According to the UN World Tourism Organisation, the hospitality sector in Africa contributes almost 10% of its overall GDP, and women make up 69% of its total workforce.
However, gender disparities still exist, particularly in senior management positions and wage gaps.
Hellen Lebone, the Regional Human Resources Director for Hilton Africa and Indian Ocean, said that for decades, women in the hospitality industry have had to overcome roadblocks that act as barriers to career advancement, and she recently shared her opinion on, “Breaking barriers by championing gender equity in hospitality”.
According to Lebone, women across the world are overcoming professional barriers and ascending to leadership positions, but this transition towards achieving equity in the workplace needs to happen faster and with more intention.
“Africa boasts some of the world’s most rapidly expanding economies and offers a thrilling frontier for businesses. Women have always been a catalyst for change, enhanced living standards, and championed progress in all sectors on the continent and across the globe,” said Lebone.
She said that despite this, the climb up the corporate ladder remains challenging as women are reaching management and executive positions at a slower pace, leading to fewer opportunities for growth and lower wages, and in order to address this imbalance, a transformative and systemic approach is needed, focusing on strategic actions that tackle gender biases and promote gender equity.
“The hospitality industry has a unique opportunity to take the lead towards this vital transition. At Hilton, for example, we’ve made a fierce commitment to creating work environments where all women can thrive – from housekeepers and engineers to general managers and executives.
“We’ve done this through revitalising our strategic approach to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in leadership positions, with a focus on developing women across our hotels.
“Hilton’s strategy continues to focus on growing a critical mass of women talent organically by providing an enabling, safe, and supportive environment to transition into leadership roles,” said Lebone.
She said that while they still have a long way to go, their efforts have have shown promising results, with the biggest strides having been made at hotel director level, where women leadership representation has grown from 33% in 2016 to almost half (48%) in 2023, which is in line with their global efforts, where Hilton has committed to achieving 50% gender parity at our corporate leadership levels worldwide by 2027.
“Over the last three years, we have also collaborated with Evolvin’ Women, a social enterprise committed to providing skilled placements for unemployed women, providing access to professional development and full-time job opportunities.
“To date, 36 African women have been trained and provided with employment opportunities across Hilton properties in the United Arab Emirates,” said Lebone.
She said the hotel group continually embark on leadership development programmes and hold regular conferences and seminars to educate and mobilise women to take on senior positions across our global network.
“In celebration of International Women’s Day earlier this year, Hilton implemented a job shadowing programme, providing four top-performing female students from various African nations the chance to shadow Hilton women in executive positions, with the aim of promoting skill development and showcasing opportunities in the hospitality sector.
“I have seen first-hand that empowering women results in greater performance and, more importantly, creates a more dynamic and resilient workplace,” she said.
Lebone said that industry insight reveal that women possess management strengths such as interpersonal skills, determination, patience, pleasant behaviour, and accountability and more so, women are often hailed for their transformational leadership style particularly in recognising the importance of coaching and mentoring.
“As a group, we are also a headline signatory of the Women in Hospitality Charter, which is devoted to increasing diversity and inclusion in the industry, as well as finding solutions to some of the industry’s challenges.
“As we celebrate South Africa Women’s Month, let us remember the vital role that women play within the hospitality industry,, and effect lasting changes that address these issues and ultimately overcome them,” said Lebone.