Gender, Disability, and Tourism in Africa

This book explores the intersection of gender and disability in the context of tourism. In part, the book foregrounds feminist theorising of intersectionality by examining how gender can overlap with other social identities to contribute to more systemic oppression, domination, discrimination, and marginalisation of certain categories of people. Our point of departure is that disability does not operate in isolation as it is constituted and experienced within an already gendered social and tourism environment. With substantial research on the intersection of gender and tourism on the one hand, and the intersection of disability and tourism on the other hand, the interconnectedness of gender and disability and the implications this has on tourism policy and practice remains understudied. Thus, the book provides a critical lens that helps unpack underlying assumptions about gender and disability while questioning the dominant ideas about gender and disability reproduced through tourism policies and institutional practices in an African context.

This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers in Gender Studies, Disability Studies, and Tourism Studies, particularly those with a research interest in Africa.

“This book is a welcome addition to tourism development literature. Through its rich theoretical and empirical contributions by African scholars the book will be of value to academics, decision makers, tourism managers and students alike to reflect on how insights drawn from the intersection of gender and disability can be used to inform sustainable tourism development in Africa.” (Dimitrios Buhalis, Director eTourism Lab, Bournemouth University Business School, Visiting Professor, School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Editor-in-Chief, Tourism Review)

“This volume adopts a unique perspective to tourism by investigating the intersectionality between gender and disability in Africa where inequality issues are pervasive.  Chapters adopt a broad range of perspectives, providing readers with a solid theoretical grounding on gender and disability.  The volume is an excellent read for tourism students and researchersall well as those interested in issues on gender inequality and disability in tourism.” (Robin Nunkoo, Associate Professor, University of Mauritius)

"This seminal edited collection fills the gap in academic scholarship by focusing on the interactions between gender, disability and tourism policy and practice in Africa. Drawing from feminist thought on intersectionality, it examines how gender and disability overlap with other disparities in society to propel systemic ostracisation, structural suppression and everyday segregation within the politics, practice, and praxis of tourism." (Stella Nyanzi, Scholar of Writers-in-Exile, PEN Zentrum Deutschland)

Erisher Woyo is a Lecturer at the Manchester Metropolitan University who researches about higher education and information technologies, and travel behaviour in distressed economies. He serves on the editorial board of the Tourism Review, and the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights.

Hellen Venganai is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Social and Gender Transformative Sciences at the Women’s University in Africa, Zimbabwe, and has previous working experience in the media. Inspired by critical feminist theories, her research interests revolve around the intersections between gender, sexuality, culture, disability, and development policies.