The Gender Approach as an Opportunity to Achieve Women's Labour Participation in Community Tourism in the Salinas Parish of Guaranda, Ecuador

The trend in recent years in the tourism industry is ecological and sustainable tourism, but the reports of Skyscanner, which has the fastest growing meta-search system in the world, note that tourists every year try to find a more environmentally friendly option from the currently existing ones. So they are interested in the type of tourism that allows them to travel more, but at the same time have the least impact on the surrounding nature, cultural heritage and the local community – sustainable community-based tourism. The objective of this research was to describe Community Tourism as an emergent practice, in order to promote the gender-based approach which acknowledges the existing inequalities and seeks to foster the balanced participation of women and men across all stages of the tourism process. The study drew upon the contributions of Lanfant M. F., Pratt S. and as well as UNWTO materials. Foreign scientists note that community tourism and the gender-based approach not only benefit local socio-economic development, but also cultivate equity and the social empowerment of both genders within communities. In this regard, this study used a mixed-methods, non-experimental methodological approach proposed by Gomez and others, and a descriptive design of ethnographic research with documentation. The findings established that regulatory frameworks governing gender equality in Ecuador remain absent, particularly in rural parishes such as Salinas de Guaranda. In conclusion, it can be asserted that prevailing social roles continue to be perpetuated within labour domains, including the tourism sector, which fails to advance equality for women. Based on the research materials strategies were designed to insert women into the work environment in the Salinas de Guaranda Community and in community tourism activities.