Gendered Employment and Organizational Power in Travel Agencies and Tour Operators: A Scoping Review

Travel agencies and tour operators employ large numbers of women, yet the evidence remains fragmented on whether employment provides comparable rewards, working conditions, career opportunities, and organizational authority. This scoping review mapped indexed empirical research on gendered employment and organizational power in tourism intermediaries. Scopus and the Web of Science Core Collection were searched through 20 July 2026. After deduplication, 390 unique records were independently screened by two reviewers, 30 reports underwent full-text assessment, and 17 reports representing 16 studies were included. Data were extracted using a structured matrix and synthesized through evidence-role classification, design-sensitive interpretation, methodological robustness appraisal, and sensitivity analysis. The evidence base was small and heterogeneous. Thirteen studies provided direct and separable evidence, whereas three were contextual. The clearest findings concerned unequal wage returns, work-design conditions associated with retention and safety, and selective routes into leadership or ownership. Evidence from three settings did not support a simple capability-deficit explanation, while strategic decision rights, collective voice, board processes, and platform governance were rarely examined directly. The review organizes these findings around reward allocation, work organization, and access allocation. Future research should broaden database coverage and use longitudinal, comparative, and decision-level designs to examine these allocation processes directly.