Celebrating Gondwana’s Women

Namibia, alongside the global community, is set to celebrate International Women’s Day tomorrow and Gondwana Collection Namibia takes this moment to honour the women who are at the heart of its operations. From management to frontline hospitality, female employees play an indispensable role in shaping the company’s success.

With a pledge-backed commitment (as per their company guidelines) to diversity, Gondwana Collection continues to champion equal opportunities, celebrating the achievements of women across its lodges and corporate offices.

‘Diversity makes us strong’, one of Gondwana’s guidelines; emphasises the importance of variation in employees, hence women in leadership have become a core part of the company’s ethos. According to an internal gender parity report of the company, women hold a significant portion of middle and senior management positions, including lodge managers, assistant finance managers, and assistant inventory managers. Lodges such as Kalahari Anib Lodge, The Desert Grace, and Canyon Village are led by female managers.

The report indicates that women hold the majority of middle and senior managerial positions, accounting for 56% compared to 43% for men.
While progress has been made, Gondwana Collection recognises that the journey toward true gender equity is ongoing. The company’s Windhoek offices, where women outnumber men, is a tangible representation of its inclusive hiring practices.

The tourism sector’s gender disparity is not an isolated phenomenon, especially not to the company in question, but part of a broader historical pattern in Namibia’s labour market.

Historical matrices indicate that colonial-era policies, apartheid-era labour segregation, and deeply entrenched cultural norms, confined women to domestic and informal work, barring them from economic leadership. Even post-independence policies promoting gender equality have struggled to undo decades of systemic exclusion completely, however, changes are noticed in data representing women participation in various industries particularly due to the fact that more women are acquiring formal qualification and industry relevant skills compared to those reported decades back.

Today, while Namibia boasts one of the highest gender parity scores in sub-Saharan Africa according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2024 – thanks in part to progressive constitutional provisions – the corporate sector remains slow to reflect these advancements. Tourism, despite its economic weight, mirrors the same disparities seen in sectors like mining and energy, where women remain underrepresented.

Women’s Day serves as a reminder of the importance of continued progress, not just in policy but in everyday workplace dynamics for the overall realisation of national aspirations of gender equality and equity by making it an operational and economic priority.

Happy International Women’s Day Namibia!