Celebrating the International Women’s Day, community tour operator Vivejar promotes Brazilian women’s empowering trips
Women are great part of the force that drives the world’s travel and tourism industry. They travel more each day, alone or accompanied, and they have more significant jobs in the sector, although they still have to face gender disparities and prejudices. According to the World Tourism Organization’s Global Report on Women in Tourism (2010), women generally earn between 10% and 15% less than men in tourism, although the sector brings together almost twice as many women entrepreneurs as other areas.
Celebrating the International Women’s Day and honouring all the passionate and inspiring women in tourism, the Brazilian tour operator Vivejar will promote, in March, two thematic trips through Brazil in which the central focus is the female universe. In both itineraries, strong, autonomous and structured women are hosting tourists eager to know the reality and culture of other Brazilian women. The journeys support these female leaderships locally, encouraging autonomy and generating income and female empowerment.
Between March 11th and 15th, in association with the feminist NGO Artemis, Vivejar takes travellers to the wilderness of Minas Gerais, in the Jequitinhonha Valley, on the ‘Artemis Expedition: Women of Brazil’. For four days, the participants will get together, exchange experiences and learn the craft of pottery with the women artisans of the Valley. Part of the income obtained from the sale of the packages will be reverted to Artemis association, which works to promote female autonomy and to eradicate violence against women.
From March 17th to 22nd, the tour ‘Secrets and Spices of the Amazons’ takes travellers to discover the charms and flavours of the state of Pará, on a tour through Belém and Cotijuba Island. Ladies from the Belém Islands Women’s Movement will welcome visitors showing their day-to-day routines, crafts and traditions with bio jewelry, typical cuisine and local culture.
“We believe in the power of tourism as a tool for transformation and female empowerment in communities. We work mainly with women leaders because we bet on the potential that women have to work collectively and generate development for themselves, their family and their community,” says the founder of Vivejar, Marianne Costa.
In addition to the trips, Vivejar will take the opportunity to raise important themes related to women in tourism and to honour incredible women who work with the sector in Brazil. Women like Valdirene Gomes dos Santos, responsible for the Association of Handicrafts of Coqueiro Campo, in Minas Gerais, and for the articulation of the local hostesses of Vivejar. Valdirene is also the mother of Fabrício, 16, and she conciliates the domestic work with the sales of crafts and the organization of the trips, besides being the conductor of the Barreiro Trail. A multitasking woman, that despite living in the countryside, has a similar routine and the same dilemmas as any big city woman, regardless of place, social class or age.
VIVEJAR
www.vivejar.com.br
Phone: 11 2729-3861 | E-mail: [email protected]
Address: Rua Teodoro Sampaio 2767, conjunto 1001 – Pinheiros – SP
