Across the globe, male backcountry guides outnumber their female counterparts by a staggering proportion, with only 110 women among the 7,000 people certified with the International Federation of Mountain Guides Associations—a mere 1.6 percent.
“There’s not much going on yet in terms of women empowerment in the trekking tourism industry,” says Marinel de Jesus, founder and CEO of Peak Explorations and Brown Gal Trekker.
Small as it may be, there is a mighty force of bold, adventurous and skilled female guides working in their local communities or traveling internationally. These women are both independent contractors or employed by agencies, but these existing companies rarely intentionally train and employ female guides.
We spoke with several who are shifting their focus to elevating local women: 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking Company, Evolution Treks Peru and Peak Explorations.
3 Sisters Adventure Trekking Company in Pokhara, Nepal, employs female guides to lead treks in the Himalayas and works in partnership with its sister organization, Empowering Women of Nepal. Both were both founded in 1994 by Lucky, Dicky and Nicky Chhetri, three sisters from India.
“When I think about our initial days, there were no women guides,” Lucky Chhetri says. “Women didn’t know they could be guides. Women’s power to work and do other things was really underestimated.”
Today, more than 2,000 Nepalese women have completed training with Empowering Women of Nepal. 3 Sisters employs more than 100 women as guides.
“Through this work, now these women are enjoying their lives, making money and learning so much,” Chhetri says. “They’re able to live with their own dignity.”
Similarly in Cusco, Peru, Evolution Treks Peru trains, supports and employs local women as guides and porters in the Sacred Valley. Before the company’s start in November 2016, Director Miguel Angel Gongora says only a handful of women had worked as guides on the Inca Trail, mostly at the assistant level. The company is the first to employ women as porters on the trail and currently works with seven female guides and 26 female porters.
Marinel de Jesus’ Peak Explorations is a social enterprise with a mission to change the trekking tourism industry as a whole by vetting and collaborating with companies like Evolution Treks Peru to create and implement a new model.
“The goal is to create a new way of running the industry in which there is more equity and inclusion,” she says. “I look for allies all over the world.”
In many regions, the lack of women in this industry is the result of cultural differences and social norms upheld over time.
“Most people think these women are not prepared enough,” Gongora says, “and the owners of these travel companies have that thought, conscious or subconscious. In the end, it’s all rooted in the societal mindset that these women cannot do it, that men will always be able to do it better. That’s what we have to overcome.”
Gongora, Chhetri and de Jesus agree it will take time to see significant progress, but creating opportunities for women can yield positive changes for everyone.
“When you introduce women into the industry, it’s such an innovative concept that everyone starts to question everything else,” de Jesus says. “It forces everyone to question their best practices and opens the door to a discussion of major changes.”
In terms of gender equality, there is substantial room for progress, especially on a local level. So what does progress look like, and who gets to decide it’s being made?
For de Jesus, it’s simple. “Progress should be measured based on the people you’re trying to empower or elevate,” she says. “You can’t go to a country, say you want to create progress and never ask the people you’re trying to empower what their thoughts are about the progress being made. It’s all about voice. Whose voice are you picking to define progress?”
For Gongora, progress carries many layers. “One way we can define progress is when what we’re doing is no longer limited to our area of operation,” he says. “The news that women are being included is out there. The demand for women porters has increased, which means there are more opportunities for women to work.”
Like de Jesus, Gongora says women must be the ones who define progress. “They have the final analysis,” he says. “They must be the ones to say how enriching, or not, their experiences have been.”
Chhetri sees room for progress in guiding beyond leading treks in the mountains. “There are many other areas in which we can include women,” she says. “They can also be rafting, paragliding or bicycling guides.”
The takeaway for those who wish to travel responsibly and leave a positive impact? Research and support companies and organizations that operate ethically and sustainably, that do well by the local people, communities and environments in which they do business.
“I’m really hoping we can just normalize the roles of women in the industry,” de Jesus says. “Eventually, I hope it’s just normal that women are part of it.”
This story first appeared in RANGE Magazine Issue 10, which is dedicated to the idea of progress. Get your hands on a copy HERE.
Photos courtesy of 3 Sisters Adventure Trekking Company and Bernard Chen.
XX Emily Hopcian