2017 was a
year of fire and fury for women. Revelations about sexual harassment in the workplace
rocked the entertainment and media industries, as well as politics and Silicon
Valley, toppling figures from Hollywood and stand-up comedy to network news,
public TV, radio and both the Democrat and Republican parties. Uber CEO Travis
Kalanick’s ouster started with allegations of toxic “bro culture”.
Kalanick hits closer to home for the business travel community, but does the
conduct of one startup executive really reflect the culture of our industry? I
mean, we don’t have these problems, do we? When it comes to workplace
harassment, I need only point to the #MeToo movement to form a pretty solid
theory: It’s everywhere. But sexual harassment is only the most overt iteration
of gender bias. There are more subtle versions.
Pay
Inequality: For as long as BTN’s annual Salary Survey has asked whether the
participant is male or female, women have consistently reported salaries about
20 percent lower than their male travel manager counterparts. Of course, equal
pay assumes that men and women are doing the same jobs, and often they are not.
It’s clear from the data that male respondents track overall to the more senior
roles.
The Corner
Office: BTN’s Salary Survey queries travel management professionals across
industries, so it’s not a fair assessment of the business travel industry, per
se. It doesn’t survey suppliers at all. There also are other places to look for
evidence like in the corner office, on boards of directors and in the
technology companies that are feeding the innovation revolution in our
industry. Take a look. How many women do you see? There are some true
standouts: Carlson Cos. chairman Marilyn Carlson Nelson, Omega World Travel
president and CEO Gloria Bohan and Best Western Hotels & Resorts chief
marketing officer Dorothy Dowling are a sample. On the innovation front,
SpotHero for Business, represented by co-founder Becca Rabinowitz, just won
BTN’s 2017 Innovator of the Year Award. 30SecondsToFly co-founder and CEO
Felicia Schneiderhan is building an artificial intelligence-powered business
travel personal assistant.
There are
plenty of powerhouse women in our industry, but they are not nearly as numerous
nor as visible as their male counterparts. In 2018, I predict, women will take
the fires stoked in 2017 and turn them into action in their lives and in their
careers. I also predict lessons learned in the corporate world in 2017 will
translate into fairer opportunities for women in the workplace, including women
in business travel.