Business and/or Pleasure - Gender (In)Equalities in Rural Tourism in Vojvodina

Gender gaps limit rural women’s entrepreneurial potentials, preventing them to benefit from development activities. In this study, we assumed that there were gendered differences in rural tourism business. To examine this issue, we studied owners and employees in 57 rural tourism enterprises during the 2014 in seven districts of Vojvodina. The questionnaire with open and closed questions was used to examine main characteristics of managers and employees in rural tourism but also their perception of potentials and obstacles in rural tourism development. Results have shown gender differences in rural tourism regarding staff characteristics, motivation, business problems and knowledge, and innovation. Also, results have indicated the necessity of complementary use of qualitative and quantitative methodology in researching gender-tourism relations.