Women in Turkish tourism * D € onüs ¸ Çiçek a , Ebru Zencir b, * , Nazmi Kozak c a Anadolu University, Eskis ¸ehir Vocational School, Yunusemre Campus, 26470, Eskis ¸ ehir, Turkey b Anadolu University, Faculty of Tourism, Department of Gastronomy and Culinary Arts, Yunusemre Campus, 26470, Eskis ¸ ehir, Turkey c Anadolu University, Yunus Emre Campus, Faculty of Tourism, 26470, Eskis ¸ ehir, Turkey article info Article history: Received 26 September 2016 Received in revised form 7 March 2017 Accepted 10 March 2017 Keywords: Women employees Tourism Oral history Turkey abstract The tourism sector in Turkey has grown considerably since the early 1970s. This change has many effects, including the working conditions of women. It is a fact that tourism is an industry that affects women's employment in profoundly and positively and provides many opportunities for women. The aim of this study is to reveal what kind of achievements women gained in the history of Turkish tourism by their entrance into the sector and its development. The method of oral history, which can convey unrecorded data, is used. In this study, 18 people were interviewed. Interviewees were selected among tourism employees like housekeepers, managers and tour guides; as well as those who do not participate in the tourism workforce, but are residents of touristic destinations. The questions are prepared in accordance with subjects such as the working conditions of women, the economic structure of Turkey, the social status of women in daily life and their status at work and in tourism sector from past to present. The findings of the research are examined in the chapter on women's introduction to tourism, their entre- preneurship and their work in non-family businesses. As a result of the research, it has been concluded that tourism has transformed the traditions in the Turkish society and the women, who began to work in their homes firstly, gained strength in both economic, social and individual terms by entering the business and utilizing the opportunities that tourism has provided. © 2017 The Authors. 1. Introduction Tourism as a rapidly growing and developing sector around the world and it brings about significant transformations for many countries. Turkey is one of those countries, emerging in the tourism market in a short period of time with its geographical location, convenient tourism resources and multidimensional support of the government (Aykaç, 2009, p. 13). The economic, social, cultural and environmental impact of tourism on Turkey has been noticed since 1940s, showing a tendency to develop between 1963 and 1980, and an average growth rate of 12.1% between 1984 and 1990. Tourism, which provides economic restructuring for countries, is considered a social event, a specific form of people living together in a society (Avcıkurt, 2007 , p. 57), because there is an interaction between different communities with different educational, social and cul- tural structure as a result of the relations established during travels and accommodations. This situation causes changes in people's knowledge, manners, traditions and cultural structures over the course of time (Civelek, 2010, p. 332). It is known that indigenous people have abandoned their old, self-enclosed, conservative atti- tudes and developed outward-oriented behavioral models as a result of the social relations established with the tourists. Women working in the service sector, which does not require expertise, are one of the groups mediating this change, being intensely exposed to this kind of interaction (Oktik, 2001). There are many studies which suggest that tourism revealed new professions, caused changes in traditions and customs, became a major factor in the removal of prejudices, and played an impor- tant role in the change of value judgments in Turkish society. It is a recognized fact that the tourism industry has a strong and positive impact on women's employment as it offers many opportunities for them (Sinclair, 1998). According to Global Report on Women in Tourism (2010), women make up a large part of the official tourism workforce and when compared to other sectors, the employment rate of women has always been two times more than men. While * This study was supported by Anadolu University Scientific Research Projects Commission within the framework of Oral History of Tourism in Turkey. (Project Number: 1209E152). * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: dcicek@anadolu.edu.tr (D. Çiçek), ezencir@anadolu.edu.tr (E. Zencir), nkozak@anadolu.edu.tr (N. Kozak). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management journal homepage: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-hospitality- and-tourism-management http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhtm.2017.03.006 1447-6770/© 2017 The Authors. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 31 (2017) 228e234