Gender and tourism in Chiapas: a critical perspective on female empowerment across four analytical dimensions

Tourism is a powerful global industry that perpetuates and reflects existing gender inequalities. This study employs a peripheral feminist and gender-sensitive lens to critically analyze female empowerment within ecotourism in Chiapas, Mexico. Through an integrated analytical framework based on four dimensions (individual, domestic group, ecotourism center, and local context) this research examines the multifaceted experiences of women across three distinct ecotourism centers. Data gathered via ethnographic observation and semi-structured interviews reveal that women’s economic participation fosters increased self-esteem, agency in decision-making, and negotiation power within domestic dimensions. However, these individual gains are consistently constrained by deeply entrenched structural barriers, including machismo, gendered cultural expectations, a disproportionate burden of care work, and exclusion from decision-making processes within organizations. The study concludes that while tourism can initiate pathways to empowerment, transformative change remains limited without addressing these systemic, intersectional obstacles. It highlights the necessity of moving beyond individual-level interventions to implement gender-sensitive policies that dismantle structural inequalities and foster truly equitable participation in tourism-led development.