Empowering women through ecotourism: A case study of women’s involvement in the Wachau hippo sanctuary project in Ghana

Abstract

Community-based ecotourism has been promoted globally as a sustainable development model that can improve the well-being of women through income-generating opportunities, by raising gender awareness and empowering women. This study aimed to assess the involvement and empowerment of women in ecotourism in the Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary Area. A concurrent mixed-method design was employed to gather data from 182 respondents comprising 162 women from individual households and 20 women’s group executives within four selected communities around the Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary, Ghana. A qualitative descriptive analysis method and the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) using frequencies and percentages were employed in the analysis of the data. The study found that women’s involvement in ecotourism development in the Wechiau Hippo Sanctuary area took two forms; the provision of support services for tourists/the sanctuary and the management of the sanctuary. The study revealed that women feel empowered psychologically, socially and economically but not politically. The study recommends that project stakeholders must undertake intentional efforts to create an inclusive and gender-responsive environment (such as allocating a percentage of the representation of the management meetings to women, recruiting and training women as tour guides within the sanctuary) ensuring that women have the opportunity to actively participate in decision-making processes (by training or employing the services of an interpreter during meetings to interpret the proceedings of the meetings to all to understand) to help women contribute to the overall success and sustainability of the Hippo Sanctuary.