“This isn't Paradise—I Work Here”

Abstract

Tourism has received relatively scant attention in feminist analysis of women's work under economic restructuring. The industry creates a sector without a shop floor based on the provision of authenticity, leisure, and price-sensitive services. Migrant women from the First World and the Third World labor with national workers in a highly informalized and stratified employment setting. This article examines how structural conditions shape tourism employment in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. Drawing from data including observation, interviews, and a longitudinal business survey, I offer several findings. The tourism industry segments possibilities for women who vary in their ability to produce and interpret/translate authentic cultural experiences. As a result, women working in tourism constitute a nationally and ethnically more diverse workforce compared with other global industry sectors. The particular demands of tourism create an important case to further understand how social location shapes women's working lives in the global economy.