Maternity Protection and the Tunisian Tourism Industry

In many contexts adequate maternity protection is almost non-existent, especially in the tourism-related industries. Maternity protection ensures not only equal access to employment, but also to the continuation of employment; a lack of maternity protection can alienate half of a country’s human resource and perpetuate traditional biological sex roles. Drawing on the stories of women working informally and formally, and in the public and private sectors in the Tunisian tourism industry, maternity protection is presented as a major challenge to the UNWTOs assertion that tourism can aid in the attainment of SDG 5: ‘achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’ (UNWTO, 2016). Women’s stories highlight the incompatibility of policy with pregnancy, presented here as culturally bound, and tourism.