Women’s participation in business is gaining momentum amongst communities in the South Pacific, yet very few studies have explored this area in the context of tourism in Fiji. Based on ethnographic research, this study focuses on the gender dimension of community-based tourism development in Vatuolalai village, along with the Coral Coast of Fiji. In particular, this study seeks to extend our understanding of the links between female empowerment, tourism and business in this indigenous Fijian community. The paper discusses how indigenous Fijian women, through their involvement in tourism, have adapted to becoming successful business operators and influential drivers of socio-political change affecting established gender relations within an indigenous Fijian setting. Therefore, the current study argues that through tourism-based entrepreneurship, local women have attained not only economic but also psychological, social and political empowerment. Given the literature, this is not a mainstream result, particularly in patriarchal and embedded indigenous communities.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Boundaries, Bourdieu’s theory of practice, social capital, Indonesia, tourism, small-scale business
Research Division:	Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
Research Group:	Tourism
Research Field:	Impacts of tourism
Objective Division:	Commercial Services and Tourism
Objective Group:	Tourism services
Objective Field:	Economic issues in tourism
UTAS Author:	Dahles, H (Professor Heidi Dahles)
ID Code:	146173
Year Published:	2017
Web of Science® Times Cited:	6
Deposited By:	Office of the School of Social Sciences
Deposited On:	2021-08-24
Last Modified:	2022-07-12
Downloads:	0