Women! Are you travel smart?
Some countries can be quite unsafe if you are travelling alone. Lena Aahlby from StrategyforChange advises women in particular to learn about cultural norms and political realities in the places they are visiting.
Many of us regularly travel overseas, sometimes to places we consider fairly similar to home, sometimes to places we are less familiar with. When I reflect on some of my travels I wonder what I was thinking – I went to Port Moresby, Johannesburg and Manaus, cities generally considered unsafe, without significant preparation or thought of how I would manage my own safety and security. Perhaps even more worrying was that none of my employers raised the need to prepare for travelling to locations that are plagued by social injustice, high crime rates and rampant sexual violence, or locations that have different views than what I was used to of what women can and cannot do.
In more recent years I have been lucky enough to work in organisations that take their duty of care more seriously. Many organisations now have policies in place stating that anyone travelling to ‘unsafe’ locations needs to attend at least basic travel safety awareness training. But there is still some way to go. The implementation of those policies often fall to individual line managers, and in reality a staff member’s opportunity to receive appropriate training often depends on if his or her manager has set aside the budget, or indeed if they find it important enough for the staff member to take the time to attend a course.
Women face a particular set of challenges when travelling, and those challenges are generally not sufficiently addressed in standard travel awareness and safety courses. In many cultures there are different rules to observe for women, and the relationship between men and women is more regulated that in Western cultures. Women are of course also more likely to be subjected to sexual violence.
Being travel smart does not mean that every risk is eliminated. But it does mean that you make it your business to be aware of the cultural norms and social and political realities in the places you are travelling to. And it does mean that you understand how you can reduce the risk of being a victim of a crime or of sexual violence and how to make sure that you stay as safe as possible.
And a few words to those readers who are also employers. As an employer you have a responsibility for your staff – a duty of care – and you need to make sure that your staff is as well prepared as possible for the travel you expect them to undertake. If you do not take this responsibility seriously, you can be held liable if something goes wrong. Investing in travel safety awareness training for women is a small price to pay for ensuring that your female employees are aware, smart and confident travellers, able to focus on the purpose of their trip, and for you to have peace of mind in the knowledge that you are a responsible employer.
Lena Aahlby has over the past 25 years been involved in developing, leading and coordinating campaigns across a range of sectors including environment, health, poverty reduction and social justice. Between 2003 and 2008 she was Global Campaign Director for Greenpeace, based at the head quarter in Amsterdam. Lena now runs StrategyforChange, a strategy and training consultancy that offers strategy advice, campaign skills and expertise, and management support across a wide range of environmental, animal welfare and social justice issues. Lena is currently Board Chair for Greenpeace Australia Pacific, and has in the past served on a number of other not-for-profit boards. Lena is a Chemical Engineer by training and has a PhD in energy conservation from Chalmers University of Technology in her native Sweden.
ccollin6
September 22, 2013 at 2:48 pm
Travel Safety for Women
This is a very current, vital, and practical subject. The reality presented to women when going from one country to another will vary. So it is prudent to take necessary precautions and if available training and orientation to heighten one's awareness of the dangers that can be hidden and subtle.