Bananas, Beaches And Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics

Tourism is a big business, providing jobs and income for governments and private companies. As in many businesses, women in tourism make 10-15% less than men in the industry. Historically, women were instructed to stay close to home, while men were encouraged to travel. Nevertheless, women of diverse backgrounds were forced to travel as enslaved persons, indentured servants, and refugees. They, of course, provided no threat to power dynamics. However, women traveling for pleasure proved different. Women who traveled during the Victorian era, such as Mary Kingsley, defied expectations but did not completely flaunt tradition. Giving lectures about their travels, such women encouraged imperial pride in England. The concepts of adventurer and explorer, however, remained masculinized.

In 1876 and 1916, World’s Fairs promoted the notion of tourism. People could visit remote areas right at home, which helped “the public imagine an industrializing, colonizing global enterprise” (48). Juxtaposing technological innovations with pictures of Indigenous people in exotic environments, the Fairs touted the ideal of progress. Additionally, they implied that white men were on a civilizing mission. Women’s domestication in the US and England was one example of the worthiness of this mission. Enloe observes that women were viewers and viewed at these fairs, not actors.