I have been thinking about the way our industry is constituted - gender and age wise - and I am noticing something that should start to both worry and encourage me.
The trend is the composition of the personnel in distribution. A field I know pretty well.
Legacy distribution is populated by a pretty diverse group as one would expect for a mature business. I always felt it was a very good thing that the Distribution business had a good representation of diversity. Particularly in the male/female split. But one that didn't apply to the agism issue. There was never a real encouragement of young people into the fold.
With the emergence of the web and e-commerce particularly in Travel, it was good to see innovation coming from younger people with little or no historical connection to the traditional distribution businesses.
However the downside was that the number of females who emerged from this group was few and far between. Yes, there are good examples of women entrepeneurs who have made their mark but I am speaking in generalities.
One of the leading proponents of expanding our diversity in Travel and the web is Siew Hoon. And here she goes again. Next week she will have a conference dedicated to Women in Travel.
WITX Women+in+Travel
Sadly I cant attend but with an all star female cast - this will be a notable event.
Now if she could only do something for old folks maybe she could include the old Professor!
Cheers
