Gender Equality and Empowerment through Corporate Social Responsibility in Ecotourism at Malealea, Lesotho: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) has been widely discussed since the end of the first half of the 21st century. In the 1950s, CSR focused on the demand for social responsibility for business in general but towards the end of the century, diverse issues had emerged ranging from concerns about environmental sustainability, human rights abuse and business sustainability. Gender issues were later taken on board. Companies are taking initiatives to improve gender issues at the workplace, community and marketplace. Guidelines and benchmarks have been developed to mainstream gender issues in CSR. However, a limited focus has been given to CSR in ecotourism especially as it relates to equality and empowerment. This exploratory study reports findings on how Malealea lodge through Malealea Development Trust has been dealing with gender issues in its CSR initiatives in Lesotho. Using interviews with the lodge management, employees and the beneficiaries of the CSR initiatives, findings suggested that the lodge did not have a formal gender policy, gender issues were addressed at various levels and the corporate social responsibility initiatives had empowering effects on both women and men. Keywords: CSR, empowerment, ecotourism, gender, Lesotho