It’s Up to Women Leaders to Change the Story

There’s an unmistakable energy in the air at Women Leading Travel events. It’s what happens naturally when you fill a room with smart women who are there to learn, grow, and support each other.

This membership community for executive women working across travel and hospitality companies, which was acquired by Skift in July, is made up of more than 500 passionate, successful, senior-level women who believe that investing in themselves and in other women is good business.

We sat down with Women Leading Travel’s Vice President, Hannah DeMaio, to discuss both the advances and the challenges shared by the top tier of industry leaders.

Skift Meetings: For the first time in over 60 years, the gender pay gap has widened for two years in a row. How do you feel about this?

Hannah DeMaio: In 2024, women working full-time, year-round earned 81 cents for every dollar earned by men, down from 84 cents in 2022. These numbers are not just indicators, they’re signals. Signals that progress is not linear, and that without intentional, data-driven leadership, hard-won gains can erode.

As executives, we must see this for what it is — a strategic, cultural and operational challenge. It’s not about blame. It’s about responsibility. And it’s about alignment between values and outcomes.

Pay equity isn’t simply a DEI initiative, it’s a business and leadership imperative. 

How has the Return to Office affected women leaders?

Being fully remote during Covid gave women the opportunity to not have to drive to the office for an hour and a half, then leave early to go to pickup, or sports, or whatever it might be in their caregiving world. Women were able to have all those hours back, work really hard on their own time, and get so much more done.

Not any more. We recently had a high-level executive at one of our meetings speak up about how her company had created a return-to-office policy, and it just didn’t work for her family. She wanted to be in Boston and they wanted her to move West. So she decided to step away from her job.  

Balancing leadership demands with personal and family expectations continues to be a hurdle, especially where flexible support systems are limited, and now that return to office is in full swing. The good news is that there are finally women leaders in the position to create policies that are more family-friendly.

Women still manage the lion’s share of the responsibilities at home. What can be done about this?

Many women in leadership roles have gotten where they are today because they had help at home. But there are those who don’t have a significant other helping with family life at home, whether it’s kids or parents. 

At our roundtable this week in New York City, one CEO described going home as being like a second job, from managing your entire company to managing your house. All of this responsibility often still falls on the woman.

I’m watching so many women just soldier on and make it happen — and it feels like it’s been getting a lot harder.

It’s going to be up to women who are at the top to create more family-friendly policies, even if they are not the ones who will get to experience them. At least they can pave the way for the future leaders.

Seasoned women who have been in their roles for 20+ years continue to get edged out of their jobs. How are you addressing this?

Women leaders work so hard to get to where they are, and they want to stay there. Some of our directors have been coming to us to discuss how to create a transition plan for these leaders to move on and open it up for everyone else. 

We are doing a Women Over 50 report to highlight, advocate, and discuss this. It will be coming out in December. We’ve also brought the topic to our main stage at our meetings. One example with Carla Hall, a chef from The Food Network. She was told, during a meeting with a group of older men, that she needed to dye her hair because she was gray.  

How is it that more male leaders are being vocal about their families when women have been advised for years not to do that?

I feel like women still do have to hide things. But it’s changing. We have people who bring their daughters, their aunts, and their moms to our events. It’s a special space for these women to be themselves. 

Are the women leaders of today more compassionate than their predecessors?

One thing I’ve noticed: It used to be that if a sponsor was in the room at an event, people weren't always helpful, or wouldn’t talk to them because they didn’t want to be sold to.

It’s not like that now: If they’re not the right person, they’re going to put you in touch with the right person.  

One of our members recounted when she told her boss that she was having a second child, and this woman’s reaction was, “Not again!” She vowed to never treat another woman that way, or to make anyone feel that way. 

So it turns out that having a personal experience with a bad leader often influences women to not be that way. As one SVP of global sales put it: She was so happy to be the one to finally be able to change the story.