University of the West of Scotland Invests in the Safeguarding of their Female Business Travellers
University of the West of Scotland (UWS), one of the UK's most innovative modern universities, has invested in a number of travel safety eLearning modules from gender-specific travel specialists, Maiden Voyage.
As academic staff continue to travel, duty of care obligations are at the forefront of the mind; providing appropriate training prior to travel will ultimately help to reduce the risk for both their employers and the individuals concerned.
Increasingly, employers are looking to include gender-specific travel advice, taking into consideration the specific risks impacting female travellers, which are often subject to additional risk due to legal and cultural restriction around the world.
Andrew Disbury, Vice Principal and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement) from UWS said, “With almost 1,500 staff and Global Engagement one of our three clear thematic aspirations, we are very aware of our obligations to support our diverse traveller community and felt that Maiden-Voyage provided the most appropriate and cost-effective solution to help us meet our duty of care responsibilities towards our female travellers.”
Carolyn Pearson, founder and CEO of Maiden Voyage stated “We have seen explosive growth amongst the academic sector when looking to provide the most appropriate pre-travel support to their female and LGBTQ travellers. From our recent ‘Women in Academia’ Travel Safety research we discovered that 28% of female academics had suffered a negative incident when travelling on business. These ranged from: Sexual harassment from field research staff and local taxi drivers, blackmail, molestation, having unsolicited photographs taken, upskirting and even being offered money for sex”.
The Maiden Voyage eLearning modules include Pre-planning and packing, Safe Ground Transportation, Hotel Safety, Intercultural Awareness and Safe Meetings and Leisure. The latter being particularly significant, as more and more women come forward to report incidents of sexual harassment which has occurred on business trips as a fall-out from the recent #MeToo campaign.
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Notes to editors
About University of the West of Scotland
University of the West of Scotland
University of the West of Scotland (UWS) is one of Scotland’s most modern and dynamic international universities but has a heritage dating back to 1897.
It aims to have a transformational influence on the economic, social and cultural development of the West of Scotland, and beyond, by providing relevant, high quality, inclusive higher education and innovative and useful research. The University aims to make the communities it serves more successful, and create opportunities for all to participate.
The innovative technologies the University is developing help shape society in Scotland and throughout the world: from research in gravitational waves and 5G networking to apps for health monitoring.
UWS is committed to providing student-centred, personalised and distinctive learning and teaching experiences underpinned by professionally relevant research, knowledge exchange and enterprise. The University is officially recognised in the top 3% of universities worldwide, recently being featured in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings. UWS also features in the world’s top 200 universities under 50 years of age in the recent Times Higher Education (THE) Young University Rankings.
About Maiden-voyage.com
Maiden-voyage.com is the global specialist in the female business travel market. With over 12000 members and over 80 local ambassadors, Maiden Voyage provides organisations with duty of care solutions and training to support their female business travellers. In 2011 Maiden Voyage, with the help of its community set the global standard for ‘Female-Friendly’ hotels which drives the contracting decision for both employers and travel management companies alike.
Press Contact: Carolyn Pearson, carolyn@maiden-voyage.com Tel +44 113 314 9000