Dismantling the Gender Gap: The state of gender equity for female porters on the Inca Trail and Kilimanjaro
(This was published via The Porter Voice Collective)
It was the fourth day of the Inca Trail trek but instead of walking towards the final destination, Machu Picchu, I found myself hiking down the mountain in the dark from the last campsite to catch the one and only porter train that departs at sunrise. On the downhill, hundreds of hurried footsteps of male porters came behind me. With me were the only two female porters on the trail. We planned to walk down to the train tracks where we then interview the male porters who were waiting along with us for the train that will take us back to the tourist town of Ollantaytambo.
When we arrived at the train tracks, Maria rallied up the men and explained my presence before them. This was how I was being introduced as a woman, an outsider, and someone who wanted to learn more about the truths about being a porter on the Inca Trail. In Spanish, Maria explained to the men the importance of speaking up and sharing their concerns about their work as porters. Many of them had a puzzling look on their faces and readily held back from our questioning except for one male porter who, in Spanish, shared his views on what work-life was truly like for the porters on Inca Trail. Porters, in general, are fully aware of the risks involved in speaking up about the workforce equity issues they face. For that reason, even a lone male porter speaking up his truth that day could only be deemed a success.