Airbnb is committed to supporting women around the world.
We can play a role in enabling women to follow their passions and design the lives they want.
By Belinda Johnson
All around the globe, women still face a gender pay gap that results in their earning significantly less than men. Even as the percentage of women in the workforce has risen dramatically — if we fail to act, that growth is expected to stagnate and reverse over the next four decades, according to the Pew Research Center.
Fortunately, as more women take matters into their own hands, their initiative is proving to be part of the solution to income equality.
And whether we work in the private, public, or nonprofit sectors, International Women’s Day is a time for us to think about how we can all step up and do everything in our power to help women make real economic progress.
That begins by recognizing some of the stark realities that women face. Today, in nearly every country on the planet, women are more likely to work informally or part-time. They bear a disproportionate burden for caring for the young and the elderly. And in many cultures, women often face challenging preconceptions around being breadwinners. Their circumstances and responsibilities often mean they require more flexible work schedules. And at this year’s World Economic Forum, the head of the International Trade Union Confederation noted that globally, women spend twice as much time as men on unpaid care work, including domestic tasks and care for people at home.
While Airbnb cannot singlehandedly level the playing field for women, I believe we can play a role in enabling women around the world to follow their passions and design the lives they want. Since our founding in 2008, women hosts on Airbnb have earned more than $10 billion in income. In 2016, more than 200,000 women hosts worldwide each earned at least $5,000 USD (or the equivalent in their home currency) from hosting on Airbnb.
One reason why our platform is so effective is that home sharing is inherently flexible. Hosts welcome guests into their homes or show off their skills at times that are convenient, and work with their busy schedules. Even with uncertainty around the future of work in an increasingly automated world, Airbnb will remain a way for women to achieve greater financial independence and social empowerment in the years ahead.
Many women will continue to use Airbnb to invest in their homes and families. Kasumi, a single mother of four living in Kumamoto, Japan, receives no financial support from her ex-husband, and has to work around the clock to pay for her kids’ tuition and the mortgage. Before Airbnb, she was only able to spend time or have dinner with her children very late at night. But after about eight months of hosting, Kasumi has been able to reduce her grueling work schedule and spend more time with her family.
Kasumi’s story is not unusual: globally, women Airbnb hosts report that they use one-quarter of their Airbnb income to pay for regular household expenses like bills and groceries, and over half of all Airbnb hosts report they use their hosting income to help afford their home, including a disproportionately high percentage of single mothers who host.
Some women are using Airbnb to give themselves the freedom to pursue new career opportunities with less financial uncertainty — whether it’s Emma in London leaving her job as antique dealer to become a supper club host, or Regina in Fort Lauderdale whose extra income funds a non-profit providing after-school programs for underprivileged kids.
And still other women are finding that Airbnb empowers them to follow their entrepreneurial passions, and start their own businesses. The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation estimates that as many as 70 percent of women-owned small and medium enterprises in developing countries are unserved or underserved by financial institutions — resulting in a credit gap of around $285 billion USD.
Based on our research to date, we estimate that more than 50,000 women around the world have used Airbnb income to support their own entrepreneurial pursuits, including hosts like Nathalia in São Paulo, who was inspired to create an app to help cyclists navigate cities more safely. As anyone who has started a company knows, it’s pretty common not to see any income for months. For Nathalia, hosting was the solution. After listing the spare bedrooms in her house on Airbnb, she welcomed nearly 100 guests from every corner of the globe. She didn’t just make new friends — she also made the money she needed to help her startup take off. “When I opened my home,” Nathalia explains, “I also opened myself to all the possibilities that home sharing could offer me.”
On this International Women’s Day, we know there is much work to be done. Airbnb is proud to partner with organizations like Vital Voices, The Global Fund for Women, and the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India in their ongoing work to support equality and empower women around the world. We also celebrate our global community of women hosts, and recommit to supporting women around the world in their journeys at home and abroad.
Belinda Johnson is Airbnb’s Chief Business Affairs and Legal Officer.
