Business travel, once an opportunity offered only to men, is now becoming more readily available to women. Businessmen are still much more likely to be granted the option of travel, but more businesswomen are gaining the advantages of company-sponsored travel. This is due to the increasing number of executive women that can be found in the workforce. Some businesswomen that attain the position of CEO in a major corporation may be asked, or required to travel, but just as often, someone who has reached this position may have others to do the traveling for them. Women in sales may also be required to travel a great deal, but not necessarily.
When women were first given the opportunity to travel for business, this travel generally took place on a train and rarely involved more than an overnight trip. However, airplanes are now the preferred method of travel, and businesswomen are now "flying high" along with the businessmen. Some will fly coach, and others first class. Some trips will be long, while others will only be out-of-town for a few hours. Of course, the length and quality of any business trip depends on the position of the person, and the quality of the company that will be paying for the trip. Since women are gaining higher positions than in previous years, they are getting the opportunity to take advantage of many of these more lengthy types of trips that were traditionally men only.
Those businesswomen that are required to fly frequently, like businessmen, must always keep a bag packed and be ready to leave town at a moment's notice. Business trips can be every bit as enjoyable for women as they are for men, especially if the company allows them to travel in luxury, providing them with an expense account. Sadly, businesswomen are still not as trusted with these ammenities as are their male counterparts. The reasons for this are hard to determine, but there could be a number of factors that make business travel unique for women.
Firstly, many businesses that are "typically" thought to be more often owned by women than men do not usually require much travel. For example, most people would imagine a woman, not a man, being the owner of a flower shop, or the person in charge of a day care center. Florists and babysitters are not usually required to travel frequently. Secondly, although women are making great strides in achieving equality in the workplace, in general, men still receive better pay for doing the same job as a woman. It is not a great leap to imagine that sexism may have something to do with travel perks being offered to men more often than women. This may not be malicious or intentional, but many still believe that women are more likely to want to stay at home and raise a family. Perhaps the option of travel is not offered as frequently to businesswomen because those in charge of making that decision believe that a woman would be less interested in the opportunity. Whatever the cause, most opportunities for business travel are still going to men, but businesswomen are successfully making these trips more frequently, increasing their value to their companies, and to the business world overall.
