Tourism has a demonstrated capacity to generate opportunities for women to challenge gendered societal and work structures, even in traditional patriarchal societies (Zhang & Zhang, 2020). Movono and Dahles (2017) show that tourism has contributed not only to economic development, but also to women's psychological, social, and political empowerment, at individual and collective levels. Yet this is not the same as gender equality. “Women obtain some power by providing men with increased material resources, while men retain much of their power owing to the persistence of many facets of traditional gender roles” (Sinclair, 1997, p. 3). We have already studied how access to higher education in tourism is an essential lever of empowerment of women in Bali and gender equity (Pickel-Chevalier & Yanthy, 2023). Now, thanks to the collaboration of 3 young Indonesian researchers and a senior French researcher, we focus on the capacity of the desa wisata (touristic villages) to be a lever of empowerment for women in Indonesia. We join Khoo-Lattimore and Mura’s (2016) call to decolonize tourism studies through vigorous engagement with local knowledge. Our methodology is based on intercultural research, relying on international teams that promote diversity and cultural sharing, transfer of methodologies, and deconstruction of concepts. We have carried out a multi-case study (Yin, 2018), analyzing 9 sites in 3 islands, with great diversity in geography (spread on 3500km), ethnies, culture, religion (Hindu-Balinese and as Bali Aga, Muslim and Christian), and level of tourism development (from pioneer to developing). They are Bali : Blimgbinsari (pioneer village) Tenganan (developing village) and Penglipuran (advanced village); Central Java : Nglanggeran and Pentingsari (advanced tourism village) and Yogyakarta : Samiran (developing village) SouthWest Papua : Arborek (developing), Sauwandarek (advanced) and Sawinggrai (pioneer villages). We favor qualitative approach, based on 72 individual semi-directed interviews (24 in Bali, 24 in Central Java/Yogya; and 24 in Papoua); half women half men between 2019 and 2025. Our results show that tourism favor women empowerment in desa wisata. Tourism give them the opportunity to develops their economic autonomy thanks to income, but also their recognition and self-esteem. However, their empowerment is more individual than collective. Women hardly ever reach top responsibilities in tourism committee management. Ethnies, cultures, religions don’t seems to be determinant criteria in capacity of tourism to become vector of women empowerment : we observed different situations in each islands. However, education is essential : little access to school increases prejudice and discrimination against women. As such, the combination of education & tourism give women better professional and personal perspectives

Tourism has a demonstrated capacity to generate opportunities for women to challenge gendered societal and work structures, even in traditional patriarchal societies (Zhang & Zhang, 2020). Movono and Dahles (2017) show that tourism has contributed not only to economic development, but also to women's psychological, social, and political empowerment, at individual and collective levels. Yet this is not the same as gender equality. “Women obtain some power by providing men with increased material resources, while men retain much of their power owing to the persistence of many facets of traditional gender roles” (Sinclair, 1997, p. 3). We have already studied how access to higher education in tourism is an essential lever of empowerment of women in Bali and gender equity (Pickel-Chevalier & Yanthy, 2023). Now, thanks to the collaboration of 3 young Indonesian researchers and a senior French researcher, we focus on the capacity of the desa wisata (touristic villages) to be a lever of empowerment for women in Indonesia. We join Khoo-Lattimore and Mura’s (2016) call to decolonize tourism studies through vigorous engagement with local knowledge. Our methodology is based on intercultural research, relying on international teams that promote diversity and cultural sharing, transfer of methodologies, and deconstruction of concepts. We have carried out a multi-case study (Yin, 2018), analyzing 9 sites in 3 islands, with great diversity in geography (spread on 3500km), ethnies, culture, religion (Hindu-Balinese and as Bali Aga, Muslim and Christian), and level of tourism development (from pioneer to developing). They are Bali : Blimgbinsari (pioneer village) Tenganan (developing village) and Penglipuran (advanced village); Central Java : Nglanggeran and Pentingsari (advanced tourism village) and Yogyakarta : Samiran (developing village) SouthWest Papua : Arborek (developing), Sauwandarek (advanced) and Sawinggrai (pioneer villages). We favor qualitative approach, based on 72 individual semi-directed interviews (24 in Bali, 24 in Central Java/Yogya; and 24 in Papoua); half women half men between 2019 and 2025. Our results show that tourism favor women empowerment in desa wisata. Tourism give them the opportunity to develops their economic autonomy thanks to income, but also their recognition and self-esteem. However, their empowerment is more individual than collective. Women hardly ever reach top responsibilities in tourism committee management. Ethnies, cultures, religions don’t seems to be determinant criteria in capacity of tourism to become vector of women empowerment : we observed different situations in each islands. However, education is essential : little access to school increases prejudice and discrimination against women. As such, the combination of education & tourism give women better professional and personal perspectives