Workforce Equity for Porters: Why It Matters & Why Companies Should Be an Ally

(This article was published on WeTravel)

Pole! Pole! (Slowly! Slowly!)

This is the usual mantra that many trekkers hear on the trails of Kilimanjaro as they make their ascent towards Africa’s highest point.

Summiting Kilimanjaro requires the service of mountain guides and most definitely the support of porters – the local people in charge of carrying the group’s gear and personal items. 

In fact, the workforce in Kilimanjaro, Peru’s Inca Trail, and Nepal’s Himalayan trails are dominated by porters. Why? Typically, for every tourist, two or more porters are assigned to carry gear. Yet, despite the sheer number of porters working in the trekking tourism industries of Nepal, Peru, and Tanzania, the voices of porters are hardly heard and valued when it comes to ensuring their working conditions are equitable. 

For instance, in Peru’s Classic Inca Trail, the 8,000-member Federation of Inca Trail Porters has been advocating for Workforce Equity and the much-needed changes in the so-called “Porter Laws” for decades now – but to no avail. In Nepal and Tanzania, there is a lack of porter-led advocacy groups; porters in these regions have no way to elevate their voices.

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