Untamed Borders’ women tour guides are changing the game in Central Asia and Africa

As International Women’s Day looms on the horizon, Untamed Borders shares the stories of pioneering women tour guides from Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

For women in nations like Afghanistan, Somaliland, or Pakistan, there is the obvious hurdle of traditional attitudes and views towards fixed gender roles that tend to limit their career choices.

This is particularly true in the case of tourism, but there are women brave enough to step up to the plate to become pioneers in the field.

Afghanistan’s Fatima Haidari

These noble individuals include Afghanistan’s first female tour guide, Fatima Haidari, who guided for Untamed Borders in the city of Herat, before having to flee for her safety when the Taliban retook control of the nation.

The Taliban’s ultra-conservative interpretation of Sharia law means women are largely excluded from the workplace and education settings. 

For Fatima, this meant she had to leave the nation, but she now offers virtual tours of Afghanistan through Untamed Borders. 

A portion of the proceeds from these sessions go towards supporting secret education programmes for women who are still in the nation.

Fatima says of her work: “Becoming a guide as a woman in Afghanistan was not just difficult: it was like a battle. People gave me strange looks, made discouraging comments, and some even insulted me. Many believed that guiding was not a job for a woman. They thought I was doing something wrong, something shameful.”

However, she was never fazed by the words of naysayers; she knew that tour guiding was her passion, and she was not about to give it up because of outdated beliefs. 

As she continues: “I faced discrimination, but I kept going. I wanted to show other women that we can do anything we dream of, no matter what others say. Being a guide is more than just a job for me: it is my passion, my way of life. It is about learning and teaching, sharing stories, and connecting with people from different cultures. Guiding gives me the freedom to explore, to travel, and to truly be myself. It allows me to show the beauty of places, their history, and their hidden stories.”

The story of Pakistan’s Javeria

Meanwhile, across the border in Pakistan, women also face many hurdles to enter into the sector, where studies show only three percent of the tourism workforce are female. 

Guide Javeria Anwar explains what it was like to battle against that sort of social stigma:

According to her: “It’s certainly not easy being a single child of overprotective, conservative, parents. We had huge arguments in the beginning, because in our culture, women don’t travel without a family member. They consider those who do to be a bad character and the traditional norm is for women not to interact with the opposite gender. There are so many things involved, but I guess if God has put something in you, then you should not give up on your dreams, you should fight for it, for yourself and for your contentment. If you don’t, you will always regret it.”

Javeria pointed out that tourism in Pakistan is a male-dominated industry, but one simply needs to learn how to deal with the challenges.

She said: “The best part of my job is that I become a part of my clients’ lives forever; even after ten years, they will see the pictures and they will remember my name.  You learn so much from different people, different cultures, and there are so many different stories every day. You also learn to see the world from different angles; it’s a blessing to be a guide.”

Deka of Somaliland

These challenges for women are also felt in some countries in North and East Africa. 

In the Horn of Africa these are felt acutely, with women in Somaliland twice as likely to be unemployed compared to men.

Deka Hassan Abdi is one of the inspiring women, who is leading the way in Somaliland tourism:.

Deka says of her profession: “I find it quite exciting, more than challenging, because I believe that opportunities are created by you and not handed to you by society. People tend to be just surprised and explaining to them why I am a tour guide is a challenge, because it’s not something they are used to seeing here. Getting an opportunity to put my country out there and teach people about it, while taking part in the process of getting it recognized by the world, is truly a blessing for me. People have a lot of misconceptions about Somaliland, some people think it is not safe, which isn’t true, so tourism is a great way to help distinguish between the two.”

Yasmine of Algeria

Further north, Algeria is being seen as the next potential boom country when it comes to African tourism.

However, as of 2023, only 16.8 percent of women were in employment and those challenges are felt in the tourism industry too.

Yasmine Benchikh is one of those Algerian women wanting to play a part in the booming sector.

According to Yasmine: “Becoming a tour guide was my childhood dream; I’ve always wanted to meet people from all over the world and introduce my country to people. Tourism is important to Algeria, it will make people feel more connected to the world. The country has multiple activities, such as great hiking trails in the mountains. However, the country needs more affordable hotels, guest houses, road stops and in general, better quality hotels. I’m very ambitious about guiding, I’d like to learn more and more about this job.”

Along with women cultural tour guides, Untamed Borders, has also teamed up with a groundbreaking initiative in Tajikistan, which is training up the nation’s first female trekking guides.

The programme called Women Rockin’ Pamirs offers training courses, in a nation where around 69 percent of women remain unemployed and some of the benefactors from the scheme joined Untamed Borders’ on their Pamir Mountain Lakes trekking trips, as part of the guiding team.

Into a female future

Many of the women guides who work with Untamed Borders, hope to inspire a future generation of female tourism workers and change attitudes in the nations they represent.

While Fatima cannot currently guide in her home country, she still has big ambitions for the future.

According to her: “I dream of having my own tour company in Afghanistan, where I can show the world the true beauty of my country. Afghanistan is often seen through the lens of war and conflict, but there is so much more to it.

At present, she continues to conduct virtual tours from Italy. 

While she remains far from home, she managed to find a way to continue her work and connect people to Afghanistan. 

Through these virtual tours, she keeps her passion alive by showing her country’s beauty to those who cannot visit in person.

She said” “Alongside my virtual tours, I founded an association in Italy to support girls’ education in Afghanistan. I believe education is the most powerful tool for change. With the Taliban being in power, many girls in Afghanistan are denied the right to go to school and universities. Through my association and my virtual tours, I am helping provide resources and support to these girls so they can have a better future. I also hope in the future I could open more schools for girls. I have fought for my independence and my freedom, and I will never let anyone take that away from me. No matter, my spirit will always remain free. I will continue to fight for my dreams, for the right of women to be free, and for a better future for the girls of Afghanistan.”