Home Meeting Planner Resources Business Travel Feels Riskier for Women

Business Travel Feels Riskier for Women

July 11, 2025

Corporate business travel is back, but women are concerned that they face greater safety risks than men while on the road.

With business travel anticipated to exceed pre-COVID levels this year, it’s safe to say companies are again willing to send their execs on the road to network and do business at meetings, conferences and trade shows. But for women, this may not be as big a perk as you might think.

According to a recent survey of 2,000 business travelers by travel agent and risk-management provider World Travel Protection, almost three-quarters of women said they feel less safe when traveling for work than their male peers, and more than half said they felt uneasy on work trips due to safety concerns. Almost a third said they’d rather stay in their hotel room than go out on their own at night while on a work trip, compared to 18% of their male colleagues. Women also take other steps to protect themselves, such as informing friends and family of their whereabouts, and even wearing a (real or fake) wedding ring to ward off unwanted advances.

And they may well be less safe. The survey also found that 12% experienced theft, assault or other negative incident while traveling for work. This statistic hasn’t changed much since a 2021 survey by Journey Woman, which found that 12% of women said they were physically attacked or threatened while on the road. That earlier survey also found that 88% of women who were traveling solo were either threatened or felt unsafe while traveling.

These stats shouldn’t be surprising, since, according to UN Women, almost one in three women have been subjected to some form of violence at least once in their life. As one survey respondent said, “As females, we are vulnerable anywhere.” Those concerns understandably tend to be heightened when in unfamiliar surroundings — especially when in countries with less gender equality or where women’s rights are not protected. And yet companies often don’t recognize their female employees’ concerns when they send them off on a work trip, even though 80% of women say safety-related incidents have impacted their work productivity during business travel.

The WTP survey concluded that employers should be more proactive about ensuring the safety of their employees while out on business travel. Among the general recommendations are:

Develop and implement clear travel policies that detail safety measures and provide emergency contact details.
Require traveling employees to share itineraries with their employers so that companies can respond quickly should something negative occur.
Consider offering private transport options so employees don’t have to risk taking public transportation in unfamiliar areas.
Check to be sure that the hotel has someone on duty 24 hours a day to provide safety and security services if needed.
Provide travel assistance apps, and training on how to use them. The latter is particularly important, since the survey found that, while 70% of business travelers said their company encourages them to download a travel assistance app, only 30% actually do so and use it.

The report also provided recommendations specific to female employees, including providing a confidential forum where women can share their concerns and experiences, so they can make informed decisions about how to keep themselves safe while on business travel.