Gender (in)equality in the events industry

The Approach

There is anecdotal evidence of gender inequality in the events industry but, as a female dominated sector in numerical terms, it can be difficult to convince key stakeholders of the urgency of tackling this issue without more rigorous data. Dr Kate Dashper and Dr Guozhong Xie’s research provides this data, based on an international survey with events professionals. We found statistically significant differences in men’s and women’s career success, whether this was based on objective criteria – pay, promotions and level of seniority – or subjective criteria – career satisfaction and work-life balance.

On all measures, we found that men are more successful in their careers in the events industry than are women. This represents a problem for a female-dominated events industry, as in order to attract and retain high-performing and committed women, the sector needs to offer opportunities to excel and gain career satisfaction.

In partnership with Fast Forward, we produced an industry ‘white paper’ presenting these findings as a call to action for the events industry to do more to tackle inequality and embrace diversity.

The Impact

Our research findings show that the events industry needs to engage in both structural changes and targeted interventions to try and ensure careers in events provide everyone with opportunities for successful and enriching careers, regardless of gender.

One such intervention is mentoring, which has previously been shown to be a powerful mechanism to support career development. Dr Kate Dashper has been working with Fast Forward 15 for five years, investigating the efficacy of mentoring as a tool to support and empower women, and thus begin to challenge gender inequality in the events industry. In the initiative’s inaugural year, Kate conducted a longitudinal study of the programme, working with mentors, mentees and the programme designer. Findings were shared with Fast Forward 15 and contributed to ongoing developments of the programme. The research indicated that a structured formal mentoring programme can be very beneficial in supporting individual women in their careers in the events industry, in particular in relation to improving self-confidence, career planning and networking. However, although such mentoring programmes can be empowering on an individual level they do little to challenge wider structures and practices that contribute to ongoing gender inequality and so more profound change will also be necessary.

Five years later, Kate conducted follow-up research with previous mentees and mentors, finding that involvement in the programme had led to long-term changes in relation to confidence, career outcomes and attitudes towards equality. Even participants who had not been convinced by the need for a programme targeted on women and gender equality had subsequently realised that such initiatives are needed. The mentoring programme had thus not only helped individual women in their careers, it had also increased awareness amongst participants about the problems associated with gender and other forms of workplace inequality and the need to act to achieve real change.

Kate was invited to be a mentor on the programme in 2019-20. Working with former Leeds Beckett alumna, Alex Weatherstone, Kate was able to see first-hand how the mentoring programme supported mentee development and how refinements to the programme – made in part due to the preliminary research project – had helped overcome any initial areas of weakness. She has been invited to speak at and convene panel sessions on women and equality at numerous industry events, such as The Meetings Show, helping ensure that questions of equality and diversity remain on the events industry’s agenda. Kate continues to engage in research on equality and diversity in the events industry, and works with industry and academic partners to understand the causes of inequality and develops strategies and initiatives to overcome it.