The average percentage of women in executive committee, director or board roles within the Hospitality, Travel and Leisure FTSE 100 is only in the region of 32%, according to research from PWC carried out in 2020.
Whilst this low number may be surprising to some, this disparity will not surprise anyone who has ever looked below the surface of gender within this workplace.
The event management industry is not one that would appear to succumb to gender inequality at first glance, particularly with women making up more than approximately three-quarters of the workforce according to our own research.
However, the percentage of men in the event management industry increases significantly with levels of seniority. So despite more women working within the event management industry and, therefore, in leadership roles than men as a whole, the premise of gender disparity is still very much evident.
IBTM has now conducted research into gender equality within the event management industry.
From a global sample of 2000 people working within the event management industry, they found out that 76.9% are women. A female-dominated industry, you could say.
Women In Leadership Within The Event Management Industry
From the worldwide sample, it appears that the number of men within the industry increases as one climbs the seniority ladder.
For example, in junior executive roles, the gender ratio of men to women is 1:5 respectively, with just 17% of the workforce being male. Yet, in seniority to manager level, the gender split levels out to men making up 19% of the workforce.
And, in leadership levels with roles such as directors, this percentage jumped right up to 37%.
| Seniority Level | Female – Total | Female – Percent | Male – Total | Male – Percent |
| Executive | 10 | 83% | 2 | 17% |
| Manager | 1110 | 81% | 266 | 19% |
| Director | 217 | 63% | 128 | 37% |
So, on the surface, there are still more women in leadership roles, yes. But what if one digs a little deeper?
Well, the interesting thing about this is when looking at the percentage of each gender at the different seniority levels.
| Gender | Executive | Manager | Director |
| Women | 0.75% | 83.02% | 16.23% |
| Men | 0.51% | 67.17% | 32.32% |
The results speak for themselves.
When it comes to gender, men within the event management industry have a greater chance of occupying a directorial position than women. Of the sample, only 16% of the women included were at this seniority level in comparison to 32% of men.
Read the full report from IBTM here.
