• March 4, 2026

Women continue to dominate events workforce – but pay gap persists

Women continue to dominate events workforce – but pay gap persists

Women continue to dominate events workforce – but pay gap persists 1024 683 micebook.

Women continue to outnumber men across the events industry, reinforcing its position as a female-led sector. However, pay gaps persist, with women earning around 10% less than their male counterparts – a figure that sits slightly above the UK national average.

The findings come from a preview of the Live Recruitment Event Industry Diversity Report 2026, released to mark International Women’s Day this weekend (8 March). The snapshot focuses specifically on gender representation, pay, age and career progression ahead of the full report in April.

Across the industry, women account for 59% of the workforce compared with 41% men, a figure that has remained largely unchanged since 2025.

Representation varies across sectors

While women dominate most areas of the industry, representation differs significantly across sub-sectors.

Associations and corporate client teams show the strongest female representation at 82.8% and 80.4% respectively, while conference and exhibition organisers (67.6%), experiential agencies (68.3%) and venues (64.8%) also sit above the industry average.

However, technical sectors remain male-dominated. Women represent just 13% of the audio-visual workforce, while exhibition design and build is approaching parity but still slightly behind the industry average at 46.4%.

Pay gap remains

Despite women making up more of the workforce, salary data highlights a continued gender pay gap. The average salary for women in events is £38,203, compared with £42,262 for men, leaving women earning roughly £4,000 less on average.

Women also report slightly lower salary expectations, with a desired average salary of £39,491, compared with £42,559 for men.

At around 10%, the industry pay gap is higher than the current UK national gender pay gap of approximately 6.9%.

Seniority & Leadership

Women remain the majority at junior and mid-career levels, representing 59.7% of junior roles and 60.8% of mid-level roles.

However, representation becomes closer to parity at senior level, where women hold 51.4% of roles, indicating male representation increases at leadership stages.

“This year’s data reaffirms that the events industry is truly a sector where women make up the backbone of the workforce, with female professionals outnumbering their male counterparts across most sectors, said Laura Kelly, managing director of Live Recruitment.

“While this is something we can be proud of, the persistence of a gender pay gap that sits above the national average – alongside lower female representation in technical roles and senior leadership – shows there is still important work to be done.”

The full Live Recruitment Diversity Report will be published on 1 April 2026 to coincide with Diversity Month.

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