Professor Kate Dashper is a Professor at the School of Events, Tourism and Hospitality Management at Leeds Beckett University. Kate’s research applies a critical sociological lens to examine practices of work and leisure, with particular focus on gender issues in events, tourism and hospitality.

Kate has conducted research and consultancy projects within both the events and equestrian industries, evaluating gender equality initiatives in organisations and exploring the gendered experiences of women and men within professional and leisure contexts.

Why is equality important in the events industry?

Equality is important on two key levels:

First of all equality is something that we should all want and strive for, as it is just the right thing to do. No group or individual should be disadvantaged because of historical social patterns and stereotypical beliefs, and as a numerically female dominated sector, the events industry has a special obligation to try to ensure that we offer a fair and enabling environment for everyone – including women – to thrive in.

Second, equality is also important from a business perspective. Evidence shows that countries and companies that are more gender-balanced at senior levels perform better.

Having more diversity – be that in terms of gender, ethnicity, age or any other factor – helps drive innovation and so is key for long-term business success, particularly in today’s global and fast-changing environment.

What has been your experience/observation of inequality in the business events industry?

The business events industry is like most other business sectors and is dominated at the top by white middle class men.

However the sector is increasingly aware of this, and the need to try to diversify, and I have been involved in industry panel discussions and initiatives to try to address the persistent glass ceiling that can be seen at the top of the industry.

Awareness is an important first step to change, but then some concrete actions are needed to actually bring about that change and we do need more investment and commitment to challenge expectations and support people to leadership positions.

An excellent example of one such initiative is the Fast Forward 15 mentor programme in the UK which offers 15 women a year a chance to be mentored and supported by someone in the sector, but outside their own company. I have been involved with evaluating the programme and the outcomes are quite impressive in terms of supporting and empowering individual women.

Do you have any statistics on inequality in the industry globally? In Australia?

No, this is an issue, we don’t have reliable figures so it is difficult to quantify the extent of the issue.

At Leeds Beckett University we are just launching a survey to try to gather reliable statistical information on things like the gender pay gap, and issues to do with promotion, seniority and management responsibility in order to address this lack of knowledge.

Currently evidence is rather anecdotal – we all know there is an issue, but we don’t have reliable data to evidence that. Our survey should begin to address this and we will communicate the findings in the next few months.

This will be UK based initially, but we will then look to replicate that in other countries, including Australia.

The events industry in Australia is female-dominant, similar to what we understand about the UK. How can the industry harness this to become a leader for achieving equality in the overall business sector?

In Australia and the UK we see female numerical dominance of the events industry, and this is really evident when we look at the proportion of men and women studying for events degrees and other higher qualifications.

This marks an opportunity for the industry to harness that female talent and lead the way as a sector for offering women exciting and fulfilling career opportunities, but more will be needed to be done for this potential to be realised.

Mentoring and career support programmes can play an important role but we also need to think about how we organise work and careers in the sector, to be open and accessible to more people. How can we make a leadership career in events more compatible with family caring responsibilities? What can we do to encourage investors to believe more in women entrepreneurs and to support them financially in their business ventures?

These things will not change quickly, but it is encouraging that we are having these discussions more regularly now and that the industry seems committed to change and working towards greater equality.

*previously posted by enhancentertainment.