The events industry prides itself on being people-centric, creative, and community-driven — but the latest findings from Live Recruitment’s 2025 Sales Diversity Report reveal an imbalance that often goes unnoticed: event sales is one of the most gender-divided areas of the entire sector. Across subsectors, the data shows stark contrasts in gender representation, with some areas heavily male-dominated and others overwhelmingly female. These splits have important implications for employers looking to build equitable, high-performing commercial teams.
How divided is event sales across gender and why does it matter?
While women represent 56.9% of all event sales professionals overall, distribution varies dramatically by subsector. Some sales environments show strong female representation, while others are dominated by males to an extent that raises questions around access, culture, and career progression.
These divisions shape everything from workforce dynamics and team culture to how talent enters, progresses, and stays within the industry. For employers, understanding these splits matters not only from an equity perspective but also for performance, client engagement, and long-term commercial growth.
Which subsectors are most heavily male-dominated and why is this important for employers?
The biggest imbalance appears in tech supplier sales teams, where 77.9% of roles are held by men. This suggests potential barriers to entry, differences in perceived role accessibility, or cultural patterns that dissuade women from entering technical sales environments. The gender divide here also aligns with the widest pay gaps in the sector, indicating deeper structural issues.
Similarly, event/production agencies and conference & exhibition organisers show male dominance, with 55–56% of roles held by men. While not as stark as the tech sector, the pattern is consistent and suggests that commercial roles tied to production or technical delivery are more likely to attract (or retain) men.
This imbalance matters because male-dominant teams are statistically more susceptible to limited diversity of thought, narrower decision-making styles, and reduced relatability across client profiles.
Where are women most represented and what challenges still exist?
Despite strong overall female representation, gender inequality remains visible in traditionally female-dominant subsectors. The clearest example is venues, where: 73.1% of sales roles are held by women, yet men in venue sales still earn £4,200 more on average.
This reveals an important truth: representation does not automatically equal equity. Even in subsectors where women form the overwhelming majority, they are not benefiting equally in terms of pay, seniority, or progression.
For employers, this means that simply having a diverse gender mix is not enough - the structure, culture, and reward mechanisms also need to reflect inclusion.
How do these gender divides affect hiring, retention, and team culture?
Gender segmentation across subsectors creates several long-term challenges such as:
Reduced mobility between subsectors: Women in venue sales may be less likely to transition into higher-paying areas like tech or agency environments.
Uneven leadership representation: Male-dominated subsectors often show a pipeline skewed towards male senior leadership.
Cultural separation: Teams dominated by one gender are more prone to unconscious bias and limited working styles.
Pay consistency issues: As the salary data shows, gender imbalance often correlates with gender pay gaps.
Impact on employer brand: Candidates increasingly scrutinise diversity indicators when selecting employers.
For employers, these divides create risks around fairness, attraction, and retention - especially in a candidate-driven sales market.
What can employers do to rebalance gender representation and ensure fairness?
There are several actionable steps organisations can take to rebalance gender representation and ensure fairness within recruitment processes and retention:
Review job descriptions and language for unintended gender bias
Create clearer entry routes into male-dominant subsectors such as tech sales
Offer structured progression pathways, especially in female-majority environments
Benchmark pay to ensure parity across genders for equivalent roles
Proactively encourage cross-subsector mobility where skills are transferable
Ensure interview panels are diverse
Partner with Live Recruitment for unbiased shortlisting and market-aligned hiring strategies
Building balanced teams is not only good for DEI - it strengthens commercial performance by broadening thinking, improving client rapport, and enhancing leadership representation.
Conclusion
The 2025 Live Recruitment Event Sales Diversity Report highlights that event sales remain deeply gender-divided, with major discrepancies across subsectors. While women dominate certain areas and men dominate others, neither environment guarantees pay equality, balanced progression, or shared opportunity. For employers, addressing these divides is essential for building sustainable, high-performing commercial teams. By improving pathways, ensuring fair pay structures, and actively encouraging diverse participation, organisations can create sales environments that better reflect the clients they serve and the future they want to build.
Live Recruitment works closely with employers across the events sector to identify imbalance, benchmark salaries, and build more diverse, dynamic commercial teams.
The full 2025 Event Sales Diversity Report, which includes detailed analysis across each subsector, can be downloaded here: https://www.live-recruitment.co.uk/diversity-report-2025-event-sales-sector