The Gender Leadership Gap in the U.S. Meetings and Events Industry: An Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods Approach

Abstract

The U.S. meetings and events industry is heavily female-dominated, yet continues to be led by men. Despite accounting for approximately 80% of the workforce, just 20% of executive positions are held by women. While this imbalance is stark, limited academic research has explored the barriers and facilitators shaping women’s career development in this dynamic field. This dissertation addresses this gap through an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design, in which the most commonly encountered and most influential barriers and facilitators to women’s career development in the U.S. meetings and events industry were explored. Guided by the Social Role Theory, this study first conducted semi-structured interviews with female executives in the field to uncover qualitative themes. Thematic analysis revealed several barriers, such as work-life conflict, a lack of industry-wide standardization, and numerous barriers rooted in gendered expectations. Facilitators included mentorship, self-initiated industry engagement, and empathetic leadership. These findings informed the development of a quantitative survey distributed to women working in the industry, which assessed both the frequency and influence of these factors on career development. Quantitative findings revealed that the most frequently occurring barriers, along with the most damaging barriers, were generally rooted in gendered expectations. Among the most frequently occurring were being held to a higher standard than male colleagues and women feeling as though they must work harder than male colleagues, while the most damaging barriers included women being taken less seriously than their male counterparts and work being undervalued. Conversely, the most commonly occurring facilitators included financial literacy and having a skillset that is transferable to a management position, while the most beneficial included resilience, confidence, and authenticity. This study offers practical recommendations for organizations, such as inclusive leadership training, bias-reduction workshops, and mentorship pipelines tailored to the industry’s unique demands. By combining in-depth qualitative insights with broader quantitative validation, this dissertation contributes to the limited but growing body of knowledge on the gender leadership gap in the U.S. meetings and events industry. The findings offer actionable strategies for industry leaders and educators aiming to support and retain women as they advance into leadership roles.