Four in five women working in events have experienced
harassment on site at an event, according to the 2026 Big Survey from the
Network of Women in Events (NOWIE), with the research also highlighting
significant gaps in reporting and safeguarding.
The survey found that 80 per cent of women had experienced
harassment on site at an event, despite 86 per cent saying the events industry
is a safe or mostly safe working environment for women.
The findings suggest a disconnect between overall
perceptions of safety and individual experiences, with harassment ranging from
comments about appearance and catcalling to unwanted physical contact and
sexual assault.
Some 62 per cent of women surveyed had experienced comments
about their appearance, catcalling or whistling on site, while 33 per cent had
experienced unwanted physical contact. Six per cent reported experiencing
sexual assault on site.
The survey also found that 61 per cent of women did not
report the most significant incident they experienced.
NOWIE managing director Cat Kevern said the findings
highlighted a contradiction between perceptions of safety and women's
experiences.
She said: “This research is about turning lived experiences into
action. The events industry is an incredible space to work in, but these
findings make it clear that too many women are still navigating unsafe
environments, inconsistent reporting structures and a lack of accountability.”
“There is a really important contradiction in this year's
findings. Most women tell us they feel safe working in events, yet four in five
have experienced harassment on site. We don't want The Big Survey to become an
annual exercise where we publish difficult statistics and then come back a year
later to see whether anything has changed. The question now is what we do with
this evidence.”
Freelancers face a particular gap
The report highlights the challenges created by the events
industry's heavily freelance and mobile workforce.
Some 38 per cent of respondents were freelance or running
their own business. Among women, freelance and self-employed respondents
reported similar levels of on-site risk to employed women - 81 per cent
compared with 79 per cent.
However, only 28 per cent of freelance and self-employed
women knew of a clear reporting process, compared with 64 per cent of employed
women.
UN Women UK's executive director Tabitha Morton said the
research highlighted the need to extend safeguarding beyond conventional
workplace structures.
“What is missing, consistently, is the infrastructure to act
on it. That is the gap this report clearly identifies: reporting routes nobody
trusts, safeguarding that stops at the office door, and a workforce, freelance,
itinerant, public-facing, that existing systems were never built to reach.”
NOWIE is now developing Safe to Work, an industry-wide
programme intended to turn the findings into practical measures.
The initiative will include policy templates,
recommendations around designated safeguarding leads, a reporting framework and
industry-specific safeguarding training.
The findings will be discussed at NOWIE's The Big Survey
2026 Insights Launch: What Happens Next? at Church House Westminster on 15
October, bringing together representatives from the events, workplace safety,
VAWG and government sectors.
The survey was completed by 519 people between 17 June and
28 July 2026, including 476 women and, for the first time, 43 men, non-binary
respondents and people who preferred not to say. Participation was anonymous
and voluntary, with respondents recruited through NOWIE’s community channels,
word of mouth and industry media.
Read the full report here.
