It is almost fifty years since the first World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production (WCGALP) was convened in Spain in 1974. This paper, targeted for the early-career scientist session, details the history and evolution of WCGALP, and outlines gender composition of the Permanent International Committee, session chairs, plenary and invited speakers, and authors. Data containing 24,351 author records from all WCGALP proceedings, and old programs were used for the analyses. In the early years, there were few women involved in any aspect of WCGALP, however, more recent congresses have featured an increasing proportion of women on WCGALP committees and serving as session chairs. Based on recent data, gender is not playing a determining role in selection of submitted papers for oral presentations. We recommend greater gender diversity on WCGALP committees and encourage early-career scientists to actively participate in WCGALP conferences to further increase the diversity of future congresses.