Inside one developer’s quest to make gaming a better place for women

Men dominate the video game industry, as they have for most of its history. But perhaps as a result of the perpetual spotlight that has been shone on the issue of gender equality in the games industry, statistics show the percentage of females in development roles in the industry is, in fact, rising slowly. According to the IGDA’s 2014, 2015 and 2016 Developer Satisfaction Surveys, game developers are still generally still white males, most of whom without any children or elder care responsibilities. However, the percentage of women in the gaming workforce has more than doubled over the past 12 years, rising from 11.5 percent in 2005 to approximately 25 percent in 2015. We can see this number continuing to grow, albeit slowly.

While this is a positive direction to be moving in, other studies, such as a McKinsey study from 2016 have shown that women held 37 percent of entry-level roles in tech, not senior positions. With underrepresentation throughout each stage of the pipeline, it’s not surprising to find that 38 percent of women in technology sectors feel that their gender will make future advancement difficult.

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