[game_edu] Implications of students going into a male-dominatedindustry?

[Maria Droujkova]

On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 4:12 AM, Nathan Runge <contact at nathanrunge.com>wrote:


>

> It is a simple and undeniable fact that the vast majority of game

> developers, at least in Australia, are male. To argue otherwise would be an

> untenable position. Viewing this as a 'problem' to be 'fixed' isn't

> required, and nor is it necessarily productive and consistent. The imbalance

> in the industry is simply the fact of the situation, and it being so is not

> causing any harm.

>


Let us view the issue in terms of social frameworks, and communities of
practice.


>From these point of view, people follow role models when they choose

careers; women more so than men. A role model is someone with whom you can
identify personally: someone similar to you in many aspects of life. Gender
is still very much a factor by which people identify another as "similar to
me" or "different from me."

This is how the harm of the imbalance happens. A girl visits a game dev
studio, or looks at a photo or a list of employees, sees no females, and
concludes "I don't see anyone like me there, so I will not do it."

It's not a matter of having one or two female role models for the purpose,
either. Social behavior has its own "tipping points" that follow percentages
of participation. You need "a few" role model to entice those with
adventurous or early developer mentalities, but it's just a few percent of
the population. You need "a lot" of role models to entice everybody else.

It's a chicken and egg problem.

Cheers,
Maria Droujkova
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