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

[Ian Schreiber]

Maria writes:

>I don't know how anyone can breastfeed for a year (the minimal currently recommended period for baby health 



>reasons; it's better to go for two) 

on the US-mandated maternity leave of several weeks. The expectation of 
overtime in 


>all computer-related industries seals it. You may be able to procreate, but not necessarily experience some significant 



>aspects of 

parenthood, as Anthony explained in his personal story.

Since others were bringing up legal protections in Australia and UK, figured I'd throw in what I know of US: employers are required to give 12 weeks unpaid maternity leave at the new mom's discretion within the first year. Employers are also supposed to make reasonable accommodations for breastfeeding, although what's "reasonable" is not strictly defined and varies widely. Anything beyond this is pretty much the employer's choice. No mandated paternity leave, and for parents that rely on mom's income, the "option" to take unpaid leave isn't particularly practical (especially not at the same time that all the delivery medical bills are coming in). The "protections" here are pretty thin, and would seem on their face to favor the women who don't need them.



>Having a mother does not prepare one for the reality of staying up every night, a week or two in a row, with a sick child, 



>then going to work 

and be expected to perform like everybody else. It affects you quite 
differently from staying up all 


>night to play a computer game (I've done both). Two parents with full-time jobs significantly raise chances of 

childhood 


>sickness for their babies, so the situation becomes more 

likely. 


Obligatory plug: just this year, the IGDA Parents in Game Dev SIG was launched. There's a mailing list (igda-devs-with-kids at googlegroups.com), and an "official" hashtag, #gamedevparents on Twitter. From what people have said there, it is possible to be both parent and developer, mostly by giving up the opportunity to work at studios that have more aggressive time expectations.



Adam Parker says:>The real question, from academia's standpoint, is how we are to help build a diverse industry right now - starting from a 

>clear statement that diversity equals better economic sense, instead of arguing on the bigot's terms for the relevance 

>of diversity.



AFAIK, in industry, there are basically two methods to achieve diversity within a dev studio:

1. Make diversity a core company value from inception. If the workplace starts diverse, it is more likely to stay that way, and each new hire is more likely to not be like anyone already there. "That interview candidate is a little too much like Ted. We already have one Ted, we don't need another."

2. If the studio is already largely homogenous, grow a lot, quickly. If your 20-person team becomes 200 in a few months, any corporate culture you may have had will be disintegrated (or at least sufficiently diluted) as long as your growth is diverse.

(Corollary: if your studio is homogenous and you're hiring one or two new people, you are basically screwed. Most likely, everyone will be looking for "team fit" i.e. "someone just like the rest of us." Even in a best-case scenario where you find someone different, they'll have a definite feeling of being a lone wolf... not exactly a happy place to be for a place where you'll be spending most of your day supposedly working on a "team".)


>From our end, best I can see is:


1. Make diversity, equality, yadda yadda a core value within our respective departments. Example: an all-male Engineering faculty is just not going to be as supportive of women's issues due to ignorance and lack of exposure, no matter how "enlightened" they are collectively, and that will manifest in the symptom of lower female enrollment.

2. Transmit this value to the student body. Internalize it within the curriculum. I saw two wonderful suggestions earlier in this thread: a required "ethics in games" class that covers the topic from all angles so that students have an understanding of the issues, and including diversity-minded assignments ("create a game for a target audience that isn't you").

3. Encourage and support entrepreneurially-minded students to start their own studios. Low chance of success individually, sure, but at least there's also a low burn rate... and every success can spawn one more diverse studio.

4. Wait. Give students who internalize these issues the time to reach positions of prominence within the industry.

I'm open to other suggestions, though, especially anything I can implement in my classes right now.

- Ian
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