Women in Games : Experiences and Attitudes of Female Employees in the Male-dominated Games Industry

• Main Authors: REINELÖV, JOSEFIN, ÅHSTRÖM, SARA
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: KTH, Organisation och ledning 2014
• Subjects: Gender; Gender equality; Gender issues; The games industry
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-159688

Sweden is regularly listed as one of the best countries in the world in terms of gender equality, often portrayed as a role model compared to the rest of the world. However, occupations tend to comprise disproportionately large numbers of women or men. The games industry is no exception, were women represent only 15 per cent of the workforce, of which only a small percentage  of those  actually work with the game production. This implies negative consequences both in terms of business performance and inequality working conditions. This thesis aims to increase the understanding of why there are so few women within the games industry through an investigation of the attitudes and work experiences  among Swedish female game workers. From a gender perspective, the ongoing construction of gendering practices is problematized, drawing on the study of a Swedish game company and interviews with  seventeen female game workers. We found that the general attitudes towards the games industry are positive. The passion for games was the most significant common factor for all women and in general, women expressed a friendly culture and satisfying workplace conditions. However, the analysis of women’s  work experiences revealed that the industry has gender issues, where women are routinely disadvantaged in favor of men. The widespread stereotype that women are just not as interested or just not as good as men, works against them. Women suffer fewer opportunities to advance, particularly in reaching top management positions and homosocial practices occurs in the recruitment  process as well as within the internal jargon. Hence, the gender power structure problematized in this  study, manifest itself through  multiple negative implications for women.