The discussion of women in video gaming is a hot topic right now. Women currently in the gaming industry are speaking out about the sexism they face on a daily basis while the debate about gender equality rages over the internet with both rational arguments and embarrassing extremists on all sides. Chi Onwurah is MP (Member of Parliament for us Americans) who has stepped into the discussion, calling the lack of women in the UK’s information and communication technology fields, including video games, “an absolute scandal”.
Onwurah feels it is necessary for the government of the UK to take a long look at the equality of genders within the traditionally male-dominated sectors of information technology, noting her own past experience has shown such things do not reliably correct themselves given time.
The Government’s position is – they offered lots of warm words of support – but they don’t believe in targeting girls. They believe in raising the profile of ICT generally, rather than just girls. Again, I’d say that – having a lot of experience in this industry – this ‘gender-blindness’ approach is not going to work. It hasn’t worked so far.
Ultimately, she may be right, but it is also possible there are new factors at work in the current debate such issues have not had to complicate matters before. Gender equality is a popular notion. The debate seems less to be based around whether having more women in game development is a good thing than on how to go about promoting it.
The real dilemma comes from trying to figure out how to regulate something without applying an opposite inequality based upon numerical equality. Even if it gets more women into the gaming industry, is legislation a success if it makes that industry’s benefits and costs pointedly weighted in the opposite direction? Equality does not just mean numbers, it also means equality of opportunity, which is significantly trickier to regulate.
Good luck to the UK on finding a solution to the issue, I will be happy to applaud and show what support I am capable of if they manage it.
