Female participation is low, which is why they created Women in Gamex to combat workplace violence and harassment in the sector.
Whether as gamers or content creators, women have jumped on the gaming boat, navigating harassment and sexism, their daily bread in the industry.
Unfortunately, the developers, who are behind the scenes, suffer similar harassment in a sector, like many others, dominated by men.
The visibility and denunciation of harassment within companies is important, since it leads to the fall of perpetrators.
Just like it happened in Activision Blizzard con J. Allen Brackformer president of the company, who left office on charges of failing to curb harassment at the company and foster a culture of aggression towards women.
Women in Gamex
Despite the abilities of the developers, they face that they are not taken seriously or see their work undervalued.
Said diana rodriguez Aparicio, CEO of Big Monster and foundress of the initiative Women in Gamex.
“I had to learn the story of a girl who went to work in a European country for an Assassin’s Creed game and she came to tell me that the boys, the people from other countries who were collaborating with her told her ‘it’s that you don’t You know about video games, what are you doing here?”.
Rodriguez assured.
With the movement, Rodríguez and her collaborators They seek to make visible the role of women in the video game industry in Mexico and Latin America.
They hold conversations, talks, presentations and community events for women in the industry, both in Mexico and in other countries in the region.
It is a group that provides support and advice to women.
Mexican Women In Video Games
Together with Autonomous University of Barcelona and the University of Vic-Central University of CataloniaWomen in Gamex conducted the study ‘Mexican Women In Video Games‘.
A pioneering investigation on women in the industry, which compiled various figures on female developers in Mexico.
It is surprising that only 11% are programmers involved in the direct development of the gamewhile the rest work in other areas.
In other words, despite the fact that women enter a studio, they are not always directly related to the production of a title.
Ana Méndez, art director of Panoli Studio, said that she has hardly met any programmers, although she has been related to art or public relations.
“Many people wonder if we don’t invite women, but it’s not that, it’s that we can’t find them and we don’t know where they are either.“.
Mendez stated.
Part of the problem lies in the fact that there are few women working in STEM.
In Latin America, only 17% graduate in this area, according to data from the Inter-American Development Bank.
He problem is multifactorialbut there are two that stand out, the self biaswhich says that those races are not for women.
Along with the problems sexual and labor harassment that they suffer in their area, includes the study carried out in 2021, for Zack Overflow.
The situation begins to change because the new generations are more interested in breaking traditional roles so that more girls get involved in STEM and video games
Alejandra Vacio, art director of the Hannie Echo studio, added that there is still much to do within companies.
She mentioned that women limit themselves when making comments because they fear being reprimanded or ignored.
In addition, he added that some video game distributors ask developers to change the focus of their titles to get published.
How to add sexual content, which the creative had not thought of.
Collaborate together vs bullying
A different vision is provided by Mariana Lagüera, public relations officer at Patoli Studio, who stated that, in northern Mexico, specifically in Ciudad Juárez, women work on a par with men.
He described that they complain directly to executives about the abuses committed within the company, to the point of breaking into offices to set limits.
Patoli Studio is small, made up of six people; adheres to what Lagüera said, since half are women.
Lagüera considered that these ventures generate healthier spaces for women due to the smaller number of individuals involved.
Well, the main challenge is in large houses, with larger work teams, where reports of workplace and sexual harassment are common.
Lagüera, Méndez, Rodríguez and Vacio agreed that the impetus has to come from the top command posts.
Who are responsible for applying the ‘zero tolerance’ against these behaviors, but unfortunately everything is a dead letter.
Since most managers are men who let complaints go unpunished or ignore them outright.
The developers agreed that women in the industry are beginning to create spaces for their peers to come together with the certainty that their work will be respected and they will not suffer labor or sexual abuse.
Mendez invited the women not to feel intimidated.
That if they are passionate about video games, they enter the sector, not only as programmers, but as artists, illustrators or in public relations.
“Cheer up to take the step and enjoy it, because if you do, you will grow much faster and in a better way”.
manifested.
Rodríguez, for his part, maintained that ability does not depend on gender and that when you enter a community you feel heard and supported.
“When you find support networks, you find the strength to be able to do more things and to be able to feel confident in what you are doing”.
Accurate.
Lagüera advised girls, who have been interested in videogames from an early age, to play titles of various genres so that in the future they can develop the ones they like best.
I would tell young adults that they don’t have to wait to study their entire career or to work in a studio, they can start now, with something small.
“Try, because in reality, to develop a video game there are too many areas in which you can specialize. The most important thing is to find your area“.
emphasized.
“Do not limit yourself, trust you, we are waiting for you out here. Because one also thinks that she is alone in that industry, but no, we are there, to support each other“.
Emptiness pointed out.