Women's month: what’s happening in the eSports industry?

I like to look at March as an inspiring month for women; after all the International Women’s Day, takes place on March 8. For many people, this is all about bringing awareness of inequality and bias. 

But this is also a great opportunity to celebrate our achievements and inspire change; this is an opportunity to remind women around the world they have the power to win, and that qualities like strong character, ambition, courage, perseverance or passion are just as cool in a woman as they are in a man. 

“8th of March is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. It is an occasion for looking back on past struggles and accomplishments, and more importantly, for looking ahead to the untapped potential and opportunities that await future generations of women.” (United Nations Women Watch)

So what’s happening in our industry? many people have asked, what is the current state of eSports for women? This is a fundamental question and not really easy to answer, because there are many elements involved. 

In traditional sports, gender stereotypes remain substantial. There is a generalized belief that men will outperform women based on the physical differences. Right or wrong, this is the justification for the separation of men and women in traditional sports – but we do not have these physical constrains in eSports, so why is there so little gender diversity? 

Some researchers believe one of the reasons is that aggressiveness is part of the game; it seems clear that both eSports fans and players understand the value and entertainment of aggressive play. I tend to agree with this statement, however I see a clear red line that separates an aggressive playing style, and the toxic online culture that has a deep effect on people’s experience when being a part of the eSports scene. Besides, women are often the target of this toxicity and it is an obvious off-putting element. There is way too much harassment and this is an issue that we can’t ignore. 

People involved in eSports need to reject toxicity and push players, talent, teams, organizers, developers, publishers and anyone that is involved to be more accountable and strive for professionalism. 

But I would like to discuss this topic from another angle: are women in eSports the ones to watch? 

There still seems to be very few women participating in professional gaming tournaments (around 5%), however female presence is prominent in the gaming sector.

According to Statista, almost 50% of all gamers in the world today are female. This translates into the eSports competitive sphere, where women are gaining in popularity.

Just from these numbers alone, we can see that women are an enormous demographic force and the eSports industry needs to take into consideration the potential of this group!

In terms of audience, according to a report by market researcher Interpret, women’s viewership of eSports grew from 23.9% of all watchers in 2016 to 30.4% in the fourth quarter of 2018. 

6.5% change is a major leap; this trend goes in the right direction! 

What is the meaning of all this? We are moving the needle in core demographic audience. In the next years, the accessibility of eSports to wider, more mature audiences, from both genders will be a reality. 

So I like to think about March as a month to celebrate and, although there is a lot of room for improvement in the field of eSports, we also have reasons to congratulate ourselves. There are amazing women that had forged their own paths in the gaming industry. And we have great talents that are on their way and leading by example. 

We need female role models, like Kim “Geguri” Se-Yeon, the first female player of the Overwatch League, Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn, professional StarCraft II player, the highest earning female eSports player in the world with $200,693.82 earned so far, Ann Hand, CEO of Super League Gaming (SLG), Yvette Martinez-Rea , ESL North America CEO, Wendy Lecot, head of strategic alliances and digital marketing innovation at HyperX, Alicia Morote Oliver, COO of Team Queso in Spain, Sabrina Ratih,  partnership executive at G2 eSports or Eunice Chen, VP of Marketing at Cloud9. These are just some examples of hard working women that are inspiring a new wave of women in competitive gaming and in the eSports industry.

These names will go on to encourage more girls and women to join this industry, creating a snowball effect. 

More and more is being done to put the spotlight on women in gaming, with countless teams and organizations rallying behind these efforts. The Swiss eSports Federation (SESF) is committed to work towards the gender equality in this industry, supporting female talent and fighting against online toxicity. 

The future is exciting. Let's build together a gender-balanced eSports community.

Almudena Berzosa is a member of the Executive Team at the Swiss eSports Federation. For more content like this, follow her on LinkedIn, Twitter @A_berzosa and on Facebook at Facebook/BuildingYourBackbone

This Article was published originally in the Website of the Swiss Nationals.