According to the ESA, the expected that the world wide revenue for the Gaming Industry will reach $90 Billion. The constituency for that industry is fairly divided between the sexes, but women only make up approximately 12% of the workers in that industry. Girls Make Games, whose headquarters are based in San Jose, is an educational camp geared at fostering girls' interest in game design and engineering. Founder, Laila Shabir launched Girls Make Games when she herself had issues with recruitment for her own studio.
At Girls Make Games, students learn different programs in the industry, get to be among other girls with the same interest, are also exposed to professional from the tech industry and receive guidance from mentors. The gaming industry is not only male dominated but has gained a reputation for having a "bro" culture that extends beyond designers and engineers but stigmatizes the women and girls who consume that culture. As a whole women are under represented in the Tech Industry and it has received criticism for their lack of diversity in general.
In an article from the Guardian last year, Silicon Valley is Cool and Powerful. But Where Are All the Women? Caroline Simard the research director at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford was consulted about what was happening with what women were experiencing in the industry. There is a correlation between the number of women within the industry and the sexist behavior that is flourishing. "Because in tech you have so few women to begin with, then that really reinforces these power dynamics between men and women." This is something that women within the Tech industry understand if not experience first hand. That being said the challenge then becomes how to implement more women into the industry when the discrimination against women is often times the deterrence?
"Because in tech you have so few women to begin with, then that really reinforces these power dynamics between men and women." This is something that women within the Tech industry understand if not experience first hand. That being said the challenge then becomes how to implement more women into the industry when the discrimination against women is often times the deterrence?
And that is where organizations like Girls Make Games comes in. These organizations not only create spaces where girls and or minorities feel comfortable but in the building of these new communities, slowly but surely shift how these groups are viewed within the industry. Below are great resources whose goals are to foster the interest of girls and minority groups.
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25 Years Afterwards, Anita Hill Weights in on the Progress on the Fight Against Sexual Harassment8/10/2016 Over the weekend a girlfriend of mine sent me this article, Glamour Exclusive: President Barack Obama, "This is What a Feminist Looks Like" and serendipitously this afternoon I read an article about author Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche from Time, "Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Feminism and Motherhood Aren’t ‘Mutually Exclusive.’"
What I found interesting was just the two different approaches each article had about parenting and Feminism. Gender ideologies playing out? Not sure just yet. But makes me want to do some further research on how the media approaches Mothers and Fathers.
Last week, NPR's Goats and Soda's asked, "What does it mean to be a feminist in different countries around the world?" People were asked to tweet in their response with the #FeminismInmyCountry.
My field of study being in the Liberal Arts, for the longest time I was trapped in this bubble. And in this bubble it was understood what this word meant, that individuals proudly embraced this label and it was a rare occasion you would come across individuals who thought "Feminism" was a bad word. Being so immersed in that privileged sphere allowed me to not only freely discuss but to debate with peers and colleagues about issues surrounding gender disparity. But beyond this bubble, talking about controversial topics such as gender, race, class, etc. generally people have discomfort sharing. With the goal of my work ultimately to open a Feminist discourse with my participants, first and foremost I need to create spaces that comfortably shift my audience's role from spectators to participants. Creating that engagement is always challenging; as an added obstacle, I want my work to function beyond the confines of liberal arts, academia and the white cube, therefore I am always concerned with the environments I create. For me, what it comes down to are all the small details. The careful curation of space, objects and language are the backbones of creating safe spaces for discussion. That being said, for me a maker of success is when I have a varied degree of response from participants. Which brings me back to Soda and Goats initial inquiry. In the lawlessness of the twittersphere, it is amazing the varied response that were tweeted. Embedded below is a live feed for their #FeminismInmyCountry which varies from the curated selection presented in their article. I know a lot of people get the total creeps that most of the technology we use not only leaves a digital bread crumb trail of our shenanigans but that it also predicts what it thinks you want to experience. And I get it, sort of strange in this big brother type of way. Don't get me wrong, my research lends it self to some pretty embarrassing search engine results. But from time to time it sort of just gets me. This was a video that popped up as a suggestion for me on YouTube. Thanks, weird internet data collect and regurgitator. This one combines too many of my loves: makeupe + mass production + factory machinery. Happy viewing!
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