

EA: Blaming sexism for lack of women in our industry is a cop-out  - speeder
http://gamasutra.com/view/news/185122/EA_Blaming_sexism_for_lack_of_women_in_our_industry_is_a_copout.php#.UP2bmz_lP-I

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jb17
Maybe it's just the low quality of the article that leaves me puzzled, but the
Gabrielle Toledanos argument doesn't make sense to me.

According to the article she says that sexism is not the problem, but
perceived sexism. So women don't join the gaming industry because they think
it's sexist.

Assuming she is right (I'm not saying she is), doesn't that make removing the
sexist reputation of the gaming industry the main issue?

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pekk
Let me try to explain what I understood without in any way taking up this
position (I have nothing to do with the games industry).

She says sexism is a serious issue, BUT the problem in the games industry is
not enough women to hire, especially in engineering. This is the bottom line
for the article.

She doesn't at all say that perceived sexism is "the problem," I think that is
your interpolation. She does say that if the reason a woman doesn't join the
industry is because she fears sexism will limit her, that woman is missing out
(implied: it's worth it, it's not that limiting). But nothing is asserted
about perceived sexism having primacy. So it doesn't necessarily follow from
this position that the main issue is to remove the sexist reputation of the
gaming industry. But even if it were, you will see a different approach if the
reputation is accurate vs. if it is overblown.

There are lots of reasons for why a demographic might be under-represented in
an industry, which do not require that the demographic is being abused to a
point where there is no point in their getting equipped to join that industry

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jb17
OK, you're right, maybe I'm interpolating her argument because it is the only
thing the article mentions her saying about why women don't join the gaming
industry (or become engineers in general). Saying the problem is that there
aren't enough women to hire is just another way of saying that only few women
want to join that industry. That is not a problem analysis.

So I read the actual article in Forbes: She argues that the level of sexism in
the gaming industry is similar to other male dominated industry and that the
game industry just has a bad reputation. She then goes on to encourage women
to join the gaming industry. That makes more sense then the sensationalist
title/article on gamasutra.

