Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING MAR 2019 46 IN FOCUS BB: Gender equality is obviously an issue across many industries. How does the gaming industry compare? HG: In the gaming industry, the research shows that the number of women that make up senior leadership teams is up slightly from 2017, from 20.8% to 21.5% but only 5.9% of CEOs are females; down from 7.1% in 2017. Across all industries, 17.1% of CEOs are female and women make up 30.5% of senior leadership teams. There is still a way to go for all industries but compared to the figures I mentioned earlier, the gaming industry is lagging. BB: What have been the specific barriers women have traditionally faced when it comes to progressing through to leadership positions? HG: There are numerous barriers that arise in many different forms to stall women’s career progression. Research tells us males get promoted on potential, whereas women are promoted on past performance. Now women often suffer from the “stolen idea” whereby their idea or solution to a company issue is often credited to male colleagues. What this means is not only are men and women being measured in different ways to get to leadership positions, women are being unfairly biased by having a measure incorrectly calculated. Another barrier is understanding the language used in the recruitment process and how it can influence applicants. Research has demonstrated this in an example of changing “manage a team of x” to “develop a team of x”. By changing one word the number of female applicants increased. Women often lack confidence in their own abilities and require support to apply for roles. This is where mentors and sponsors can assist to overcome this barrier. In fact, Women in Gaming has recently offered three formal mentoring program placements to our members via an expression of interest process. We were inundated with applicants who understand that formal mentoring has been proven to increase the advancement of women. BB: Do you see any similar efforts supporting women being made across Asia? HG: I do see the natural expansion of Women in Gaming Australasia to the northern hemisphere to fully accommodate the Asia region. There will, of course, be different systemic gender barriers in each country attributed to cultural differences. Extending the initiative into Asia is relevant due to the cross movement of human capital in the region, particularly on the supplier side of the gaming industry. As an accountant I can also say that Women in Gaming as an industry body is an effective use of scarce resources. It allows companies to pool their money together into Women in Gaming and allows us to create suitable resources for this industry. For example, we are creating a gender action plan that can be adopted at a department “Women often lack confidence in their own abilities and require support to apply for roles.This iswherementors and sponsors can assist to overcome this barrier.”