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Women and the gaming industry, where do we stand in Europe
The low participation of women in the gaming industry, either as gamers or as workers, is common throughout Europe, although national contexts show some differences.
Although women represent 46.7% of the players in Europe, their participation in the industry is significantly lower. Only 23.7% of those employed in the industry are women. This figure, although on the rise and signalling progress towards greater gender diversity, still highlights the under-representation of women.
This gender inequality can limit the potential of video games, depriving them of female skills, perspectives and innovations. The gaming industry must make further efforts to promote gender inclusion and equality.
Women and gaming education, some data
Europe currently hosts more than 360 study courses dedicated to game design, covering various disciplines, including animation, management and sound design. More than 50 of these courses focus exclusively on game design. One of the main reasons for this gender imbalance is the lack of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skills among girls.
The gender gap in the gaming industry seems to originate already during undergraduate years, where higher percentages of men than women are registered. In 2017-18, for example, men accounted for 88% of students enrolled in gaming-related degree programmes. However, there is a glimmer of hope: the percentage of women studying game design has increased from 7% to 11% in three years (2015-2018).
Although there are no exact figures on the number of female candidates for the degree courses, lecturers of the ‘Culture and Arts, Game Design’ degree course at Xamk claim that 50 per cent of the students are women, indicating an improvement in the gaming education landscape.
Women and the gaming industry in Italy
According to a report by the Italian Interactive Digital Entertainment Association (IIDEA), the Italian gaming sector has seen a significant increase in employment, with 2,400 people employed, registering a 50% increase since 2021. However, women in game production account for 24% of the total workforce, up from 23% in 2021.
Overcoming gender inequality in gaming will require the active involvement of girls from an early age to break down cultural barriers and gender stereotypes. Moreover, although initially contested, pink quotas are considered crucial to promote greater representation of women in the Italian gaming industry, ensuring fairer and more inclusive participation.
The NuGamers project: What will Sineglossa do?
To promote inclusion in the gaming sector, Sineglossa conceived, with other European partners, NUGAMERS: a new Erasmus+ project that strives to promote gender equality and create more inclusive learning environments, in line with EU priorities on inclusion and diversity.
Through a series of research and training activities between now and 2025, NUGAMERS aims to increase girls’ interest in STEM disciplines, following the EU vision of greater gender equality in STEM education and the STEM labour market. Sineglossa has worked on the STEAM approach through several projects in recent years, developing a specific methodology and exercises to make STEM courses more attractive to women by integrating art thinking processes.
The project consortium includes partners from different European countries, who bring different perspectives and experiences to the project. In addition to the cultural organisation Sineglossa, Changemaker Educations AB (Sweden), All Digital (Belgium), XAMK South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (Finland), Algebra University College (Croatia) collaborate. The project is co-financed by the European Union.
The partners launched NuGamers in Stockholm in February 2024, where the state of the art of women in gaming was presented. The next steps include focus groups with 30 participants, including female gamers and workers in the gaming industry, intending to gather information on the motivations and obstacles of women in the gaming industry, as well as exploring possible solutions.
As part of the project, Sineglossa will develop a methodology based on the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) approach to help vocational education and training providers design more gender-inclusive programmes and courses. Indeed, according to the experience of partner organisations in the gaming sector, curricula enriched with creative elements such as game design and game art attract wider female participation. By incorporating the STEAM approach, the methodology will provide an opportunity to counteract gender inequality in the sector.
