One thought about the predominance of management positions on the list – it’s easy to imagine those women entering the game industry from other industries in a lateral move, rather than seeing them as working their way up the ladder. The ladder-climbing path to top positions is likely more the case for men in the industry because of all the social and cultural qualities around gaming in general. I generalize, but to make a point. From what I understand, the path to getting into the “creative type” of jobs involves some need for starting out at entry level work and working up to level designer, art director, etc. The larger cultural issues that have kept more women from entering technology based careers come into play – especially since these career paths require industry specific skills. Management skills translate more easily across different industries, so women have likely progressed their careers in industries that are more women-friendly and then moved into the game related careers from there.
It’s great to see this list regardless of what these women are doing for work, and I think it helps to promote the game industry as a place for more women to work. A similar list of “creative types” of women in the industry would also help to get more young women entering college to consider that line of work as a career path.
]]>On a side note, while soliciting artists recently I’ve noticed quite a few are women. It may be that, statistically speaking, women are more right brained and thus more likely to be artists than programmers. I’d like to get a near even ratio of men and women working at TV.
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