Creating Equal Cultures

creating-equal-cultures
The issue of gender equality in the gaming industry has, perhaps, never been more relevant than this year, with women knocking on the, seemingly, locked doors of gaming. Organizations are struggling to become more inclusive, and inviting, to both female and male gamers.

But why has it suddenly become controversial to not be a sexist? The question of equality has become a women’s issue within the gaming community. Because of this identification it is met with shocking resistance, with the, false, assertion that “Wimmin are coming to destroy our games.”

But equality is not limited to just one gender. It is a much broader, and crucial, challenge facing the entire gaming scene. And those actors who successfully rise to this challenge stand to gain huge advantages: not only from an employers perspective, but also in terms of crude market share.

Game educations in particular will increase the quality of their schools and their students’ future careers by widening intake and mentoring more diverse creativity and talent!

Welcome to a panel discussion where we will explore:
– what possibilities and limitations does the current games industry offer women and men; all the way from the game educations, to the work places to audience
– how can you help take action and be a positive change?
– how would education, the work place, and game development look in a more equal society?

Discussion leader:

Pernilla Alexandersson is one of Swedens foremost gender equality experts, CEO and founder of Add Gender. Her areas of expertise are business strategy, creativity and innovation with a focus in the field of gaming. Her interest in the gaming industry is not a coincidence: She has been a gamer since childhood and therefore she herself has a desire to create a competitive and creative industry where everyone’s talents and experiences are utilized.

Panelists:

Jenny Brusk is a teacher at the game education at Högskolan i Skövde. She was recently awarded the Anna Lindh Committee’s grant for her work with gender equality in the Swedish computer industry.
Annika Bergström is an Alumni from Gotland, currently working as a games researcher and program coordinator for the education at Södertörns högskola. From 2004-2007 she ran Super Marit; a project to inspire- and create inroads for female game creators, and to increase the variety of games available.
Åsa Roos is a game designer and outspoken feminist, with more than 13 year in the industry. When not designing AAA titles at Avalanche Studios, she participates as industry advisor, teacher and most recently on the board of directors for the vocational Futuregames in Stockholm.
Thor Rutgersson is a writer and non-formal adult education organiser with a passion for gaming in general and Nintendo in particular. For several years, Thor worked as national project leader for ABF:s music study circles in Sweden (mostly rock and pop bands) and dealt with several projects on gender equality within popular music. He believes there are many similarities between the male dominated music scene and the male dominated world of game development. Thor has also written for Club Nintendo Magazine and currently operates the gaming blog nintendo-och-livet.se