Gram Games launches workshops for young women
The 22% Project aims to “break down bias” and educate girls about career opportunities in the games industry
The mobile studio behind 1010 and Merged has kickstarted a new initiative to help increase the number of young women seeking work in games development and related disciplines.
Gram Games is preparing a series of workshops that will explore the skills required for a job in development, design, game art and data, with sessions that will run throughout 2017. The venture follows trial workshops the studio ran last year with just over 30 aspiring female developers.
The workshops will come under the banner The 22% Project, named after IGDA research that shows only 22% of industry employees are female despite women making up half the worldwide gaming audience. the studio believes this imbalance can be attributed to "bias and access to education and opportunities" and hopes to break this down with its workshops.
Future sessions are currently planned, with updates and announcements expected through The 22% Project website.
"Everyone should have the opportunity to explore the limits of their creative potential," says Gram culture developer Erin O'Brien. "With the right knowledge and opportunity, anyone can compete in the gaming industry.
"Gaming is thought of as an industry for men, so men are given that access, and the male domination of gaming is perpetuated. The only way to break out of this cycle, is to begin to ensure that women are represented in gaming, to create a system that provides women with the same opportunities and skills required to succeed."
Earlier this week, we spoke to King's diversity and culture manager Natalie Mellin about how more companies need to help with global efforts to get more women and minorities interested in games industry careers.