The Gender Gap in Esports

Women are increasingly becoming more active in the Esports World but still overshadowed.

During the recent Fortnite World Cup there was one thing missing. Not a single woman participated out of the 100 contestants in the competition. Although, Fortnite’s creator Epic Games estimated that approximately 35% of the game’s users are female, that ratio did not translate on their large center stage.

This brings up a well known stigma present in the industry, Esports and gaming as a whole is is still a “boys club.” Female-focus brands are scarce and companies specifically market solely to male audiences, positioning brands as hyper-masculine with products like Razer’s “Deathadder Elite” (Razer is a popular computer mouse company). And just like a number of other sports the gender pay gap is real here too.

In 2014 an online movement known as #Gamergate arose after female video game developer Zoe Quinn was threatened on the anonymous internet forum 4chan (separate site from 8chan which was recently shutdown), this heavily escalated as a significant amount of her personal information was doxed online and began to receive numerous threats.

This quickly highlighted the immense amount of misogynistic behavior and online sexual harassment women in the gaming ecosystem and yet fast forwarding to the present there hasn’t been a significant amount of change, especially when people can hide behind their screens and keep encouraging the same toxic behavior.

Growth

Not all hope is lost, there’s a rising trend of female participation in esports and an overlooked existing female gaming population. According to the Entertainment Software Association 46% of gamers are female with the average age of 34 (average male age is 32) and according to another report by Interpret, Esports viewership increased by 6.5% in the span of 2 years.

The Female esports audience is growing via Interpret

Women-owned brands are also starting to take action - last week, the women-led dating and social app Bumble announced their sponsorship of Gen.G, the first all female Fortnite team.

In 2018, Bumble also added their logo to the NBA team the Los Angeles Clippers in a 3-year $20M deal. The partnership has expanded more than the jersey patch, Bumble has their own video series in the team highlighting the women who work with the team and community.

Gen.G And Bumble Team Up For An All-Female Esports Partnership via Forbes

Sephora also got involved in the Girl Gamer Esport Festival Series which this year is hosting events in Seoul, Madrid and São Paulo.

Today tons of companies are putting an emphasis on gender equality in traditional industries, but still seems to be a passive initiative in Esports.

What are your thoughts? Was this a smart move by Bumble? What other companies do you think should focus on the growing

-SK