Panel: Women’s future in the gaming industry
The panel discussion at SiGMA Manila 2024 last week brought some insights into the roles of women in gaming.
A panel moderated by Roanna Jamir of HCM Nexus at SiGMA 2024 provided insight into the role of women within the typically male-dominated industry of gambling.
The panellists invited were Ellen Frojd, CEO of SmartRecruitment.com, an external recruitment company specialising in i-Gaming; Crystal Nadal, YOLO Group Asia’s Head of Sales; and Wong Wei See, Head of Sales APAC of Group-IB.
With all three being women in leadership positions, questions were varied. There were technical questions directed to the panellists’ professional expertise, such as cybersecurity issues addressed to Wong; the use of AI in recruitment and discussions of hiring outside of the industry towards Frojd; in addition to general questions about being a woman in the gaming and gambling industry, especially a woman within a leadership position.
All three of them strongly advocate for inclusiveness towards women, which includes hiring candidates with the right capabilities regardless of gender, fostering an environment that is inclusive for women and encouraging women to go for leadership positions, which Frjod backed up with studies showing females recruited for leadership positions excelling and thriving in their roles.
In some cases mentioned by Nadal, having male colleagues advocate for their female colleagues helped level the playing field. Nadal also noted that having female leaders in the industry would encourage other women to pursue similar roles.
As Jamir mentioned, worldwide statistics have shown at least a 22% increase of women within the gaming industry worldwide, with 45% in the USA alone.
All three panellists agree that there has been a significant increase of women in the industry compared to several years ago; here, Wong mentioned an example of a huge gaming company with two consecutive female CEOs and at least 40% of women in their workforce.
This is indeed a positive sign for the industry itself as it means a growing workforce and market; as well as for the women who are working in the industry, or are planning a career within the sector.
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