Gender Inequality in eSports Participation

In the world of sports and athletics, men were traditionally the ones with a higher advantage over women. However, as this generation expand its idea of sports to electronic gaming (or eSports), which don’t require physical attributes, it is yet again divided with men being favored over women. Despite electronic and consoles being gender neutral, the majority of professional players are male. This post plans on exploring and analyzing this discrepancy within the gaming world.

As seen in almost all sports, the gender diversity problem is apparent, and that holds no exception to eSports. How is it that gaming, which doesn’t hold itself to be gender-specific still find its way to be more male-dominated? In fact, according to a 2019 study by the Entertainment Software Association, 45% of U.S. gamers are female. Yet women only make up a small portion of the professional eSports player pool.

The most prevalent reason is audience toxicity. For instance, women streamers who gain visibility are assaulted with death threats, sexual harassment, and overall discouraging comments from their viewers.

“A female Overwatch host received death threats earlier this year for expressing an opinion on Twitter. Overwatch pro Kim Se-yeon (known as Geguri) has dealt with hacking accusations just for being better at the game than people expected her to be.”

Once a gamer is identified as female, it’s almost as if all power and respect is instantly taken away. Rather than being focused on the gameplay of the stream, many comments are based around the gamer’s appearance, their voice, and their overall knowledge or ‘lack of’ about the game. And while these women could try to tune everyone out, their performance is still very much affected by the toxic environment.

"Why is the girl so loud? Why is the girl shouting? The girl needs to shut up. She’s annoying me with her voice" 

Even with all this negativity, many women gamers are striving towards changing the game of eSports. Pro-gamers like Maria “Remilia” Creveling and Kim “Geguri” Se-Yeon are of the few women that participates on an actual team for competition. While their fame is short-lived, their gender signifies recognition for change in the professional league. As this generation works towards a more inclusive and respectful community, it’s important to recognize that there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of representation. However, we can start by letting everyone play.

"It ultimately comes down to the community and the fan base,” Kim said. “(Women) don’t want to deal with the toxicity. They don’t want to deal with the media going crazy over them. They don’t want to deal with living with the boys or getting preferential treatment. They don’t want to deal with all of that. They just kind of want to play."

Questions:

• When you view streams, what parts do you look for (gameplay, credentials, commentary)? 
• Before reading this article, how many known professional female gamers did you know? How many were male? 
• Do you believe that women hardships (harassment, threats, negativity) is more prevalent in eSports than other sports because the sport is technology-based? 
• Do you believe men are inherently better at gaming than women?

Articles related:

Women navigate toxicity, other barriers in esports
Esports' urgent need for visible gender diversity