Information on a new research survey funded by Skills Investment Funds from the UK-based creative industry-focused organisation, Creative Skillset, has recently been published, which regards to the launch of the Next Gen Skills Academy Gender Balance Workforce Survey.
This survey is aimed at addressing any challenges, issues and causes of gender balance in the games industry, and women working in the games industry in particular are invited to fill in the now-launched online survey and outline their own experiences. The survey itself will be available until Christmas Eve (Wednesday, December 24). Anyone, regardless of gender, are allowed to contribute to this opt-in survey, and those who wish to contribute further can do so by taking part in phone interview.
Video game companies and men working in the games industry can also share the views and experiences for the survey by emailing [email protected] .
The survey’s end-goal is to understand more about various career barriers and challenges that are faced by women in the games industry. The result of the survey will be explored at a workshop in February next year (which’ll be held in three different locations in the UK), and the results themselves will be analysed by an advisory group and then filtered into key issues for discussion.
A company-focused workshop will also be held in London as well, which’ll explore issues faced by different organizations when recruiting and maintaining a gender-balanced workforce.
The survey’s findings will then be made publicly available thereafter for anyone working in the games industry, and for anyone hoping to build up solutions to solve the industries current imbalance in gender as well.
“ An Internet Advertising Bureau study published earlier this year found that 52% of gamers in the UK are women, yet women only make up 14% of the industry workforce. It’s important that the games industry is made up of a range of people reflective of the demographics of its customers, to ensure relevance to the mass market and the commercial success of the UK Games Industry, ” said the managing director of the Next Gen Skills Academy, Gina Jackson.
“ The results of the Gender Balance Workforce Survey will help us work towards strengthening our industry and ensuring that the British games industry remains relevant and competitive on a global scale. ”
Not just the games industry is being explored for gender imbalance, but other creative industries, such as visual effects and animation, are also been explored as well; the Next Gen Skills Academy is aiming to investigate and address gender balance in other industries, too.
Women, or those who identify as women, wishing to take part in the survey can do so by heading over to SurveyMonkey . We’ll bring you more news on this should further information reach our ears.
[ Source(s): Press release ]