Blather, blather: Talk that got nowhere
So I didn't just get drunk and sleep little while the Women's Game Conference. was going on. I attended most of the sessions, with the exception of the ones I slept or ate through and the ones I skipped to go to "the other side" - the Austin Game Conference.
The short summary of this conference is: good start, much improvement needed. While I liked, in theory, the idea of a Women's Game Conference, I was concerned that it would be a bitter venting fest with lots of talk, little decisive action, and some
polarization between the bitter and not-bitter camps. Now, it could have been worse for sure, but all of those unfortunate attributes were there.
The underlying theme of this conference through the panels, roundtables and questions from the audience was "building consensus of women's experience in the industry" I wish I'd been the one to sum this up so succinctly, but it was Robin, woman of funny and brilliant thoughts.
And frankly, we'll never build consensus. It's impossible to combine 100+ people of a wide variety of experience, age, position, and personality into a well-defined slick mission statement we can all agree on. Fuck, 4 people going to a movie can't all agree on what the highlights were.
"My male co-workers are trying to run me out of the building" seemed to be that underlying mission statement of this conference. But that doesn't represent me or many others I spoke with.
My experience is this: I work at an office full of guys (and this is the third industry I've worked in where that is true).
It's notable only occasionally, usually in random ways that have nothing to do with gender politics. I'm not ignored, though I think we can all agree I am hard to ignore. I am not fawned over or flirted with. I work. I contribute. I am part of a team.
Sometimes I point out things like "most of these character profiles are male, can we mix it up a bit" to which the answers is always, "good point, let's do that." In short, me being female isn't a hinderance. Often it isn't even noteworthy.
Of course a person's experience is unique to her. Some people have been targets of blatant or insidious sexism (and I have seen my fair share of both in previous jobs), have worked for clueless bosses or in an oppressive company culture, and and had morons or totally assholes as coworkers. In no way am I trying to diminish the truth of those experiences.
All experiences are valid. But there is a slippery slope to talk about them in a way that isn't negative or an accusation on the the male-dominated industry as a whole. And it's this slope that keeps women who have had positive experiences in the industry from going to these types of gatherings, and for the ones that did attend, will keep them from coming back next year.
When trying to build consensus around a negative theme, even if not done on purpose, it sounds like a bitch session. We don't need a conference bitch session. Therapists, family and friends are for venting and figuring out how you as an individual can deal with the people around you. Conferences should be for determining action plans, suggesting policies and standards, and most importantly, bringing visibly to the actions that need to be taken by attendees, and the industry as a whole.
And we severely lacked on the action-oriented discussions. It is the first year of this conference, so I am willing to cut a lot of slack. However, next year, I don't want to talk about what issues are facing women in the work place today. We don't need to agree on the issues. We need to introduce solutions to the largest problems (IMO, shitty to no pay or services for childcare and giving birth, unequal pay, and getting more games marketed toward women) I want to talk about what polices we can work toward, strategies we can suggest on how we dealt with specific situations of inequality, and what other industries are doing to solve these problems. And frankly, these aren't women issues. Any solutions to the above will benefit the industry as a whole.
The upside is that I am motivated to get involved in this whole "Women in Games" business. I've been floundering around for a while trying to figure out what I can contribute. I've felt that I don't have much to add, but I realize that isn't true. My experience, passion, and insight are worthy contribution alone. And since I am so hard to ignore and all, I can put that to good use.
The inspiration I took home with me was not from the sessions and panels, it was from the conversations I had at lunch, over drinks, and in hallways. It was about better policies to support families, better management strategies to make sure life comes before work, outreach that can be done to encourage more young women into the industry, and mentorship to help individuals deal with their unique situations.
The short summary of this conference is: good start, much improvement needed. While I liked, in theory, the idea of a Women's Game Conference, I was concerned that it would be a bitter venting fest with lots of talk, little decisive action, and some
polarization between the bitter and not-bitter camps. Now, it could have been worse for sure, but all of those unfortunate attributes were there.
The underlying theme of this conference through the panels, roundtables and questions from the audience was "building consensus of women's experience in the industry" I wish I'd been the one to sum this up so succinctly, but it was Robin, woman of funny and brilliant thoughts.
And frankly, we'll never build consensus. It's impossible to combine 100+ people of a wide variety of experience, age, position, and personality into a well-defined slick mission statement we can all agree on. Fuck, 4 people going to a movie can't all agree on what the highlights were.
"My male co-workers are trying to run me out of the building" seemed to be that underlying mission statement of this conference. But that doesn't represent me or many others I spoke with.
My experience is this: I work at an office full of guys (and this is the third industry I've worked in where that is true).
It's notable only occasionally, usually in random ways that have nothing to do with gender politics. I'm not ignored, though I think we can all agree I am hard to ignore. I am not fawned over or flirted with. I work. I contribute. I am part of a team.
Sometimes I point out things like "most of these character profiles are male, can we mix it up a bit" to which the answers is always, "good point, let's do that." In short, me being female isn't a hinderance. Often it isn't even noteworthy.
Of course a person's experience is unique to her. Some people have been targets of blatant or insidious sexism (and I have seen my fair share of both in previous jobs), have worked for clueless bosses or in an oppressive company culture, and and had morons or totally assholes as coworkers. In no way am I trying to diminish the truth of those experiences.
All experiences are valid. But there is a slippery slope to talk about them in a way that isn't negative or an accusation on the the male-dominated industry as a whole. And it's this slope that keeps women who have had positive experiences in the industry from going to these types of gatherings, and for the ones that did attend, will keep them from coming back next year.
When trying to build consensus around a negative theme, even if not done on purpose, it sounds like a bitch session. We don't need a conference bitch session. Therapists, family and friends are for venting and figuring out how you as an individual can deal with the people around you. Conferences should be for determining action plans, suggesting policies and standards, and most importantly, bringing visibly to the actions that need to be taken by attendees, and the industry as a whole.
And we severely lacked on the action-oriented discussions. It is the first year of this conference, so I am willing to cut a lot of slack. However, next year, I don't want to talk about what issues are facing women in the work place today. We don't need to agree on the issues. We need to introduce solutions to the largest problems (IMO, shitty to no pay or services for childcare and giving birth, unequal pay, and getting more games marketed toward women) I want to talk about what polices we can work toward, strategies we can suggest on how we dealt with specific situations of inequality, and what other industries are doing to solve these problems. And frankly, these aren't women issues. Any solutions to the above will benefit the industry as a whole.
The upside is that I am motivated to get involved in this whole "Women in Games" business. I've been floundering around for a while trying to figure out what I can contribute. I've felt that I don't have much to add, but I realize that isn't true. My experience, passion, and insight are worthy contribution alone. And since I am so hard to ignore and all, I can put that to good use.
The inspiration I took home with me was not from the sessions and panels, it was from the conversations I had at lunch, over drinks, and in hallways. It was about better policies to support families, better management strategies to make sure life comes before work, outreach that can be done to encourage more young women into the industry, and mentorship to help individuals deal with their unique situations.
posted by Kristine at
9:14 PM
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