Women in Gaming – US
In its continuing thought leadership series on Diversity in Gaming and to mark International Women’s Day (8 March), Opinium delves deeper into the female gaming experience, the good and the bad. While there is a community of female gamers that support each other, they’re inadequately represented and mistreated.
Our research found that the gaming industry inadequately represents women on-screen, it’s not uncommon for female gamers to experience harassment while gaming, and the industry needs to do more to champion gender equality.
Key findings include:
- Three fourths (75%) of female gamers feel that female characters’ body types often portray unrealistic beauty standards, and 56% find female characters’ appearances are often stereotypically ‘girly.’ Our data shows that male gamers are less cognizant of where female representation on-screen falls short. For instance, while nearly 3 in 5 female gamers (59%) feel that the storyline of female gamers lack the same depth and thought given to male characters in video games, less than half of male gamers (47%) agreed.
- 41% of female gamers have had men say inappropriate things to them while playing. This figure increases for women who game using a home video game console and/or handheld console. Both formats utilize mics which can often become vehicles for harassment.
Read the full report here:
