As a top executive at one of the world's biggest video game publishers, Kathy Vrabeck often completes an entire workday without meeting with another woman. And her employer, Electronic Arts Inc., is less of a boys club than many of its peers.
The video game industry is flourishing, especially in California, as sales continue to climb despite a faltering economy. But the hiring has largely bypassed women. They comprise fewer than 1 in 5 workers in the business, according to a 2007 survey by Game Developer Magazine. Among game programmers, the number is a paltry 3%.
Those who do land game-related jobs make less money on average than their male counterparts. Women at all levels of the field earned an average of $64,643 last year, while men earned $74,459, according to the survey.
"Historically, the people who play video games have tended to be more male," said Vrabeck, president of EA's casual games division, which specializes in games that are easy and quick to play. "So it's not surprising that these boys grow up and aspire to work in the industry. That's why we've seen fewer women think about it as a career choice."
Those who do make that choice become part of the industry joke that being the minority gender has its perks: At conferences, they don't have to wait in line for the restroom.
But the business must become more diverse if it's to break out of the young male market and into the mainstream, where women represent a greater percentage of buyers and bigger sales await.
"It's important for women to be involved creatively because we need to broaden the reach of games," said Simon Carless, publisher of Game Developer Magazine. "They should be a universal art form."
Some believe the lopsided gender ratio was predestined in elementary school.
"It goes back to school, during those early years when you had that teacher who either encouraged you in math and science or didn't," said Gabrielle Toledano, executive vice president of human resources at EA. "It's the same reason why the statistics on women enrolling in [college] computer science programs have been way down. So, by the time we go out and hire, the pool of candidates is already skewed."
Then there is the perception that the industry is a giant party, which can also prevent women from taking it seriously as a career, said Brenda Brathwaite, a game developer who teaches game design at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia.
