EA Spouse

I found this article intriguing, Dyer-Witheford’s analysis of both the video game production side from the male and female perspectives showed how much of a contrast there is between things such as hiring rates, wage gaps, and even jobs assigned to men versus women in the video game world. The amount of hours that producers put in are ridiculous, as well as the lack of compensation that goes with it. Although the employees are given time off, they are not very well paid for the amount of overtime hours that they put in.

Another interesting thing about this article is the role of the “EA Spouse” and although they are considered a part of the team, they aren’t held to nearly the same standards or given the same opportunities. It’s interesting to me that although the men in the article claimed to have wanted more gender equality and female representation, the men still held biases against the women. I’m not sure if it was unintentional or not, but it seemed that the amount of ignorance about the women’s ideas and why they were being hired at a lower rate would be fixed with a quick google search if they actually cared.

I think the imbalance in the programming industry is also due to the amount of ownership that a person can have over a game. The article mentions the declining rate of women in fields of study such as, computer sciences or video game studies because of how male dominated and slowly changing those fields have become. If women’s abilities are viewed as lesser then that of men’s, then ultimately they will have less opportunities and more challenges rising up in their field, which explains the dwindling numbers. What I find interesting about this article in it’s entirety, is that the public/domestic spheres are alive and well, but taking place more in the work force than at home.