A University of Liverpool study has found that women make up just four per cent of the UK games industry workforce.
That’s down by eight per cent from 2006, according to PhD student and study author Julie Prescott, who suggested that inflexible working practices were largely to blame for the drop in numbers.
Prescott surveyed 450 women working in the industry as part of the study, with research undertaken via an online survey of professionals based in Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and other nations, Develop reports.
43 per cent of respondents said they thought that long working hours and crunch culture negatively impacted their well-being. A third said they worked over 45 hours per week, and ten per cent more than 56 hours each week.
”Reasons given for intending to leave the industry tended to suggest women are dissatisfied with their organisations and working environment,” said Prescott.
”Flexible working practices would not only improve the image of the industry as a family-friendly working environment, but could also assist in retaining more women, especially those with or considering having children. Changing workplace structures, as well as improving childcare provisions, would enable both genders to have active careers.”
In July, the 2010 Tiga-Hewitt Games Software Developers’ Salary Survey found just 6.6 per cent of the UK games industry’s workforce to be female, highlighting “an extraordinary gender imbalance”, according to Tiga CEO Richard Wilson.