IGDA Announces Committee on "Women in Game Development"

The committee will be co-chaired by Sheri Graner Ray of Metrowerks and Heather Kelley of Sapient, and will investigate how the IGDA might have a positive impact on the industry with respect to gender balance and equity. Some of the Committee's goals include:

• Assess the numbers of women working in the games industry in a variety of roles, and track changes over time, using a combination of available data and primary research,
• Research, brainstorm, and evaluate methods of increasing the number of women employed in the industry, possibly focusing on particular roles,
• Execute a variety of programs to recruit women into the games industry and/or make game development a more attractive field for women, and/li>
• Sponsor and support community-building activities for women within the games industry.

More information on the Committee is available through the Committee's page on the IGDA web site. The Committee has also launched a women_dev mailing list, an open forum for discussion of issues surrounding women's participation in the industry, including education, mentorship, corporate successes and failures, career networking, and equity. All persons interested in these issues are welcome to participate in this list, regardless of gender or games industry affiliation. Information about the mailing list is available here. The IGDA is an independent nonprofit organization under a management contract with the Gama Network, publishers of Gamasutra.com