technology to gender equality

women being run online using technology. These basic things can reach a wide audience, and so we ask ourselves how we as an industry can remove the blocks preventing people from accessing these things.”

Reflecting on her own role in a majority male space, she finds that “there isn’t enough at an individual level outside of the leadership programs and International Women’s Day events. All the development opportunities for women are extra work that you do on top of your day job, rather than being integrated in dayto-day interactions, like watercooler chats (which is where a lot of informal networking occurs)”.

Asked if she could make any one tech change to meet the needs of women and girls, Sneha says, “I’d love to remove the existing barriers that women have to obtain loans, especially business loans, in everything from applications and documentation required, and making whole process more accessible.”

Also known as MissDeuxGeek, Dhayana is no stranger to the digital world. Working professionally in digital content creation and marketing, Dhayana is a staunch advocate for women and girls in gaming.

When she began the Twitter account @WomenOfXbox, ‘an unofficial community of female gamers’, she had no idea it would grow so large that it would end up becoming a full website. Today www.womenofxbox.com is a platform that connects, supports and empowers female Xbox gamers and professionals around the world. It lists and streams worldwide events, shares Xbox news, product reviews and interviews gaming developers and executives at leading technology brands.

A notoriously male-dominated environment, the gaming landscape was long overdue for disruption when Dhayana waded into it some eight years ago.

Though her experience was largely positive, she encountered barriers which lead her to question her place in the community.

“When I started, the communities were male dominated but they were welcoming,” she reveals. “Most were really glad to see a female gamer.”

Dhayana acknowledges that in part her path to acceptance may have been easier as she shared her hobby with her husband, who often occupied the same spaces. “Occasionally when streaming (playing in front of a live online audience) I’ve encountered young boys and older men shouting abuse. It made me wonder if I should quit, but I kept going through the strength of the community. You’re not just gaming for yourself but for a community.”

The gaming landscape has a greater representation of women now, almost 50% according to some industry bodies, however the diversity within that 50% is lacking. The majority of female gamers are white and from Western countries, and professional opportunities in the industry centre around these women. “It is still very rare to see Asian or South Asian representatives in the games industry. As a young teenager in New Zealand seeing that representation would’ve been so great. Wanting to be in entertainment and the arts as a South Asian was so hard.”

Dhayana describes how difficult it was to demonstrate that success was possible through the lack of role models, and encountered challenges finding support within her family to pursue her passion. “It has taken a long time to silence the doubt internally,” she admits. This has led her through a few abandoned traditional career attempts, and to her motivation now, which is “showing young girls that no matter what, even if you don’t see yourself represented, you can still do it and achieve that if that’s your passion and what you desire.”