The challenge of promoting gender equality within the sector, a topic of debate at GAT

“Women promoting the industry as a challenge”, organized by PANEL ASFEG, was moderated by Tatiana Paredes, from Multiple Group. The panelists were: Elizabeth Maya Cano, President Cornazar, Celeste Arredondo, CreedRoomz and Vice President ASFEG, Alejandra Gómez, Betstone and President of the AIEJA Women's Commission, María Londoño, Manager La Morenita Group, Daniela Botero Jarrín, Pacifica Continental.

“This panel is organized by the Women's Gaming Association (ASFEG) but it involves not only women but also men. Our mission is summed up in a single word: inspire. And this association was born from the inspiration of a colleague of ours named Sebastián Luna, Co-Founder of Gaming and Media News (GM) and his mother, who suffered many problems because of an employer she had. Therefore, it is born from the inspiration of a male companion. From that, it is about inspiring to achieve authentic respect for the feminine and the masculine in an egalitarian way, to achieve a humanly different but socially equal society. It is an inspiration that we are going to give to the next generation,” said Tatiana Paredes at the beginning of the talk.

She then asked the following question to the men in the room: “How many of you have made visible a positive action by the woman next to you, whether at home or at work? How many times has a woman been praised for doing something positive? What does that work for? That inspires, influences and changes. Not immediately, but in the following generations.”

She also clarified that this association has honorary members who are men, who are gaming colleagues who are part of their workshops and the companies that support them.

Elizabeth May Cano spoke about the situation of women in the last 10 years. “This is the union of women who want to work for inclusion, for a life project, for a family and collective project within the industry and worldwide. If we talk about Colombia 10 years ago, in many organizations women were talked about in a different way and for a long time relegated to domestic work. “That “glass ceiling” has been very significant and difficult to break.”

In that sense, she highlighted the importance of training. “Women, never stop studying, because learning is where growth is” and she talks about the representation of women in different areas within the gaming industry and the institutions that regulate it in Colombia.

“In CORNAZAR we have 45% female representation. Many of the women who worked there met to talk about the role of women and their potential. In fact, we work not only for the gaming sector in Colombia, but also for other productive sectors. In the administrative area of CORNAZAR, a path of inclusion has been created, since of the 8 administrative positions there are 6 represented by women."

“I have 2 daughters and in addition to teaching them values and respect for the other gender, I teach them to have courage and to be confident in everything we do,” she concluded.

Daniela Botero Jarrín presented a series of statistics on the positions held by women in Colombia, Latam and Europe. “Today women are playing a very important role in different areas (technology, product development, design, legal and marketing. These are the main areas in which women focus today, and in which gaming companies “They want to hire women.”

She specified that, unlike 10 years ago, now 1 in 8 women hold management positions. “Now, more than 70% of companies are creating an environment of inclusion towards women. Mainly in Argentina, women are having a significant percentage of women in management positions (around 40%), and they have great inclusion not only at a legal level but mainly culturally. In Spain there is also a very important change taking place in this sense.”

“For 10 years now, 23% of women are in the technology area. Regarding the administrative part, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico are being the most inclusive countries in the gaming spectrum,” she stressed.

In her turn, Alejandra Gómez explained the following: “Companies play a fundamental role in the gender equality that we intend to achieve. It is their responsibility to generate leadership and, as employers of the female force, to make a plan to reduce the gender gap in the short and medium term and implement a series of good corporate practices."

He then listed a series of practices in this regard, such as the selection and recruitment of personnel on an equal basis, and policies that help reduce the wage gap, as well as boost leadership, for example, training them to improve their communication and negotiation skills. "Also promote roles as developers, for example, a job generally performed by men, or extend maternity and paternity leave and provide greater flexibility within working hours. In Mexico there are regulations that regulate this type of recommendations (by United Nations, the National Development Bank) so that they are implemented both within the private and public sectors," he said.

When asked about how to promote women as agents of change, Celeste Arredondo commented the following: “Female participation within the gaming industry is very important. First, we see that there are many women among casino attendees. We want to promote female participation also in the business part. By complementing the feminine and the masculine, companies will find a better approach to challenges.”

Then, the moderator added that the issue of Corporate Social Responsibility must also be taken into account at this point.

Meanwhile, María Londoño explained the following: “75,000 people work in the gambling sector nationwide, of which approximately 80% are women, of which 83% are mothers, so this sector makes a contribution.” significant within society. There is a large percentage of these women in points of sale and in administrative positions, leadership positions and management positions. It is about women having more opportunities and also being able to achieve a balance between personal life and work life. We, as leaders, have a great responsibility in how we are educating future generations and how we achieve a better positioning of women. I also feel that, as women, we have to work on ourselves to be able to have that empowerment that we need,” she concluded.

Finally, each of the participants shared an inspiring message for women, and highlighted that ASFEG's mission is to positively influence new generations in terms of the visibility of women, in order to change a style of thinking and achieve a better society. with gender equality.