International Women's Day is taking place today under the motto #InspireInclusion. For many years, organizations and associations, especially on days like today, have been promoting diversity and equality in all professional fields as well as gender balance in the workforce and leadership positions. This is undoubtedly important, as we can all attest to the positive effects of diversity and equality in companies: The working atmosphere improves, the richness of ideas is enhanced by diverse life experiences within the team, and overall satisfaction increases. The message is now widespread and it's great to see that many companies are already promoting diversity and are committed to it. This year's motto for International Women's Day sets the right tone here, as it symbolizes the next steps now that the significance of diversity should be clear to everyone.
Inclusion goes far beyond numbers
As a pioneer in a predominantly white and male-dominated games industry, we at astragon Entertainment committed to a diverse team at an early stage. This long-standing focus has paid off: We can be proud of the fact that 44% of our staff are female, 54% male and 2% non-binary. This diversity extends to leadership positions as well as all departments. Within our team, different life realities, cultures and religions bring enrichment, and our management consists of a female and male dual leadership. These facts and figures make us an exception within our industry.
When we share these details with the public in interviews, articles and press releases, we always emphasize that there is much more to it than just hiring diverse people. Diverse-sounding percentages do not create an inclusive corporate culture, but rather an inclusive corporate culture leads to such figures in the first place. Diversity can only emerge and be maintained if the framework conditions are right, awareness-raising work is carried out and employees are individually supported.
Last year, some of our female employees spoke about their experiences in the games industry and working together at astragon in a series of videos for International Women's Day. These videos can be viewed here.
Inspire Inclusion: Successfully establishing and promoting inclusion
Looking at the situation of women in the context of today's International Women's Day, it is clear that it is not enough to hire women or put them in management positions. This is a first step, but not enough for a successful inclusion strategy. Inclusion means recognizing and promoting women's individual strengths and ways of working, as well as removing barriers that women continue to face in a male-dominated workplace. It means offering solutions instead of reproducing prejudices in your own company.
Lack of female role models, unrealistic expectations from management levels, unreasonable comparisons with male colleagues and gender bias within their own ranks are some of the most common factors that prevent women from reaching their full potential and make them feel pressured in their day-to-day work. By actively intervening and strengthening and valuing women's individual qualities, these issues can be addressed. Companies will then quickly find that not only does the working environment improve, but that they can also benefit as an organization from the positive results.
This form of promotion breaks through the rigid ideal of a high performer and creates space for new impulses, ideas and approaches. The best thing about it is that it not only benefits women, but every single individual in the company. As a result, employers become more attractive and are able to retain their employees in the long term.
Involving the entire team and talking about it
In order to create inclusion, we at astragon not only focus on individual support, but also on sensitizing the entire team throughout the year with various measures such as workshops, events and initiatives and promoting the topic of diversity in all its facets. Our employees have the opportunity to help shape the measures, make suggestions and contribute their own experiences. It is particularly important to us to ensure that the entire team is committed to pulling together and that awareness of the importance of the topic is always present. Without this shared understanding, even the best measures will be ineffective.
However, successful internal measures should also be made visible to the outside world. Topics such as diversity, inclusion and equality in particular always deserve great attention. Although our society and industry have made enormous progress in recent years, there is still plenty of room for improvement. It is therefore important that companies promote diversity not just on days like today, but all year round and take a united stance against dissenting voices.
Making our products more diverse
As a developer and publisher of video games, we have numerous opportunities to reflect diversity and inclusion in our products and pass them on to the fans of our games. This ranges from the integration of authentic female characters to the representation of marginalized groups within the game. By consciously including diverse characters and stories, we can help create a diverse and inclusive gaming experience. We want to create game worlds where all players feel represented and welcome.
Building a better future
At a time when the importance of diversity and inclusion in companies is increasingly recognized, it is important that we go beyond simply hiring different people. At astragon, we therefore focus on a fully inclusive strategy that promotes individual strengths, removes barriers and involves the entire team in the process. We are convinced that diversity is not only an enrichment for our products, but also an important value that we represent as a company. By promoting diversity and inclusion both in our games and in the way we work, we are committed to a better and fairer future in the video game industry - today as much as any other day of the year.
written by Yvonne Lukanowski (Senior PR Manager at astragon Entertainment)
