How to Include More Women in VR
“How can we include more women in VR?”
This is the question I hear brought up again and again at many a VR panel.
It’s a relevant question. Every time a new tech medium pops up, men are the first ones to jump on board. We’ve seen film and video games and any tech field in general with a much higher male-to-female ratio. However, once VR emerged, women weren’t about to let this one turn into another boys’ club. As VR is still an emerging medium, women still have the chance to finally stand up and bolster the troops before the men completely take over.
However, after attending a “Pioneer Women in VR panel”, I noticed a pattern. While the moderator kept asking the panelists questions like, “How can we include more women in VR?”, all of the female panelists diverted the conversation to talk about their own accomplishments in VR. And each of the panelists took turns denouncing the title “Female CEO” in favor of just “CEO”. And the crowd went wild.
And it got me thinking.
If the term “female CEO” is problematic, what about “women in VR”?
It’s like the term “gay marriage”. You wouldn’t call a marriage between a man and a woman a “heterosexual marriage”, so why do we bother to give “gay marriage” the extra adjective? The same goes for the term “women in VR” or “female CEO”. No one would ever refer to a male CEO as a “male CEO”. By giving it a separate name, we’re already defining it as different and out of the ordinary — it’s a subset.
So perhaps if we drop the stop referring to ourselves as “women in VR”, we will actually give power to the women of VR. And we’ll no longer be a subset, but an equal part of the whole.
‘Till then, will I drop the #womeninVR hashtag from my Twitter profile? Nah.
I’m still proud to call myself a woman in VR and love using the hashtag to connect with other women in VR. BUT I’m hoping there will be a day where the extra adjective will be rendered unnecessary and frivolous because women will no longer be a minority.
So what is the magical answer to including more women in VR? If you’re a woman interested in VR, get into VR. Right now, at its early stages, it’s as easy as ever to get involved. There’s no excuse. There are free workshops, classes, meetups, and even cheap and easy 360 cameras out there (and if you need some tips, feel free to reach out in the comments below!). All you have to do is pick one up and get your hands dirty. Simple as that.
Want to know the secret to becoming a woman in VR? Just do it.
