Women in Games Need to Talk about Class PART II
Last week I published an article discussing why shedding spotlight on class is pivotal in order to achieve true diversity in gaming and other tech industries. Simply calling for more women/non-binary or people of colour to be in positions of power is not enough to bring about social justice. The tools necessary for these industries to even exist are made under appalling conditions, by populations whose voice has not received any recognition in the midst of calls for representation.
This follow-up text sets out some practical solutions as to how we can offer care and empowerment to the communities that are living in anguish in order to make the top jobs at the other end of the world even possible.
Conference Panels
After the release of the original article, some were talking about the necessity of including panels on the of mass tech production at conferences like Women in Games, Women in Tech and Next Tech Girls. The suggestion here is to go a lot further and organise separate conferences, focusing specifically on modes of production. Otherwise it may turn into box ticking exercise, token socially-aware discussions in the midst of the business moguls, and not much action may come out of them. These panels must include members of fragile, but incredibly important unions that work to protect the little that is left of workers’ rights in the Global South.
Support the Strikes
Foxconn, which employs about one million people, makes many of the world’s most popular gaming gadgets, including Apple’s products, PlayStation and Xbox consoles. The company is infamous for disgusting treatment of its staff. This peaked in 2010 when 18 of their workers committed suicide within the factory’s premises.
2012 and 2014 has seen thousands of Foxconn workers go on strike, demanding better pay and safer working conditions. The upper echelons of the industry, all safe and competing for better jobs in Global West, Japan and South Korea, must express loud and unanimous solidarity with these strikes. Seriously though, have you seen a single gaming magazine reporting on this? No, I haven’t either. Although they should be paying attention — the entire tech landscape may change if these workers were to get their well-deserved way.
There are many routes to express support — for instance, we could raise funds to pay the workers while they’re on strike as to encourage more of them to leave the factories. The (self-proclaimed) socially responsible part of the tech industry must spread awareness on the reasons for these strikes and fund their existence.
Just a week ago, an estimated 150 million Indian workers went on general strike, demanding better wages. If the numbers are to be believed, this is the biggest industrial action in human history, but the media has gone suspiciously silent on such important event.
If we are serious about challenging the status quo of the tech industries, we cannot ignore such actions.
Pressure on the Industry
This is a tough one to ask as people’s jobs literally rely on this, but if we are committed to eradicating inequality in tech and gaming, we must make sacrifices.
Whether one works for a magazine reviewing games made for Play Station, Xbox or PC, or they are a developer creating games enjoyed on these platforms, one must make a stand. Write open letters, boycott, challenge these companies for employing brutal practices in manufacturing. Right now, certain people are making billions of the suffering in the Global South and they reign with no objections — this must stop.
Companies have choices! They can make effort in building conflict-free trade in partnership with Public-Private Alliance on Responsible Minerals Trade and pilot closed-end pipeline projects like the CFTI to increase community benefits to Congolese people who are exploited by mineral mining.
Intel has been the number one company in making progress on conflict minerals — committing to making a fully conflict-free computer chip, helping lead the Conflict-Free Smelter Program that audits smelters, participating in building the Solutions for Hope tantalum project in Congo, the Conflict-Free Tin Initiative, and the Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals Trade, and being on the ICGLR regional minerals certification Audit Committee. Motorola Solutions and HP have also led the way.
Then again — why would big corporations would even engage in such initiatives. At the end of the day, going green only costs them more money. Make no mistake — often such plans are announced as good PR opportunities, rarely following up with actual commitment.
Push for Government Legislation
On June 15th 2016, the European Union agreed to outline a deal to facilitate a focus on transparency in the supply chain. This legislation concerns the sourcing of conflict minerals, not just in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), but other high-risk regions worldwide. This goes further into the geographic scope than American Dodd-Frank legislation (2012), which only looks into the DRC and adjoining countries. These legislations will focus on imports of materials and substances used to make finished products such as cell phones, computers, light bulbs, medical devices and retail accessories. However, the proposals only allow the companies to ‘opt-in’ to responsible mineral sourcing (often more expensive). A coalition of prominent politicians and NGOs criticise these bills for being mere suggestions and covering only a tiny proportion of the trade. They do not ban companies from using conflict minerals, but rather require them to be honest about their supply chains and encourage a greater awareness of their connection to the crises in the region. Encouragement does not equal adequate protection so overall these bills are intensely watered-down and at large ineffective.
Charity Work
Now there is no lack of criticism for charities: they often target symptoms, not causes, can spend way too much on advertising and HR rather than helping, they offer comfortable tax loopholes and may simply become a substitute for real justice. But not all are like that! As mentioned in the previous article, recently I’ve been impressed with the work done by Slum Innovation and Indian Girls Code, which both fund coding and robotics courses for girls in Indian orphanages. The results of the efforts by these organisations are very concrete — they provide tools for girls to create opportunities for themselves and empower them in a male-dominated industry. At 23 Code street, women can sign up for coding courses here in London and the money raised will then support the projects in India. Win win!
Charities like Oxfam, Women for Women International and Care also do important work with women affected by the military interventions in Congo. However, the financial chains of these larger institutions are so complicated — investing in smaller, more direct projects and workers’ unions seem to be more sustainable.
Ethical Hardware
If one hasn’t got the power or resources to engage with the resistance techniques mentioned above, they should at least investigate avoiding further profiting of the companies whose products are built with blood and pain of others. With the ever-increasing power of computing and network technology, the future has the potential to be dominated with reduction in hardware and the development of cloud-based technologies. In the future, a tiny Raspberry Pi microchip, that costs as little as $5 — $35 can hold all of the computing power necessary for AAA games, due to its connection with the cloud. Storing computer power in servers, which then can heat our homes, is a much more economically and ecologically viable option for future electronics and if we wish to give any civic merit to digital mediums, we must take notice.
In the short-term, it would be fascinating to see gaming companies adopt the ideals of Fairphone and Fairphone 2! The Dutch company is currently working on its third model of ethically produced smartphone — the materials used are from conflict-free zones, assembled in Netherlands by well-paid professionals. At €520 it is not cheap, but due to its modular design, all of the parts can be upgraded so the phone can have an unusually long lifespan. I would love to see a company like Valve, jumping on to creating a console and monitor equivalent of Fairphone.
Again, all of this is not ideal as technically it reduces the existing workforce and results in millions of people being unemployed, but with the increase in automation that is somewhat unavoidable.
Attitude Change
As a gamer, I already get enough judgement for ‘wasting my time’ — I would much rather continue doing so on at least ethically sound devices. At the end of the day, what this text urges, is to refuse separating our enjoyment of games from the harm it’s causing to others less fortunate. It’s not us playing them that is the issue per say, it’s the lack of resistance against the status quo racking up unreasonable profits.
Again, we must refuse becoming complacent and think that if we have an equal figure of women at the top of our industries, the fight is over. When we ask for diversity in gaming we have to remember all the people necessary for the medium’s accessible existence — not just developers, middle management, reviewers etc.
Direct Action
If nice words and pleas don’t help — it is our responsibility to be angry. Our creativity is making tech and gaming ever more impressive, engaging and unique. We have the agency to protest the atrocities committed by the brutal capitalist tech machine. If they don’t listen(which why would they), we must be persistent and combative. We cannot ignore the fact that these economies are entrenched so deeply - people having better work conditions would probably equate to electronics being more expensive, companies won’t just choose to reduce their profit. That’s why a diversity of tactics must lead to a complete overthrow as to how we engage with commodities and modes of transaction.
Let’s not get bogged down by the magnitude of this task, just remember — systems don’t exist, people do.
