Breaking the glass monitor: examining the underrepresentation of women in esports environments

While the growth of esports is undeniable, access, inclusivity, and diversity within this space is reminiscent of U.S. pre-Title IX traditional sport environments. As such, recent calls for the inclusion of esports within the traditional sport management literature have been persuasive. The esports industry is largely male dominated, as women and girls represent a lower proportion of participants, fans, and employees. While the proportions are staggering, the underrepresentation of women and girls in the esports industry has not been fully explored. In order to investigate this underrepresentation, 10 women esports competitors, content creators, and executives advanced our understanding of both the career experiences and career obstacles they encounter including (1) breaking the glass monitor, (2) toxic “geek” masculinity, (3) hostile sport environments, and (4) “mental” (e.g., grit). This investigation utilized a generic, qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews and employed an inductive thematic-analysis process to uncover the experiences of women employees in the esports industry. This will serve as the first qualitative study in sport management that examines the career experiences of elite-level women gamers and executives. As such, the major contributions are the identified obstacles that women have faced in their rise to elite level careers within this space.Women and girls remain highly underrepresented throughout the esports industry.Elite-level women esports employees encounter numerous barriers and obstacles.The presence of a glass monitor inhibits career access and advancement for women.The industry maintains a hostile culture for women and girls plagued by harassment.Participants experienced toxic masculinity and required extreme grit to sustain.