The following statistics about the Finnish game industry are from Neogames Finland’s biennial survey. Neogames has been monitoring the progress of the Finnish Game Industry since 2003. Every second year, the statistics are published on Finnish Game Industry reports.
There have been women working in the Finnish game industry from early years on, but the rate of women employees has not been statistically recorded until 2010 onward. The number of women is the only gender statistic collected; this survey does not cover non-binary people, or offer the possibility to self-describe gender.
In 2010, women were 16 % of the game industry workforce, the total number of employees in the Finnish game industry being 1100.
The number of women was not collected in 2012. The total amount of the Finnish game industry employees was 1800 in that year.
In 2014, 20 % of the game industry workforce was women, the total number of employees being 2500.
In 2016, the rate of women dropped to 18 %, whereas the employee total slightly raised to 2750. The most evident reason for this decrease was that one of the major companies in the industry had significant co-operation negotiations, causing redundancy of about 200 employees. There is more room for the speculation why the rate of women employees peaked: maybe the co-operation negotiations hit mostly to women, or fewer women were hired elsewhere due to a free, male-dominated workforce.
The latest survey is from 2018 when the percentage of women was 20 %, and the total number of employees was 3200.
These statistics show clearly that the number of employees in the Finnish game industry has been steadily growing, but the number of women in the Finnish game industry has stayed around 20 % for at least six years now. More women are getting in the game development, but not so many that it would raise the percentage.
The number of women in the Finnish game industry compared to others
The studies show that internationally, the rate of women in the game industry is 21-23 % per country. Just by looking at this, one could conclude that the Finnish percentage correlates quite nicely with global trends. However, according to the Statistics Finland (Tilastokeskus), 70,6 % of women and 72,7 % of men in Finland were in working life in 2018, and they note that the employment rate of women in Finland is relatively high internationally. In fact, the country that is most equally employing both genders, is employing fewer women in games than the international average is.
The casual reasoning for this is the low amount of women in STEM studies. But even compared to the number of women in the Finnish ICT industry, the amount of women in games is low. According to the Federation of Finnish Technology Industries (Teknologiateollisuus) statistics from the year 2017, the percentage of women in the ICT industry was 27,5 %.
Inside our industry, we can compare the number of women and the number of non-Finnish workers, as the latter has been collected for a few years now. The amount of non-Finnish employees has been growing from 18 % to 27 % during the years 2016 to 2018. We have succeeded in attracting the workforce outside Finland, but failed to attract women in the games industry.
Women in Games Finland’s goal is to get higher than 20 %
Women in Games Finland ry was established in 2019. Our objective is to make the Finnish games industry more diverse and equal, and make working and entrepreneurship in the industry possible to everyone regardless of their gender, sexuality, ethnicity, age, financial situation, or body and functionality.
We aim to get the percentage of women in the Finnish game industry higher than 20 %, and to get other minorities in games to be heard and seen.
We organise networking events and network opportunities online, workshops, and offer mentorship programs. Our activities also include other forms of sharing information, connections, and training to our members. Women in Games Finland shares resources and information about diversity within games and technology through its channels, and actively participates in the discussion and projects supporting these topics.
Sources:
Neogames Finland: Finnish Game Industry 2018 Report.
Neogames Finland: Finnish Game Industry 2016 Report.
Neogames Finland: Finnish Game Industry 2014 Report.
Neogames Finland: Finnish Game Industry 2013.
Neogames Finland: Finnish Game Industry 2010-2011.
Statista: Distribution of game developers worldwide from 2014 to 2017, by gender.
Tilastokeskus: Työelämä.
Teknologiateollisuus: Teknologiateollisuuden henkilöstön sukupuolijakaumat, ikäjakaumat ja keski-iät. 2017.