Debora Imanuella, UniPin Global Community SVP
Jakarta, IO – Indonesian women continue to struggle in their daily lives. They fight for equality in fields that men are not even aware of, ones they take for granted, or even actively obstruct women from. Using different names, women such as national woman heroes R.A. Kartini and Dewi Sartika, great businesswomen such as “Nyonya Meneer” Lauw Ping Nio, Mbok Berek, Mooryati Soedibyo, and Mien Uno continue the struggle for gender equality.
Now, this struggle expands to include fields that hitherto did not exist, such as e-sports. Digital content providers TikTok and UniPin collaborate in the #WomenInGaming campaign, a recent effort to encourage gender equality in Indonesia’s gaming and e-sports Indonesia.
The collaboration was summarized in a roundtable talk video uploaded on UniPin Gaming’s YouTube channel on 14 November. UniPin invited five inspirational woman e-sport athletes to share their experiences and achievements in gaming and e-sports, as well as the discrimination they face daily in their chosen profession.
The e-sport and gaming industry is very much male-dominated. However, there are many great women in the industry, ones who contribute and achieve greatly as well. Such women active in the e-sport industry make up the panel of speakers for this talk: Adin (e-sport journalist and content creator), BTR Babyla (professional gamer), Jessica Jelly (professional shoutcaster), Fanny Tjandra (content creator), and Debora Imanuella (UniPin’s Global Community SVP.
These five women shared exactly what kind of discrimination and attacks they sustained as woman gamers, and how their passion for gaming give them the support to persevere in their path and overcome their difficulties, becoming beacons and exemplars for the next generation of girls and women who want to become professionals in the gaming industry:
BTR Babyla persistently participates in gaming tournaments and defeated men; Fanny and Adin develop ideas for quality gaming content that do not rely on sexuality, proving their mettle and worth as serious woman players in the gaming industry; shoutcaster Jelly shares her experiences as a pioneer in her profession. Initially, not many women were interested in commenting on live gameplay, because of embarrassment and discrimination. But now, more and more women shoutcasters appear. On the other hand, Debora, as a woman advocate and leader in the gaming and e-sport industry shares her experience from the business and legal side. All of them share their experience and achievements as professional women in their industry, showing how women can achieve anything they set their minds to – even in “male” industries.
Read: Dhyani Primaluminari: Seeking To Have More Indonesian Women Participate In Politics
“TikTok’s #WomenInGaming campaign is an excellent initiative. UniPin wants to continue the movement, so that girl and woman gamers know that they have the same right to space as boys and men and can contribute as greatly, if not greater than them,” Debora said. “UniPin and TikTok provide space for all female gamers and their communities to share ideas and experiences with each other, and to collaborate in generating impactful work.” (rp)