How to Include Girls and Women in STEM Using Mobile Games
By: Jeff Donnelley
Tags: Gaming, Esport, Women, STEM, Gender Equality

When I developed the concept for MegaFans, my intention was to build a gaming platform that would carve out niche space for mobile gaming in the lucrative eSports market. Achieving this endeavor would allow our company to meet its mission of providing access to “eSports for All!” regardless of race, gender, geographic location, or economic status. It would, of course, also allow us to capture a healthy return on investment.

MegaFans, however, has a two-part vision for the role mobile gaming can play in the world. Corporate social responsibility is more than a buzzword for me. I believe good companies should strive to positively impact the world and improve life on our planet, when and where possible. All corporate decisions need not be purely profit-driven; there is also room to pursue acts of social good.

The STEM Gender Gap

By now, we should all be aware that there is a massive gender gap in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math between males and females. Unfortunately, the STEM gender gap even persists in areas someone probably would not suspect, such as gaming and emerging technologies like blockchain and cryptocurrency.

Studies have uncovered various reasons why this barrier to inclusion exists; financial disenfranchisement of girls and women in developing countries and cultural mores that bar girls from pursuing education is common. The gender gap is overwhelmingly represented in industrialized nations too, where women are likely to run up against gender stereotypes and even open harassment.

Mobile Gaming = More Female Participation

While mobile gaming and eSports alone can’t act as panaceas to cure the immense problem of discrimination against women and girls in STEM fields, I’m convinced that it can get more female gamers worldwide participating in science and technology. Here’s why:

● The number of people in the world that own a mobile phone is over 7 billion, or 89.76% of the world’s population.

● As of 2021, there are 2.7 billion gamers worldwide, 2.4 billion of which are mobile game players.

● Nearly 50% of mobile game players are female gamers.

● Play-to-earn is becoming immensely popular, and people everywhere are using it to generate side income. Since cryptocurrencies and NFTs are typically featured in GameFi, this means more people are being exposed to these emerging assets.

Once Female Gamers Are In, Keep Them Engaged

The stats above prove that mobile has the ability to reach an immense number of women and girls and encourage their adoption of gaming tech. With our platform, MegaFans can appeal to this captured audience in a range of ways to deepen their participation and build a conduit to get more girls into STEM.

A few ways that we can approach this are through in-game messages and ads that encourage girls to explore STEM fields. Through our Youtube channel, MegaFans, we can publish videos showing the basic principles of creating and coding mobile games. We can even offer virtual boot camps that teach game design and publish students’ games to Google Play and the App Store.

By using the fun and engaging platform of mobile gaming, MegaFans can do its part to open more doors for girls and women so that they are represented and empowered to pursue careers in STEM-related fields. I’m a firm believer that mobile gaming’s wide reach and popularity can be wielded as a wrecking ball to knock down walls for more female presence in science and tech.

You can learn more about MegaFans and our mission by clicking here or by sending me an email if you’d like to support our mission: Jeff@MegaFans.com