Gender and Resilience in Esports

This paper presents provisional findings from an early-stage qualitative study examining how women and non-binary workers have remained in and succeeded within the competitive gaming and esports industry. The authors argue that while esports has long been characterized as misogynist and exclusionary, women and non-binary people have been foundational to its growth, particularly in offscreen labour such as event organizing, coaching, media production, and team management. The research is motivated by the observation that prior scholarship has focused largely on barriers to participation in play itself, such as toxic communication, limited representation, unequal access to technology, and meritocratic ideologies, thereby overlooking the wider range of activities the industry depends upon.

The study draws on the first round of semi-structured interviews with women and non-binary esports workers whose paid or unpaid labour, onscreen or off, has helped build and sustain competitive gaming communities and organizations. Participants described how they persevere in an industry they characterize as difficult, if not hostile, to those who are not men. Their accounts highlight sources of support such as Discord channels, family members, and mentors, as well as the conditions of access that enabled them to enter esports in the first place. The authors anticipate that the fuller study will identify recurring patterns in how interest in competitive gaming is cultivated and sustained, and how success is achieved despite exclusionary conditions.

Theoretically, the paper challenges the prevalent notion in technology industries that resilience is a matter of individual grit and persistence. Drawing on relational and systemic accounts of resilience, the authors contend that resilience should be understood as networked and dependent on social support rather than innate individual capacity. This reframing shifts attention from individual adaptation toward systemic interventions aimed at the cultural sustainability of esports. The authors suggest that the educational and apprenticeship-based mechanisms surfaced in interviews could inform support structures in schools, youth clubs, and amateur esports organizations.