Women from all walks of life have faced inequality throughout their professional careers; these obstacles usually take the form of discrimination, lack of access, unconscious bias, and so on. Women lead only under 6% of the top 3,000 companies in the U.S., despite earning the majority of college degrees. On top of that, men are three times more likely to have been encouraged to take on a leadership role and twice as likely to have been promoted or selected for a leadership position when compared to their female peers. (Fuhrmans, Where Are All The Women CEOs?) Such low representation in leadership positions tends to have a lasting impact on young and aspiring females. As the saying goes, “you can’t be what you can’t see”: not seeing other women becoming leaders and gaining their success in a field might leave young girls not pursuing that path themselves. Such obstacles are even more common for females working in the tech industry, a sector that has witnessed a significant underrepresentation of women throughout its history. In 2015, women made up only 25% of all tech occupations, which is, surprisingly, significantly lower than even in the 1990s. (Ashcraft et al., Women In Tech: The Facts) However, slowly but surely, more talented women unfazed by the obstacles are making their way to success in the fields they are passionate about, even if it means they must prove themselves much more than their male peers.
Holly Liu is one such example. Holly has experimented in many fields throughout her career before she finally found the one she felt the most passionate about. At first, Holly started with a background in Communications and East Asian Studies and then went on to pursue a Master’s degree in Information Management. A few years after completing her Master’s degree at UC Berkeley, she co-founded the mobile gaming company Kabam with her alumnus in 2006. From there, she led the design for the company’s award-winning “Kingdoms of Camelot” franchise, which grossed over $250 million in less than four years. The company then partnered up with some of the most extensive Hollywood intellectual properties such as Marvel, Star Wars, The Hobbits, and so on. (Graduation speaker Holly Liu’s Ten-YearJourney To Becoming an Overnight Success)
During her speech with Object, a platform that connects young girls with women role models, Holly brought up that when she first founded Kabam with her alumnus, the question “what was it like to be a female founder?” was thrown at her a lot. She was confused as to what they were expecting to hear from her: “I don’t know what you are talking about. I’m just a founder”. (Holly Liu, Co-Founder, Kabam, Most Powerful Woman in Gaming)The fact that people emphasized her identity as a “female founder” instead of just a founder for a company, like how they would with her male peers, made Holly realize that she was “judged by a different standard.”
On top of these passive and unconscious biases, Holly also had to face hardships while working with her team due to her female identity. During the same speech, Holly mentioned that she was the only woman on the founding team for Kabam. Her team would often give her feedback that she could identify as biased later on in her career, as she connects to more and more females working in the field who are also constantly getting the same feedback. “… well maybe it’s not because I’m Holly. I can change my behavior but I can’t change that I’m Asian, I can’t change that I’m a woman…” (Holly Liu, Co-Founder, Kabam, Most Powerful Woman in Gaming) Female contributors facing such subtle and unconscious bias in their work is very prominent in the tech sector, especially for the gaming industry, even until today. Such discrimination usually stems from gender stereotypes and misconceptions; even with decades of experience working in the gaming industry, female contributors can still be deemed “not gamer enough”, according to Riot Games, the gaming giant behind League of Legends.
We can only combat such misconception with more females making their way to leadership roles, therefore encouraging and empowering more young women to pursue a career in such fields and allowing for a more inclusive, non-biased perspective when a company hires new employees. According to Holly, her being on the founding team for Kabam has contributed to their company having more female employees than the industry average: “… the gaming industry on average has about 17% women, at Kabam we had about 25% women, it just so happened that 25% of the founding team were women! Imagine if 50% were women…” (Holly Liu, Co-Founder, Kabam, Most Powerful Woman in Gaming) As we celebrate Holly’s achievement as a female role model, we must remember that including women in all fields require our action, we can continue to push harder and do more, so that the next generation of women can grow up in a more inclusive, non-discriminatory environment, and have the confidence to pursue whatever ambitions they envision.
Bibliography
“Ashcraft, Catherine, et al. Women in Tech: The Facts. National Center for Women & Technology (NCWIT), 2016.
Fuhrmans, Vanessa. “Where Are All The Women CEOs? – WSJ – Bnnier Corporation.” Wall Streets Journal, 6 Feb. 2020, https://www.bonniercorp.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Where-Are-All-the-Women-CEOs-WSJ.
“Graduation Speaker Holly Liu’s Ten-Year Journey to Becoming a Overnight Success.” UC Berkeley School of Information, https://www.ischool.berkeley.edu/news/2017/graduation-speaker-holly-lius-ten-year-journey-becoming-overnight-success.
“Holly Liu, Co-Founder, Kabam, Most Powerful Woman in Gaming.” Object, https://www.object.live/workshops/holly. Accessed 16 Feb. 2022.
