Below him in the rankings, the next 30 highest earners are all male Dota 2 players. But even where other games like Fortnite, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Call of Duty begin to appear, the list is still dominated by men. The first woman appears at #367: the Starcraft II champion Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn. Hostyn has made about $400,000 (£300,000) in prize money during her career since 2011; a far cry from the millions of men above her.

Hostyn is joined by only two other women to have made six figures in winnings. Xiao Meng “Liooon” Li won the Hearthstone grandmasters global finals in 2019, and Katherine “Mystik” Gunn has competed in various games. They are ranked #760 and #1,478, respectively.

Prize winnings aren’t the only way for esports players to make money, but the disparity extends to other areas of pro-gaming careers. Very few women are in a salaried player position; for example, the only woman to have played in the Overwatch League, Kim “Geguri” Se-yeon, did not compete in the most recent season, returning the league to a fully male player base. Many competitors turn to Twitch to supplement their incomes by livestreaming when they’re not competing, but a recent leak of the company’s financial data revealed that only three of the top 100 paid creators were women.

Unlike traditional sports, esports is, theoretically, an equal playing field regardless of gender. So why is there such a distinctive pay gap?

To put it plainly, the esports industry struggles with misogyny. In an interview with Polygon, the Overwatch League’s first female coach. Molly “Avalla” Kim, stated that she had once been accepted on to a team as a player, before she “gave up quickly because of the difficulties of joining a team house with other [male] players”. Elsewhere, she said that one team had also rejected her as a coach because “our players don’t want female coaches”.

Kim has also spoken about the hurtful comments she has received online about her appearance. Another Overwatch League staff member, Kate Mitchell, general manager of esports team Washington Justice, retired after reporting that her mental health declined after receiving “toxicity and casual cruelty from strangers” over the internet. “I wanted nothing more than to ‘power through’ and succeed in the face of adversity and blaze a trail for other LGBT women to follow me in this space,” she wrote in her announcement, “but [it] turned out to be a bigger challenge than I was able to take on.”

This misogyny is related to and compounded by the sexism of wider gaming culture. Studies have shown that voices perceived as female in game chats are many times more likely to receive harassment. Being able to use these features freely is often important to team unity, meaning it can be difficult for women to reach top ranks at all if their team becomes uncooperative or abusive. Others simply prefer not to speak to avoid any negativity, which in turn hampers their ability to play well, as well as their general enjoyment.

See full article: https://www.theguardian.com/games/2021/dec/02/why-do-female-pro-gamers-earn-less-than-men-esports