Achieving greater gender balance in gaming and iGaming is a multifaceted task. Industry leaders and diversity experts recommend a combination of strategies and best practices to promote inclusion at every level:
- Inclusive Recruitment & Hiring: Companies are revising their hiring processes to cast a wider net for talent. This includes using gender-neutral language in job postings and ensuring diverse candidate shortlists for every role. Some firms partner with organizations that connect women developers and engineers to employers, or they attend women-in-tech career fairs. It’s also vital to have diverse interview panels. By reducing unconscious bias in hiring, companies like Flutter and Playtech have reported increases in female hires for technical roles in the past two years (often by setting internal targets for female recruitment). The goal is to bring more women through the door at entry level without lowering the bar, but by widening the pipeline.
- Mentorship and Sponsorship: Many successful diversity initiatives pair less-experienced women with mentors or sponsors in senior leadership. Mentorship programs – such as those run by Women in Games or internal company networks – help women navigate career challenges, build confidence, and access opportunities. Sponsors (executives who advocate for high-potential women) are even more critical in helping women get stretch assignments or promotions. For example, Global Gaming Women runs a mentorship scheme that has matched dozens of women with C-level mentors across casino operators. Companies that formalize sponsorship (assigning each senior leader a diversity “protégé”) see better promotion rates for women. Having a visible champion in leadership can counteract the isolation women might feel and actively open doors for them.
- Leadership Development Programs: To feed the pipeline of future female executives, some organizations have created training programs specifically for women. These might include leadership workshops, management training courses, or rotations through different departments to build experience. For instance, IGT (a gaming technology supplier) credits such programs with increasing the number of women in its management ranks globalgamingexpo.com. Similarly, several European iGaming firms have launched “Women in Leadership” academies to prepare mid-level female managers for senior roles through coaching and skill development. By investing in their own employees, companies ensure that when a higher role opens, there are qualified women ready to step up.
- Creating an Inclusive Culture: Policies and training are key to shifting everyday workplace culture. Leading companies emphasize a zero-tolerance stance on harassment and discrimination – backed up by clear reporting mechanisms and serious consequences for misconduct. Regular D&I training (including unconscious bias workshops and inclusive leadership training for managers) helps reinforce respectful behavior. As one female marketing head noted, it’s crucial that respect “not be limited to just marketing or hiring policies,” but permeate corporate culture and mindsets. In practice, this means encouraging diverse perspectives in meetings, ensuring women’s ideas are heard and credited, and fostering an environment where everyone feels welcome to contribute linkedin.com. Some firms also implement anonymous employee feedback tools to catch issues early and gauge inclusion sentiment among staff.
- Flexible Work and Support: To retain women and enable work-life balance, progressive companies offer flexibility that benefits all employees. Options like remote work, flexible hours, onsite childcare facilities, or enhanced parental leave can make a huge difference in keeping women in the workforce through life changes. During the pandemic, many gaming companies learned that remote collaboration is possible; continuing these practices allows, for example, a new mother to return to work gradually or a caregiver to manage their schedule. Additionally, providing a clear path back for those who take career breaks (through “returnship” programs or upskilling refreshers) can help bring women back into the industry. The more women see that they won’t be penalized for life events, the more likely they are to stay and aspire to leadership.
- Accountability and Measurement: “What gets measured gets managed.” The best diversity programs set concrete goals (e.g. reach 30% women in tech roles by 2025, ensure at least one woman candidate for every senior vacancy, etc.) and regularly track progress. Publicly reporting diversity statistics and pay gap figures also increases accountability – for instance, UK companies above 250 employees are required to publish gender pay gap data, prompting many gaming firms to take action when disparities are revealed. Several top operators now tie a portion of executive bonuses to achieving diversity targets or improvements in inclusion survey scores. This sends a clear signal that leadership is accountable for results. According to the All-In Diversity Project, 53% of companies now track employee ethnicity and 50% monitor gender pay gaps as of 2024, reflecting this growing emphasis on data-driven D&I management linkedin.com. Transparency, both internal and external, forces organizations to address shortcomings and celebrate gains.
- Celebrating and Supporting Talent: Lastly, promoting diversity also means promoting the diverse individuals in your ranks. Companies are increasingly highlighting the achievements of their female staff – whether by nominating them for industry awards, featuring them in company blogs on International Women’s Day, or encouraging them to speak at conferences. This not only recognizes the contributions women are making (boosting their visibility as role models), but also helps break down stereotypes by showing that women are excelling in every domain of iGaming, from coding slot games to leading compliance teams. Support networks and affinity groups (like a Women in Tech forum within a company) give women a platform to share experiences and advise management on inclusion improvements. As Uplatform’s team put it, seeing women “shattering stereotypes” in various roles – tech, product, operations, etc. – proves that “iGaming is for everyone” and inspires the next generation to join in soloazar.comsoloazar.com.
By implementing these practices in a sustained, authentic way, companies not only create a more equitable workplace but also stand to benefit from diversity. Research has consistently shown that diverse teams spur more innovation and better business performance. In gaming, this can translate to broader creative perspectives in game design and a better connection with an increasingly diverse player base. In gambling, it can mean more understanding of a growing female customer segment – indeed, female participation in online betting has been rising (women now make up an estimated 30–40% of online gamblers worldwide) sigma.worldyogonet.com. A workforce that reflects its customer base can design products and experiences that appeal to everyone.
