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Vetting or Gatekeeping?

Bay Area Womxn in Games constantly works to include transwomen and has a spectacular board of advisors from a variety of backgrounds. We are open to new leadership. Here's one example of how we have striven to include speakers of all backgrounds, despite the closed-minded tendency of sponsors and other organizations.

I'm responsible for the first 2 years of the Bay Area Womxn in Games conference. When we partnered up with Women in Games International (WIGI) we were thrilled to finally meet our goal after 2 years of independent organizing. We were going to meet the organization that started it all, who inspired us to create a local organization in the first place, and they invited us to their board meeting.

However, as we attended a few meetings, the conversations became more and more depressing. The people who were elected to be leaders did not know how to lead. After all, you have a team of unpaid volunteers. Let them be motivated to contribute the way that their natural skill sets see fit. LISTEN to their wisdom and experience. You can't force people to do anything without compensating them.

When the appointed leader realized that she couldn't lead us, she quit. We never heard from her again.

There was only one woman left from San Francisco who represented WIGI. With a partnership between the two orgs, we set about planning the GDC related events, the conference and the mixer following at One Dome. The representative of WIGI wanted to organize a panel for the event on how to start a woman's organization within your game company. BAWGames recommended a transwoman speaker who had spoke at our event the previous year to join this panel. Now, I understand not wanting someone to pressure you to make up your mind. But the WIGI representative was not exactly open to referrals. She provided this graceful little spiel about how great diversity is but that she also "needed to vet them properly." I didn't want her to have to waste any time, so I provided the important details on this panel candidate:


  1. She has been in the AAA game industry for 4 years (go check her LinkedIn). 
  2. She has been a community manager in the game industry for 4 years. 
  3. She has formed a women's group within her game company. 
  4. She is an excellent speaker.


I held no grudge, nor did I protest at all when the WIGI rep still declined to add this speaker to her panel. However, let's get one thing straight: she wanted her best friends and colleagues to be on her panel and no one else.

And this is not an isolated incident. People in high places want to be surrounded by their very own best friends, but the downside is that this makes them very closed-off to new and valuable people. In other words, this way of thinking makes them a terrible snob.

And furthermore- do not call this "vetting." This speaker is a veteran, (as much as the decision-maker claimed to be) and a great fit for the panel.  So to call being closed off to adding a new person to the panel "vetting" would be inaccurate. They were qualified on multiple accounts, an excellent speaker, and a community expert. What was infuriating was that the WIGI representative had no cause to decline adding her. But she kept her panel small when she couldn't find anyone to fill the last seat.

I call it "gatekeeping."

To misconstrue and misrepresent "proper vetting" is a terrible shame. If you're completely closed off to a person that you don't know who is clearly qualified, you're not properly vetting them at all. You're misusing your privilege.

We couldn't argue too much with our partners right before the event. It's stressful enough to organize an event, let alone with drama, and we made sure to include transpeople and non-binary panelists in seats we had control over.

This incident motivated us to create a new leadership structure for BAWGames. Our board of advisors contains 8-10 representatives who will help identify and schedule a wide range of speakers and panelists. Our third year is approaching fast and I can't wait to see the outcome.

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