Originally Posted by
Rocketbear
While there aren't really any actual barriers for women to get into the game industry, but due to the high percentage of men, it does put women off from entering it in the first place.
Now, this is merely anecdotal observations on my part, but the school I attended had a game development bachelor program, and when talking with girls who were interested in it, they did note that the overwhelming amount of guys already attending it put them off from enrolling, leading to them choosing other programs that had shared some things with it (like interior design). It's only really the ones who are already big into gaming, the women who have already been exposed and come to terms with the male majority of the video game consumer-base and industry, that enrolled in it.
Similarly, my current SO who attended that very same bachelor program once told me that she didn't take an internship at a small AA game studio because there were no no female employees at the time she was offered.
After talking with my friends who work there and the CEO, I got to know that they used to have female staff (which have gone to bigger studios) and that they'd love to hire more women if positions opened up, but that they still pick the best qualified individual for the job.
So while there isn't an actual barrier that prohibits women and minorities to enter the game industry or specific companies, it's more so that the cultural perception that is the barrier. People still perceive video games to be very much a boys club despite it being very welcoming for people of any kind. For women, it can be very intimidating for someone to start a job, career or curriculum when the grand majority of the people you'll be working with are of the opposite sex.