Bridging the Pay Divide: Empowering Women to Demand Fairer Salaries

Encouraging women to aim for higher pay, rather than just matching their male counterparts, could be crucial in closing the persistent gender pay gap. Tanja Loktionova, founder of Values Value, presented the findings of the agency's annual salary survey at Devcom, revealing that women not only earn less than men in almost every discipline within the games industry but also have lower salary expectations. The survey, based on responses from 1,832 developers worldwide, showed that men predictably outearned women in most disciplines, with the largest gap in marketing and user acquisition, where men earned an average of €65,400 and women earned €38,000. However, the most striking difference was in the salaries that men and women desired, with men's expectations often significantly higher than their current average salaries, while women's expectations were generally more in line with men's current average salaries. Loktionova stressed the importance of raising awareness about the gender pay gap and encouraging women to negotiate for higher salaries, emphasizing that this is essential for overcoming the pay disparity. The survey also found that hybrid workers were more satisfied with their employment than remote or on-site workers and that staff who received no financial bonuses were most likely to want to change jobs or companies.