Esports has been a consistently-growing industry with a pool of over 3 billion active players worldwide to pull from, experiencing great growth spurts as gaming has become more popularized and lucrative over the decades. However, a new study conducted by BesteOnlineCasinos has found that there is a significant gender pay gap in the industry, with female gamers earning significantly less than their male counterparts. BesteOnlineCasinos’ study compared the total earnings of male and female gamers across the globe to uncover the countries with the largest gender pay gap in esports.
BesteOnlineCasinos used a sample of over 21,000 players from 1998-2022, sourced from esports Earnings, to perform its analysis of the sector. The resulting sample consisted of the top 500 male and female players in each country. Countries with a sample size less than 10 players, either male or female, were omitted from the results.
Within these parameters, the study concluded that Finland has the largest gender pay gap in esports, with female gamers earning an average annual earnings of just $332, equating to just 7 cents to every $100 earned by their male counterparts, whose average annual earnings rack up to $459,925. This equates to a 99.93% difference between the two salaries. Despite online gaming in Finland being thriving, there are currently no female Finnish gamers in the top 500 highest earning players.
In second place is Peru, where female gamers earn an annual average of $312 compared to the male gamers’ earnings of $81,767. This equates to 99.62% less than the men. There are currently no female Peruvian gamers in the top 500 highest earning players.
Malaysia has the third largest gender pay gap in esports, with female gamers earning an average annual earnings of $965, a 99.6% decrease in earnings compared to the male gamer earnings of $242,565. However, the average female annual earnings of $965 is 2 times higher than that of Finnish female gamers.
Denmark is in fourth place, with Danish female Esports players earning just $0.48 to every male gamers $100. Female gamers are earning 99.52% less than the men, which stands in stark contrast considering Denmark is the fifth highest earning country in Esports.
Norway is in fifth place, with female gamers earning 99.51% less than their male counterparts. Norwegian women are making less than $800 a year, which equates to just $0.49 to every $100 made by male pro gamers.
The results of this study, at face value, highlight the significant gender pay gap in the Esports industry, with female gamers earning significantly less than their male counterparts across the globe.
It should be noted that this study, conducted by BesteOnlineCasinos, did NOT take into account which games were being played by male and female gamers, the tournaments won by male and female gamers, or the prize pools of the tournaments for the winning players, both male and female, among other factors that might provide additional information for a more accurate conclusion to their findings. We would recommend that the results of BesteOnlineCasinos’ study be taken with a huge dose of salt as to the claim that there is a large disparity in the gender wage gap when it comes to esports.
Over 10 years ago we wrote an editorial titled “Esports: Where Gender Equality Can Happen” that we recommend you check out and let us know what you think the problems are which might be responsible for why women aren’t as prevalent in esports right now. And be on the lookout for our follow-up to that old editorial.
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