New Zealand Esports Federation

Share

Newly formed women’s sub-committee opens the door for females into Esports

New Zealand Esports Federation Chief Executive Jonathan Jansen is pleased to announce the formation of a Women’s Esports Subcommittee to provide a framework on which women in the esports ecosystem can prosper, share their voice and inspire other girls and women to help promote greater visibility and respect.

The inaugural six member committee is a diverse mix of women with governance and research experience in the broader digital and creative tech ecosystems alongside those with experience as founders, professional players, esports event coordinators, content creators, community and team managers. 

  • Chelsea Rapp, Chair of the NZ Game Developers Association, Head of Strategy & Biz Dev at CerebralFix
  • Kahu Bennett, Content Creator, Actress, Gamer who is currently doing her MBA at the University of Auckland
  • Dr Emma Witkowski, Senior lecturer at RMIT University with a focus on esports, gender, competition and cooperative play
  • Layla Loots, Marketing Executive, Award-Winning Designer, Gaming Enthusiast and Advocate
  • Ashleigh ‘Minxy’ Dougal, Esports Professional (Rainbow Six Siege, first female Team Captain in LPL competitive
  • Nikolasa Biasiny-Tule, Founder of Digital Natives Academy, non-profit focused on providing access, skills and training in esports, content creation, animation and wellbeing using Māori to Māori programme delivery.

“The first step will be developing our vision, mission and purpose and determining what role the subcommittee should play (advisory, ambassador, advocates). This is something we’ll do collectively to ensure what is developed is robust and reflective of the needs we have as a group,” Committee Chair Nikolasa Biasiny-Tule said. 

One of the NZESF’s main reasons for establishing this new committee was to create a safe and supportive space in which girls and women can develop skills, expertise and leadership. The issues that affect women in gaming/esports are broad, from toxic experiences, to trying to stay genderless.

 “By being visible we have the opportunity to gather together a group of girls and women interested in being part of the community and by doing that we can further develop safe spaces for girls especially to explore this space,” explained Biasiny-Tule.  

In the recent DNZ22 report released by IGEA in partnership with Bond University, it was revealed 49% of gamers are female. While women represent a large percentage of gamers, they only represent a small number of professional players and the insights of gamer members Kahu Bennett and Ashleigh Dougal will help the committee understand why this is the case and what this committee can do to make positive change. 

New Zealand founding president John McRae says “Our goal is to listen and meet the needs of the female gamers to help increase their participation within esports. The establishment of the women’s sub-committee follows on from the NZESF’s support of the NZ Game Developers Association’s Women in Gaming event earlier this year”.    

The members believe that the positive step of forming this committee will lead to more women working in the industry in leadership and governance roles, as well as more professional players and resources to help activate the vision and purpose that emerges. 

The Women’s Esports Committee will hold their first board meeting in the coming weeks. To contact the Committee members please email:

More NZESF Headlines

Top Esports Articles