Do we need women-only initiatives? BeyondPlay CEO breaks down why female-led celebrations remain vital

Among the eight women named as Malta’s most influential within the iGaming sector by iGaming Capital magazine, the sister publication to iGamingCapital.mt, was Jacquie Gatt, COO at BeyondPlay, formerly known as SharedPlay.

In celebrating her colleague’s achievement, BeyondPlay CEO, Karolina Pelc, provides some much-needed context into why women-only initiatives remain vital in today’s environment.

Taking to social media, she asks three pertinent questions to form the basis of her argument:

Why do we need women-only initiatives?

Are you not scared to be known as a female founder vs simply a founder? Why highlight your female-led executive team?

What does the promotion of women in leadership roles have to do with workplace gender parity? Isn’t it ego-driven?

She starts off by saying “it is all about context”. While acknowledging that women-only awards may seem divisive, and draws on the presence of the individual in a particular role from the perspective of gender rather than ability, she goes on to say:

“In the context of senior leadership or founder roles, long presented and perceived as out of bounds for women, I think it’s empowering, encouraging and normalis[es] those matters while doing very little, if any, harm.

“The more it’s seen and talked about, the more attainable and standard it becomes. If something was out of balance for such a long time, it does now need the spotlight in the strive for equality.”

Ms Pelc stresses the mantra: seeing is believing and cites research which should a majority of women feel more confident about their future hearing from other successful females.

“The key challenge in attracting women into tech and gaming is the fact that they don’t see a career trajectory.

“Role models can show that there is one, can inspire and demonstrate a different mindset that can provide the encouragement needed”.

Ms Pelc rounds off by saying that while the main goal of her comments was to celebrate the success of colleague Jacquie Gatt and the many other leaders recognised in iGaming Capital magazine’s feature, she hopes to provide some context as to why the celebration is so important.