Looking at girls’ experience of online gaming this International Women’s Day

March 8^th marks the annual celebration of International Women’s Day. The day celebrates women’s achievement, raises awareness against bias, and takes action for equality.

This year’s official hashtag is #BreaktheBias – be sure to engage with the conversation on social media, and upload this year’s official selfie pose.

If you head to the International Women’s Day homepage, you can take inspiration from the various missions undertaken by women in the last year, as well as explore the theme and take a look at all the various events going on.

As a partner of the UK Safer Internet Centre, we wanted to shed light on our research into the relationship between young women and gaming, as this year’s theme was:

Findings from the research of Safer Internet Day 2022 shows the ways girls engage in online gaming, especially over the COVID-19 the pandemic, and how it has impacted their mental health.

How parents and carers can support young people

But firstly, let’s talk about parents and carers. Women we spoke to found it less difficult to start conversations with their child (regardless of gender) about their online life; 26% of women said they found it difficult to instigate these conversations, against 43% of men.

However, feedback from parents and young people demonstrates that there is still work to be done to support all families to have conversations at home that support safe and enjoyable internet use and online gaming.

We feel that it is something to be celebrated on International Women’s Day that so many mothers do not find that talking to their child about their online lives is a challenge.

Childnet’s mission is to show how the internet can be a great and safe place for young people, and a vital part of this is established when parents and carers engage with them about life online.

Girls’ experiences of online gaming

When looking at the research into young people, we found that most girls (54%) say that they now play more online games than ever before, whilst 60% of girls say that playing games online was an important part of their life in 2021.

With an upheaval of structure to the lives of young people because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is so encouraging to see that most girls are actively engaging in online games.

Escapism can be a fantastic coping mechanism for people experience all types of change; it’s also just a pure and simple way to release those all-important endorphins.

This is why Childnet are pleased to report that most girls (56%) say that playing games changes their mood positively, and 67% say that it has helped them to keep in contact with their friends.

It’s worth mentioning that 63% of girls say that playing games online has allowed them to develop new skills, such as determination and problem solving; a further 48% of girls say that playing games online has allowed them to learn about other cultures and interact with people all over the world.

We hope that some of these statistics go a long way in dispelling stigmas surrounding gaming, and that more and more girls across the UK pick up that controller and play.

Young people share their wishes in the Young People’s Charter

We have produced a Young People’s Charter from speaking to primary and secondary age children in focus groups, consulting Childnet Digital Leaders and Digital Champions, surveying young people, and reviewing the findings from our latest research.

This charter of five key points comes directly from the young people we spoke to. If these nuances are addressed by key online stakeholders and the UK Government, then we can expect to see a rise in all young people playing online games, but more importantly a better reap of positive impact because of online gaming.

Here is a snippet of each key point from the Young People’s Charter, featuring the voices of young women (8-17 years) across the UK:

Whilst you’re here, why not take a look at the full findings of the research of Safer Internet Day?