Xbox Highlights Women on International Women’s Day

Today, Xbox posted a bevy of media to celebrate all the amazing women at the publisher as a part of their Women in Gaming initiative, and as a celebration of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month. Kicking thing off is an Xbox Wire article authored by Jennifer Lane, Design Director at Turn 10, which provides an overview of the goals of the Women in Gaming initiative and a number of new avenues to celebrate the women that help build the Xbox that we love.

The newest video in the Women of Xbox UK series has also been released to celebrate the holiday, and features Louis O’Connor, Rose Buahin, Mary McGuane, and Nina Kristensen discussing their various journeys through the gaming industry. It’s a great discussion that highlights the diversity in skills and professions that compose the overall gaming landscape, the challenges they have faced as women in the industry, as well as the importance of diversity for the benefits of all. Additionally, in tandem with the string of videos released, Xbox is launching a new podcast series for the Women of Xbox UK near the end of March.

Major Nelson’s podcast, Major Nelson Radio, also got into the spirit of International Women’s Day by handing the reigns over to Maxi Gräff, Social Lead at Xbox Germany, to interview three women at Xbox: Gabriela Ponce (Producer at Turn 10), Saher Hirji (Director of Minecraft sites), and Jenn Panattoni (Head of Xbox Social Good). The spotlight is similar to the Women of Xbox series in that it highlights the importance of representation of women and people of color from actual experiences of those groups within the industry.

Finally, Xbox is hosting a number of gaming events to celebrate Women’s History Month:

• Gears 5 will be featuring an all-women tournament broadcasting on Twitch on Saturday, March 13th at 10:30am PT.
• Minecraft: Education Edition released two lessons today, International Women’s Day, covering Malala Yousafzai and Emmeline Pankhurst’s contributions to education and suffrage rights for women, respectively.
• Age of Queens, a women-led Age of Empires community is throwing a tournament on March 13th and 14th in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
• Microsoft Rewards Members will be able to have their donations made to Girls Who Code and Black Girls Rock matched in value throughout the month of March