by Beth B. Kennedy [Excerpted from a three part series of articles: "Opportunities for the Present and Future: Products and Niche Demographic Markets"]
Snakes and snails, and puppy-dog tails That's what little boys are made of; Sugar and spice, and everything nice That's what little girls are made of.
This is about Frontiers and crossing them. To paraphrase Barbra Streisand, "This is about art and the signature we leave behind as a society; the histories we write about our civilization and the times". This is also about good projects, who produces them and what makes them good. No one sets out to produce a bad title that appeals to a small group. We all want a hit. We dream of creating a hit title -- a film that tops $100 million, or a killer application that sells 100 million copies. Or both -- and more.
We've had over seventy five years of producing films, and are approaching fifty years of producing television. But, it's barely fifteen years since the first Personal Computer emerged; it's only this year that the "Multimedia" equipped PC market became a standard, and topped 10 million [that's mass market proportions].
THE NUMBERS
The number of kids watching television will increase to 48 million by 2,000 [in 1990 there were 42 million]. In 1993, 42 million children accounted for $32 billion in spending.
In 1988, 99.1% of the secretaries were women; 97.6% of the lab technicians, and 97.1% of the receptionists were also female. There are over 60 million computers in use in the business world. Look around you -- women at work use computers -- as much as, if not more than [in some occupations] men.
Apple has 12% of the total market share of computers, but over 50% of the computers in schools. Look around you -- girls in school use computers -- in classroom settings -- equally to the boys . [It's after-school, in "recreational" settings that boys participation far exceeds girls]. Well over 50% of college students [the percentage increases in graduate schools] own and/or or use computers.
Videogames accounted for over $5.3 billion in 1994, exceeding the domestic film revenues. Boys are five times more likely to own a videogame player [Joel Federman. Director of Research, Mediascope].
There were more than 13.4 million CD-ROM equipped PC's in 1994, and revenue for CD-ROM titles for the home exceeded $1.89 billion. Yet, Fortune magazine estimated that only 25 titles of the more than 1,700 titles on the 1994 Christmas shelves would sell more than 100,000 units and only 200 [under 12%] would turn a profit.
So what about software for women and girls?
Females make up 52% of the U.S. population. There are more than 15 million girls between the ages of 4 and 12 in the United States. There are 500 million if you add Western Europe and Mexico. Not my concept of a "niche" market, yet this is how women and girls have been treated. So far. There are probably less than a dozen titles which were either developed for, or appeal to women and girls. Some sold, some didn't. Why?
[Section discussing particular titles, marketing and distribution issues and problems is omitted from this Excerpt.]
I don't think it's a plot; it's an evolution. No intelligent business person would intentionally exclude a potential buyer. Given the current rate of profitability, you'd have to be crazy or very narrow minded to exclude a potential market the size of the women/girls' market. Then why isn't there more software that appeals to girls and women?
IS IT GENETIC?
In a landmark work, Eleanor Emmons Maccoby and Carol Nagy Jacklin, conducted a survey of research in every area of sex differences, summarizing their analysis of over 1,400 studies. Many of us have heard these "myths" stated as truths: girls recall words and social situations, boys remember objects and numbers; boys lead, girls follow; boys command, girls obey; he acts, she discusses and writes about actions.
Recent research, in fact is demonstrating that there are physical differences in male and female brains: development of the left and right sides of the brain; differences in size [girls are said to read better because reading requires a communication between the right and left sides of the brain, but it's a disadvantage for visual and spatial tasks, such as map reading and some computer games]. Behavioral studies have demonstrated that biology can have less relevance than our attitudes, expectations, the toys we buy, or the behaviors we encourage. Research confirms differences in play, preferences, fantasies; girls and boys notice different things in the world around them and respond to them differently; they watch different television shows, choose different books and play with their peers differently. Which traits are inevitable, which are acquired? The battle over the importance of genetic and behavioral influences rages on.
2 Some say women and girls are afraid of computers and technology.
Computers have been identified in much of the research as a "male thing" like fixing cars. Old myths about gender neither die, nor fade away -- apparently, they're just applied to new technologies. The research also confirms that girls/women are neither afraid of computers nor of technology [at least not any more than the other members of the "Technologically Terrified"]. Girls as well as boys use computers in school. Some research implies that because girls are "docile" and follow "instructions" in schools, they use computers "without complaint." Other research demonstrates that girls and boys are equally creative, participative and interactive with computers -- until the age of puberty. [They differ about the break age: some say nine; some seven, but most agree by the age of ten, except for use in schools, voluntary computer use is over for girls.].
What about women? They use computers at work -- look around you. I was responsible for Personal Computers for MCA for many years. Of the over 5,000 people trained to use PC's from 1982 - 1990, over 90% were women. This isn't merely anecdotal, the research about computer usage in the business and professional environments confirm usage by a significant number of women.
Now, no one honestly believes that these women go home from a hard day at the office, to an equally tough evening at home with spouses and/or children, and immediately become afraid to use computers? Or that girls leave the school environment and suddenly have an aversion to technology?
GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN?
Access alone is not be adequate. "It's a male thing," Jo Sanders quotes from her research. "We must demonstrate appealing uses of computers to girls... buying a computer for the home is not enough, it's the using of it." That means, mothers of the world, be aware of the model you are providing. As if we needed anything else to feel guilty about, if you're not showing your daughters that you can use the computer, and Dad and his male progeny are always using it, what message is that sending?
"Girls are interested in computers as tools for performing useful tasks." writes Jo Sanders, in The Neuter Computer (New York, 1986). Nickey Marone, How to Father a Successful DauQhter, writes, "There is no greater symbol of the technological electronic age, no more useful metaphor for human intellectual processes, no more appropriate indicator for our future than the computer." He continues, if "society continues to propagate the myth that computers are primarily male machines... our daughters will be left behind in the technological age and lack the cognitive and intellectual skills required to succeed in society."[The remainder of section on the current state of research has been omitted for this Excerpt.]
OPPORTUNITIES KNOCKING
I've said many times, the medium is NOT the message, it's only the MESSENGER. This is not about the technology, it's about the CONTENT. And frankly, there's not much software on any platform that appeals to me. If I didn't work in this industry, I wouldn't buy much. When I do buy something, I fill out the registration cards with my son Joshua's name -- he likes to get the mail. That's a mother thing.
When I come home from work, I want to relax. [unless I bring "work" home, and sit until late at night/early morning, doing my "work" on my home computer.] If I'm playing, I don't want to be hit on the head to "learn" from an overbearing educational title, even if it would be good for me -- or my son. It's the complete lack of interesting, fun, entertaining, recreational titles that appeal to women that makes us ignore the computer when we come home.
Is it a plot to get us back into the kitchens and bedrooms and out of the boardrooms and universities? Renee Courington, V.P., Kids Division, Sanctuary Woods talked to me about the problems with marketing "their girl's title" Hawaii High, Mystery of the Tiki. The product didn't sell well in retail. She ventured three reasons why: the infancy of the market, whe the primary buyers were [male] and where they could buy [computer stores] and the CD-ROM installed base.
In a random sampling of 75 titles taken from entertainment, educational and general interest software, only 5% were judged "of interest to girls" [rated by Junior High school students and by adults in an article, "Games Stay Out in Front," TIME magazine]. It gets worse. In an analysis of 2,637 pages of pictorial representations of males and females in three mass market computer magazines, 70% of the illustrations were of males; boys were shown in the roles of learners, game players, repair technicians and buyers; 82% were actively engaged using computers. Girls were portrayed only as learners; 55% were actively engaged using computers, and only females were shown as rejecting the computer. [Given the current state of the technology, some might agree that rejection is an intelligent position.]
So what do we do?
What companies need to learn are the kinds of things girls like to do, to play, and concentrate on what girls think is fun. "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to be an observer of society. And when you observe girls, watch what they do, what they like and how their play is different than boys," Ken Goldstein told me recently.
. "The problem is how do you translate this to a software environment?" queried Doug Glen now Mattel's Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Planning in a separate interview.
It's about play -- and that's got to be defined from a girls perspective, not applied from a male perspective. Goldstein told me 30% of Broderbund's Education and Entertainment Products Studio's programmers are women, 50% of the graphic artists and two of the three art directors are women. He explained: "We must keep a healthy mix in the creative team, an equal balance of men and women, each with their point(s) of view about the art, sound, creative elements of dialogue, clue writing, and what's funny." [Two of Broderbund's titles are often mentioned as "appealing to girls/women" more than the "norm" -- Mysf and Carmen Sandiego.]
Eileen McMahon, President of Tir Na Nog Designs, reported on a typical problem experienced, "The [male] V.P.'s refute what giri's like. They say, 'I see plenty of girls playing Mortal Kombat . They love it.' " Eileen then explained, "girls want to be as cool as boys. It's hip to say, 'I love Mortal Kombaf." Furthermore, "There's a lack of commitment to create marketing campaigns for girls."
Many of the women executives, producers and consultants I interviewed shared the belief that there are different characteristics that appeal to women and girls. "The gender difference increases when the kids have more choices about what they do. The voluntary and extra-curricular activities," explains Jo Sanders, of the Teacher Education Equity Project. "When pressed about why they don't use recreational software, girls respond, 'I'm not interested, I don't like it."' I don't either and I have 25 years of computer experience.
Yasmin Kafai, UCLA assistant professor, goes further. "Women are not interested in technology that is not interesting to them." She reports that in a recent 4 - 6 month study, the same patterns repeated over and over again: girls spent as much time programming and designing games as boys. There are design, play and preference differences. Susan Lammers of Headbone concurs, "Although the PC Home software market has been heavily influenced by the videogame market, I believe we'll see lots of girls products. With the right approach, girls can be captivated."
There was virtually unanimous agreement that having women involved in the creation, design and production process is the best way to have successful products for women and girls. "It's a perfect media for women, whether you agree with the theory, women think in less linear ways than men and this medium can support that, " agreed Martha Swetzoff, Creative Director for Commotion. "I want the same level of experience when I read a good book, see a great film, or hear a record. That's built on the medium, not retrofitted to the medium as an afterthought."
[A comprehensive discussion of the differences in software design, play preferences and marketing issues and the remaining interviews have been omitted in this Excerpt.]
So what kind of risk are we really talking about?
Imagine if every television channel was programmed by men and boys [aged 10 - 25] with programming that appealed to men and boys [aged 10 - 25]. Imagine if all television programming was PBS-style black and white documentaries. How many of us would watch -- or watch at least the same number of hours/week?
That's what multimedia looks like to women and girls. I differ from some of my colleagues -- it's not about waiting for a market to develop -- the market's here. Women and girls need programming that appeals to them. If you build it RIGHT, they will buy. Not until. The computers are in the home -- somewhere between 25 - 33 million of them, between 10 - 14 million equipped with enough power and gear to run interactive multimedia CD-ROM's; 6 - 10 million purchased for Christmas, 1994. By Christmas, 1995 the estimates are for 20-33 million CD-ROM equipped machines. If women and girls use computers at work and at home, isn't it logical to assume they'd use them at home for recreation -- if there was something they liked to do or play?
"Nobody sits down to make a movie for boys 24 - 34 who like guns, running and stealing. You get, "here's the story, here's the characters, this is where it's set." Software that appeals to a specific demographic might create cookie-cutter product, driven by market need, not passion driven. What's the game, what's the product? Start with a great piece of software" Ken Goldstein advises, and by implication, be cognizant of the play characteristics and play preferences of both; don't exclude one completely. Doug Glen counsels, "Our obligation is not to homogenize the genders but to value them."
There will always be games developed by men and boys and for men and boys. We play different sports, we read different magazines, we wear different clothes, play with different toys and we need software with a difference. Myst demonstrated a new paradigm for an exploration game, I suspect Johnny Mnemonic will reveal a new standard for seamless transitions and interactive narrative. But it's only a start. It's clear that the boy's game paradigm must be modified and new paradigms, entirely different, are mandatory. Marketing to women and girls is not a problem in television advertising. What is it about this product that makes it different? This is the time for risk, a time of incredible opportunities. A time to make creative leaps in ingenious and inventive products. This is a media which provides for new communities, and for programming based on shared interests, needs, wants and desires. Of both sexes, by both sexes, for both sexes.
BETH B. KENNEDY, is a writer, developer and producer; a senior entertainment and information technology industry hyphenate. She has been in the vanguard of the technological [interactive multimedia] revolution, evidenced by her education, training, experience and background in multiple disciplines. Having developed over 300 hundred software applications on mainframe, mini and PC computer plafforms, she was responsible for conceptual designs, programming specifications, project management, programming and testing, as well as training and implementation. Beth is also a writerd, and she is currently involved with publishing several cross platform projects for the Kaizen Heron Group. It is anticipated that KHG's titles will appear this year [at least her parents and family hope so.] Ms. Kennedy was appointed as Los Angeles' first Executive Director of Entertainment Industry Affairs ["Film Czar'7 by Mayor Tom Bradley. Kennedy was a Senior Vice President at MCA/Universal Studios, responsible for new business development, Corporate Administration, Facilities Management, Telecommunications and Management Information Systems. During her fifteen year tenure, she held various positions in Universal Pictures and Universal Television production, and served as MCA's Vice-President of Management Consulting, where she was responsible for all personal computers at MCA. Ms. Kennedy directed Strategic Planning for Information Systems, designing, programming and installing the frst on-line computer systems at Universal Studios. She is an attorney, specializing in new technologies and entertainment law. Kennedy earned her J.D. degree from Southwestem University, holds an M.A. degree from UCLA and a B.A. from the University of Michigan. Ms. Kennedy is on the Board of Directors of Women in Film, and is Chair of WlF's Technology Council. She serves on the Activities, Future Media and Production Executives Committees of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. You can reach her at the Kaizen Heron Group at Email: kaizenheron@earthlink.net
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