Ensuring gender equity in esports.

Amanda Pakade - MSSA President (left), Hsu Pei-Ching - CTeSA President (centre), and Salome de Bruyn - NeSA (right).

Over the years Mind Sports South Africa (MSSA) has pushed hard for gender equity.

Through such efforts, MSSA was the first organisation in Africa to hold championships for females, and is the only national federation for esports in the world that has constitutionalised the need for gender equity. MSSA is also the only national federation that has female members of its national esports team every single year from 2012. The 2018 team, sponsored by Partnermedia, North West University (NWU), and ZAG Academy, was no different.

Despite MSSA having made great achievements in the field of gender equity in South Africa, MSSA's efforts to ensure gender at an international level are seemingly being met with apathy.

As a result, at IESF's Ordinary General Meeting(OGM), only three national federations present had female delegates. Such member federations were Chinese Taipei (CTeSA), Namibia (NeSA), and South Africa (MSSA).

MSSA's proposal to greater enforce gender equity at an administrative level was, rather disapointingly, defeated. However, Amanda Pakade (MSSA President) remains upbeat that the motion will pass in future years.