Kate Chambers, Managing Director of Clarion Gaming, the organisers behind London’s massive gaming conference ICE – held earlier this month at the ExCeL centre – has responded to the complaints made by Sarah Harrison of the UK Gambling Commission in the wake of the event. The thrust of Harrison’s comments concerned the fact that some women at the event were inappropriately dressed in costumes approaching swimwear, and that there was a “gender disparity” in the ways in which men and women were dressed at the event.
On Monday Kate Chambers spoke out about the matter, saying that Clarion planned to take a “greater degree of control over this important issue”. She said that she would be putting out an action plan of deliverables for consultation across the industry, which would then be applied to all future Clarion organized events.
The following excerpts come from Chambers’ statements on Monday:
“Our campaign to encourage respectful representation of women began prior to the 2017 edition of ICE. The majority of the senior team at Clarion Gaming is female and our strategy has been to drive a cultural change… moving forward we will be taking a greater degree of control over this important issue and updating our position in partnership with our stakeholders… we will be canvassing stakeholders through our Ampersand Think Tank and Research initiative… we will produce an Action Plan of deliverables for wider consultation… I would like members of the industry who would like to be part of that process to contact me directly. The Action Plan will apply to all of our brands.”
One antagonistic response to Clarion’s statement has been issued so far in the form of an open letter on the subject. The author, a gaming consultant of long standing, claims that he has been “forced” to write it due to not being a stakeholder, disregarding, seemingly, the promise of a wider consultation to come. This smacks of a publicity stunt, and as such, while I will quote from the consultant’s letter, I have chosen to omit mention of the author by name lest I fan the flames through negative coverage. The letter comments that “a small bunch of privileged women from outside our industry are trying to impose their own political agenda”.
To represent the Head of the UK Gambling Commission as being outside the industry seems, at best, contrived. Furthermore, it was widely reported that women working at ICE were propositioned as prostitutes and man-handled by punters, with some stating they had been asked to sign NDAs prior to working. None of this is mentioned in the letter.
It’s excellent news that Clarion is seeking to broaden the debate over these important issues. While there’s certainly room for debate about where such sartorial lines should be drawn, there’s absolutely no good argument for avoiding such debate.
The letter further suggests that Kate Chambers’ stance threatens the incomes or employment of the ‘promotional girls.’ “You can dress it up by saying it’s about respecting women, but you seem to have no respect for those you wish to force out of the industry.” However, at no time has anyone suggested these women no longer be employed in future; the issue is merely one of attire and gender equality in representation.
The letter continues, “I am categorically against your plan to dictate to the gambling industry what is acceptable behaviour”. Again, it is hard to see any dictatorial quality in a proposed extended open industry consultation. The only thing which seems forced here is the coherence of the critique being presented. Open it may be; open-minded it is not.
