Indian Valorant caster reveals problems women face in industry, alleges lower pay and different clothing regulation than male colleagues

sportskeeda.com:

Professional Valorant Caster Kaavya "Zahk" Karthikeyan has detailed her list of grievances regarding how tournament organizers deal with casters, especially when they are female, in India.

In a Twitlonger posted on her Twitter, Kaavya shared her experience of casting in Indian Valorant tournaments. She chronicled several problems where tournament organizers fail to adequately compensate for the work, exhibit double standards against women, and choose friends over merit while selecting streamers and casters.

The esporting scene in India can still be considered in its early stages and not as popular as other sporting events. So problems with funding and underpaying casters, analysts, and commentators can be explained, but the issues listed in the post indicate a much more sinister problem.

So much so that Kaavya began her Twitlonger by talking about getting a fresh start now that she was leaving the country. In fact, she also notes her experience with foreign tournament organizers such as the Indonesian OneUP, Singaporean FSL, and other orgs such as Galorants, which focus on women and non-binary people in Valorant. She stated:

Instagram Post

In her one-and-a-half years working in the South Asian Valorant scene, particularly India, her biggest concerns with the tournament organizers were divided into two major categories.

One was how the organizers fairly compensate casters, but exploit those starting out by underpaying them. The other was how women in the industry had to put up with sexist attitudes, including lower pay and stricter dress codes than men in the same role.

Kaavya shared that tournament organizers at her first gig expected her to cast six games daily for a salary of 12K per month:

Then came the problem of getting