Visibility of Women on Chess.com?

I am relatively new here and probably this topic has been hashed out before so forgive me. That said...

I am discouraged by the extreme lack of images of women playing chess, learning chess, or winning at chess on chess.com. Recently I logged in and there was a photo of a man and a woman receiving a prize. I was so happy, but lo, it was Miss Gibraltar giving out a prize!

What can be done about this? Is there no interest in seeing images of real women and not just avatars of women super heroes? This coming together of chess enthusiasts would be much more vibrant if all participants were included in the "news", etc.

I did see today a post of the Cairns Cup and WOW I was so happy to see other women playing. Thank you for a ray of sunshine!

Maybe you don't know about the live coverage- https://www.uschesschamps.com/2019-cairns-cup-live

I resent that.

So do I. 

There is a fact: there are fewer female than male chess events.

Elastagirl anyone? 

Helen is great.

Today's top news: Research Finds Chess More Beneficial In Lower Grades...and one sees a photo of boys sitting at cafeteria tables playing chess. If you go to the article you see five photos, only two of which include girls: one receiving instruction and one watching a boy play chess with an instructor. Things like this DO affect women and girls. It makes them/us feel like second class citizens/humans. It is so ingrained in our psyches that most of us don't even register it. It could and should be different in a community like this. Inclusivity is a healthy thing and a fun thing as well.

Can't tell if posts like these are trolling or just deluded. 

"It makes them/us feel like second class citizens/humans."

If a random photo makes you feel like second-class citizens, maybe it's your perception that's the problem, not whoever staged that photo. 

This thread is very saddening except for the last posts by NavelLint, and Pulpofeira. But thanks to people that just did plain thoughtful posts.

Having to see pictures of your sex doing things just to feel justified enough to keep doing them is sad. I've always been free enough to do boy and girl type things that I choose to do, better than how most people try and do them, in my opinion. Women born in the last 60 years need to remember that there are many times in history where women were greatly revered for particular skills including mental ones; and that societal views of women ebb and flow and anyway... in these times of high unemployment it's convenient for men's skills to be more sought after. Maybe this trend + PCs will lead to more housewives playing chess ! D

Chess also is partly a game for the over privileged when  you think on it. Chess players need lots of time not to be doing hand washing etc. You also probably need bulk time on your hands to get really great probably. And be more anti-social than average perhaps, women might be more social verbally and prioritise that over chess more.

Mind you I think I like chess so much because I'm not very good at it and it makes me better at cause and effect and stops me being so annoyingly spontaneous in my thought and action.

Joking about other's genuine pain and sadness is also sad. I feel so much sadder than I was 10 min ago :/

Oh wait am coming right again! XD

(I also was a bit sad about how unfriendly chess.com is anyway so it didn't take much to make me mew.)

Apparently we can make our own clubs / forums on this site so we should just make a female chess club here and then we can have days where we only see women's posts & men that are very supportive of females. In a chessy way.

But you know even that will get old.

But yeh lets start a club instead of bleating so much eh, sometimes  you just have to make things how you want them.  That's probably the mindset of women trail blazers. OXO to OP though I hope you get over this need to see particular genders Doing Chess and gender quotas. Then you'll know you are truly free of the stereotypes.

Groan...

Would it be just because there ARE fewer women playing?  I don't know - what are the stats?  Might not be anything sinister - just an accurate reflection of the demographics?

The truth is, due to basic evolutionary history, with men taking on the majority of high-stress, high-intellect jobs in societal history (and their social status/reproductive value being tied to how good they were at these jobs, correlating with their innate/genetic inclination to these jobs), men are simply much more inclined to stuff like chess. 

It's basic science. Women who play chess, are good at chess, and like chess, are exceptions to the rule.

(It doesn't signify any "superiority", or as another poster said, make women "second-class citizens". This is a ridiculous statement, like saying that because blacks are better inclined to play basketball, they are somehow better overall. Chess is a board game, and only a board game.)

Oh dear Mr Flandr r2 d2 I think you made all that 'basic science' stuff up, didn't you?  lol

Oh and you made the 'basic history' up too.  more lols

I think one of the causes here is a sad one.  Often accounts with female avatars receive unwanted or abusive attention.  If you see any of that, please pass that on to us at support@chess.com and help us make this site a more pleasant place to be!  

I literally just explained it - you could call it "common sense", if you wanted.

Me: 1+1=2, basic math

You: Haha you just made that "basic math" up.

This is how you sound^.

my local chess federation has about 400 players but so few are women I can think of only 10 in my chess fed , its a pity too because they are always going to give you a very tough game

this isn't online and it gets raised at the AGM  often how to draw more into chess

now online its a bit different as sadly you get women having to face constant unwanted attention from lovelorn males , granted this happens in real life too but online you get anonymity and some of the comments deserve a slap in reply ,

there are women here who don't hide their gender behind avis ,good on them but for those who do I cant blame them as it deters unwanted attention

well said shaun , (post 19)

But that's the point - the genders are different. Been different for all of history, and will continue to.

Part of that difference is that very few women will play chess. Welcome the few who choose to play, and just leave the rest alone.

Forcing "equality" onto people is fundamentally wrong. Equality of opportunity (welcoming women to play chess) is great - equality of outcome (forcing unnatural gender representation) is wrong.