The Status of Female Players in Chess

I just finished reading an extremely interesting article on the New York Times Website about the dearth of female players in chess.  The article discussed how different people were attempting to raise awareness among female players.

This article started my brain churning, why is it that I go to my local chess club, and  all the players are male?  It is statistically improbable that women are more stupid than men at chess, so why is it that the majority of chess players are male?

My conclusion is that women are perhaps more susceptible to the predominant stereotype regarding the average chess player's mediocre physical and social condition.  As a result of a want to not be included in this stereotype, women do not play chess as often as males.  

Thoughts, please? 

The article can be found at  

I don't see how women would identify more with pawns. If we're to take the symbolism of chess literally (knights = knights, etc.) then pawns are the infantry. They weren't any less male dominated.

If we look at modern WGMs, they do not relate to males in society above females, some of them are, and I mean this without being detrimental to their intelligence, quite photogenic.  Your statement, eleahy76, implies that the women who play chess do so as a result of a lack of femininity, and I disagree heavily.

Also, I see chess as a game of strategy, an intricate war of tactics, a graceful pitting of one mind against another.  I do not see women being averse to such a game. 

It seems so many walk on eggshells around certain topics today thanks to generations raised under "political correctness". The resulting search for "answers" is often comical and sad to behold when the truth is often plain to see but the truth isnt politically correct and will get one labeled with one of the common "ists", "isms" , or "phobes".

So what is the "plain," answer that everyone is affraid to voice?

Also, if a guy looses to a woman, does that make you less a man?

I think as more women play the game, their results will come closer to the results of men.

How does the lack of women in chess indicate that women are inferior to men in any way? Sure, there is a lack of women at the top level, but there is the same lack of women at the bottom (and everywhere between). Go to any tournament, head to the bottom section and you'll see a room full of men making the worst chess moves you could imagine. People paint chess players with a  brush of intellectual superiority, but if you ask me, there's a large group of players for whom chess is serving to highlight their mental incapacity more than their mental capacity. The fact that this group is male dominated indicates that women are intellectually superior to men just as much as the opposite is indicated by a lack of women in higher sections.

Before someone calls me some kind of jerk or elitist regarding my comments about players mental capacities, One of the main reasons I play chess is to push myself to the edge of my capacity and stare forward at my own shortcomings. Every game played at my level is riddled with errors highlighting my shortcomings. 

something to consider;

There is a guy on this site, who although has a photo album showing the "real him",

uses a photo of a female model on his home page.. the male opponents are drooling over the fake picture, leaving notes begging for a game.. good tactics.. the male opponent is already distracted from the game.

Also, i have won and lost games against male opponents, who thankfully see the game as just that.. a game of chess.. not a battle of the sexes, which will, unfortunately go on for generations to come. 

i agree NMReb, and there are many things i cannot do, purely for the fact i am female. Its not in my genetic make up.

Even down to cooking, which was/is seen as something women do well, but some of the greatest chefs are male.

Driving will probably be a long term argument over whether men or women drive better..

Disclaimer; i write this from my own views and not necessarily that of other women 

Unbeliever, is it possible that not many women play chess because they are otherwise occupied with work, children, household chores ?

I know this applies to house-husbands aswell.. but i find i have to really manage my time well in order to keep my games going, aswell as fitting everything else into my day.  

This is the same article I just read and wrote an article about!

My theory is that women don't like the chess stereotype and they are more social. Most of us would rather be talking and gossiping than sitting in a room for hours on end.

So if you loose to one of the Polgar sisters, are you now their Bi%#@?

Not that I would really know, but there seems to many who think the J.Polgar and  the other,maybe  five top ranked woman are as good as  most of the guys playing. I think there will be more, as more woman play the game. You can see what's happening now with only a few, when their are more, look out!!!

You're telling me that women don't play chess because traditionally we weren't knights and bishops? That's why they don't play? That's just a load of....

I agree with your thoughts.

Always some yahoo who points out that Polgar is better than lots of men when this topic comes up. Why? As good as the best Polgar is she wouldnt stand a chance against any of the top ten males in a match, maybe top 20. How many of the top 100 chess players are male?  I think in general women just arent as fanatical as men are when it comes to competition of any sort. Ofcourse there are some notable exceptions.