Why are there so few women GMs?

Hi mate, the onlly thing I can do to help you out here is to say that my wife lets me play chess anytime I like, she's busy doing knitting, crochet, beading etc. All the craft stuff that she does is creative, whereas I just like to be creative on the chessboard (given the oppotuity)!

Red

ps, we don't have any kids to worry about so we pretty much just do our own things. Hope this helps.

As for the lack of WGM's a study once showed that in genaral girls mature faster than boys. Maybe most of the women are adults and us men are still in adolesence!

This topic will go on and on. Just think of it this way! Most boys, guys, and men like playing games that involves war, and strategy and most girls, ladies, women don't.

p.s. I said 'most' not 'all' 

 Right, because of biological differences in male and female brains.

You have your cause and effect reversed. You seem to be saying that the reason that girls don't play chess is because of lack of themed chess sets with girly themes.

Themed chess sets are marketed primarily towards boys or men BECAUSE mostly boys or men play chess. The goal of chess set manufactures is to make money by manufacturing products that someone wants to buy.

Now there's a terrifying thought. (GM Barbie, not encouraging girls to play chess.)

This thread was opened 7 years ago. By then there were 11 women grandmasters according to the quoted post.

As of today according to the Fide players list there are 29 women grandmasters.

In seven years the number of women grandmasters almost tripled. Seven years is a very short period of time historically.

There is no question that there are biological ( like spatial reasoning ) and social factors ( like the supposed role of women in society ) playing a part in the question of women strength in chess. The only question is which factor is the stronger. I tend to think that the social factor is stronger ( since it is impossible that in seven years women got three times better biologically ). Biological factors can change only very slowly with time ( 'evolution' ) but social factors can change rapidly ( 'revolution' ).

dat necro

A major difference is testosterone.    We males feel a constant need to prove ourselves, to tear down the egos of others and place ours above (deny it if you want, but deep down you know it's true).  Chess is really a vicious game; a successful player is one who knows how to crush his opponent without mercy.  Females don't always feel the need to compete like this.  IMO.

This is the definition of necroposting:

On a message board, posting something irrelevant on a really old topic to bring it to the top of the list topics. name comes from the fact that you are bringing it back from the dead, thus Necro.

Since the fact that the number of women grandmasters almost tripled in 7 years is not irrelevant to the topic, I don't view my activity as necroposting.

are we talking about 29 WGMs or GMs? 

@tesla: we're talking about 29 GMs.  (See Watcha's post #69 above, table included.)

Women holding the unrestricted grandmaster title ( GM ):

New woman GM:

Krush, Irina

2499

USA

WGM

GM

The simple answer is that there aren't as many women that play chess as men.