Why so few female chess players?

Back in the 80's and 90's when I played OTB at my local chess club, it was almost 100% male. Our club tried to attract female players by a number of means. Free memberships, free tournament fees, door prizes. We also interviewed 50 random women as they walked by, and asked them why they were not interested in chess. Their answers ranged from shrugs, to "I just don't care" to "I don't like men's games" The few ladies we did attract to the club seemed more interested in chatting about movies, kids or their romantic interests and took little interest in chess. After 6 weeks, we ended our campaign, and when when the 3 ladies that joined for free were informed they would have to pay club dues like the rest of us after 1 year, they accused our club of sexism and left.

So, why do so few women take an interest in chess??


https://en.chessbase.com/post/explaining-male-predominance-in-chess

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/the-real-reason-so-few-women-play-professional-chess

Originally posted by @mchill
Back in the 80's and 90's when I played OTB at my local chess club, it was almost 100% male. Our club tried to attract female players by a number of means. Free memberships, free tournament fees, door prizes. We also interviewed 50 random women as they walked by, and asked them why they were not interested in chess. Their answers ranged from shrugs, to "I ju ...[text shortened]...

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/the-real-reason-so-few-women-play-professional-chess

Well when you refer to women as "ladies" so consistently, you are already lost. Why go on?

Originally posted by @mchill
Back in the 80's and 90's when I played OTB at my local chess club, it was almost 100% male. Our club tried to attract female players by a number of means. Free memberships, free tournament fees, door prizes. We also interviewed 50 random women as they walked by, and asked them why they were not interested in chess. Their answers ranged from shrugs, to "I ju ...[text shortened]...

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/the-real-reason-so-few-women-play-professional-chess

Sometimes I wonder if women stand around wondering how to get more men to shop at the mall or sit around gossiping at your local Starbucks coffee house.

Here is an idea, do what you enjoy the most and leave the rest of us the hell alone?. No mandates for change, no manipulation to try and get people to change, just leave people the hell alone.

But then, I understand your political leanings. You must fit the round peg into the square hole because deep down inside you know that the round and square peg are equal so they must then fit.

Originally posted by @mchill
Back in the 80's and 90's when I played OTB at my local chess club, it was almost 100% male. Our club tried to attract female players by a number of means. Free memberships, free tournament fees, door prizes. We also interviewed 50 random women as they walked by, and asked them why they were not interested in chess. Their answers ranged from shrugs, to "I ju ...[text shortened]...

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/the-real-reason-so-few-women-play-professional-chess

Men dominate competitive sports. This includes athletic sports, such as football, rugby, etc., to mental sports such as chess, poker and e-sports (competitive electronic gaming).

We need to stop asking "why so few female chess players", and focus on why there are fewer women in competitive sports. Isolating chess ends up being a veiled way of asking "why aren't women as smart as men?". Chess has air of being something intelligent, sophisticated people play. Fischer vs. Spassky had the cold-war subtext of finding out who was superior, and who was inferior. The absence of women from chess has the same subtext.

Instead asking why are there are fewer female chess players, we need to tackle why there are fewer women in competitive sports. Focusing on gender disparity in chess has often seemed to me like a smug dismissal of women. Just look at Whodey's post above.

Women are wired differently than men. They have a different hormone balance. Women are different than men in more ways than just genetalia.

Originally posted by @eladar
Women are wired differently than men. They have a different hormone balance. Women are different than men in more ways than just genetalia.

Lies!

All you need to do is cut off the little thingy between your legs and your a woman.

The only question is, do you have the legs for it?

Well?

Originally posted by @whodey
Lies!

All you need to do is cut off the little thingy between your legs and your a woman.

The only question is, do you have the legs for it?

Well?

I watched a documentary about the East German women's Olympic athletes. One woman made the comment that although they were given male hormones they were still in a female body. They suffered many joint injuries because their skeletal frame was not designed for the stress that the extra muscle created.

Originally posted by @mchill
Back in the 80's and 90's when I played OTB at my local chess club, it was almost 100% male. Our club tried to attract female players by a number of means. Free memberships, free tournament fees, door prizes. We also interviewed 50 random women as they walked by, and asked them why they were not interested in chess. Their answers ranged from shrugs, to "I ju ...[text shortened]...

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/the-real-reason-so-few-women-play-professional-chess

Despite the occasional exception, the female of the species sucks at chess.
Just as your earlier experience showed you, women look at chess and fail to see the point.
By "fail" I don't mean failure: they actually get the point, but find it a colossal waste of time and effort.
Those who live chess are generally paint-drying boring, so whatever is being developed isn't conducive to a robust inner life which transfers or even translates to a rich overall experience.
The game is a trap of the mind: thinking one is being sharpened when the result is a dulling of the mind, personality.
Those who temper the game with their previous understanding to avoid being trapped can benefit, but one must understand the obsessive nature of it, of themselves.

Women, for the most part, are simply way too smart to become engrossed.

There is no need to explain away a fact.

The post that was quoted here has been removed

How many world records are women's results better than men's?

The problem is that most chess clubs are outside city centres.
The majority of women just don't know how to drive to them or crash in their pathetic attempts...

*bows and runs out the door*