Gender Bias Impacts Young Female Chess Players From Participation: 78.52%

Research by the American Psychological Association showed that young female chess players face gender bias both in the chess world and among parents and mentors who believe girls have less potential to succeed in chess than boys.

Highlights:

• 45.85% believed young female players facing gender bias could deter them from pursuing competitive chess.
• 39.94% see female chess role models and mentors as little needed to inspire young female players.
• 78.52% believe gender bias could impact the participation and retention of young female chess players.

Gender Equality in Chess:

Recent studies by the American Psychological Association showed that young female chess players face gender bias in chess. Even more, the study revealed that parents and mentors believe girls have less potential to succeed in chess than boys. 47.34% were aware of this study, 31.39% were vaguely aware, and 21.27% weren’t aware at all.

The study showed that parents and mentors of female chess players thought girls’ highest potential chess rating was lower than boys’ ratings. Interestingly, mentors, but not parents, were more likely to say that female mentees were more likely to drop out of chess because of their low ability.

36.98% believe young female chess players face gender bias quite a bit in terms of opportunities and support, while 33.28% see the discrimination as little. 19.04% don’t believe that young female chess players face gender bias at all, while 10.7% strongly oppose it.

The majority (45.85%) believed that gender bias could deter girls from pursuing competitive chess, while 28.96% weren’t sure and 25.19% had an opposing point of view.

We Got the Problem, How to Solve It?

The study claimed that the chess world has always been dominated by men. Citing research from 2020 that showed only 14% of all U.S. Chess Federation players were girls or women.

Interestingly, 39.94% believe that female chess role models and mentors are little needed to inspire young female players. The rest of the opinions claimed that it was moderately needed (27.84%), not at all needed (21.14%), and very much needed (11.08%).

According to the survey responses, reducing gender bias in chess could be achieved by: equal opportunities and support (29.17%), education and awareness programs (25.39%), cultural change within the chess community (25.22%), and some policy changes (20.22%).

Education and awareness programs are important, as the majority (78.52%) believe gender bias could impact the participation and retention of young female chess players. In detail, 53.43% agree with this statement, 25.09% strongly agree, 16.41% disagree, and 5.07% strongly disagree.