Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiltmonkey2
I say let them have the event, who cares. I don't know if there is any difference in skill level between men and women. I suppose a study would have to be done. I would like to know why all the best chess players have generally been men and why all the top poker players are men. Is it simply a numbers issue or something more?
Why men rise to the top of a given field is a complicated question. There do seem to be fields where men are greatly outnumbered as a whole, but are disproportionally represented at the highest levels. Flute players and cooks/chefs are two common examples.
For example, US high schools generally have nearly 100% female flute sections, but males are disproportionally represented at the highest levels, such as symphony orchestra spots, studio musicians, and touring classical solists. Bias is not a possible explanation for some of these situations. For example, orchestral auditions are often "blind", that is, you play behind a screen or send in a tape, and your age/looks/gender/apprearance are unknown to the audition judges.
I went to a high school that had around 30 flute players in 3 different bands. They were all female. The only male flute player (as his primary instrument) that I have ever played with was the principal player in an army band. Interestingly, I was the principal clarinet in a section that was, for much of the time, all female except for me.
There is one thing to consider as far as rising to the top. Female IQs are clustered around the mean more tightly than male IQs. Another way of putting that is that more males then females have IQs over 120, and more males than females also have IQs below 80.
That could mean a lot of things, for example, it could be true that there will always be more male than female poker geniuses. But then it would also be true that more total women than men should be able to be winning poker players, because more males than females would have subnormal IQs and no shot at playing winning poker.