Female participation rates in Qld. chess - 1979-2021

[Kerry Corker]

All of the female participation data collected so far on my ChessRecords.22.13 spreadsheet.

School team’s chess played in school time has been excluded because I don’t have access to the data.
If anyone has this data, for any other state, please publish so we can compare.

Qld. only.
Male Female
1979 16 0 0.0%
1980 20 0 0.0%
1981 50 2 4.0%
1982 158 13 8.2%
1983 18 0 0.0%
1984 15 0 0.0%
1985 27 0 0.0%
1986 27 9 33.3%
1987 279 15 5.4%
1988 90 5 5.6%
1989 149 37 24.8%
1990 475 21 4.4%
1991 679 50 7.4%
1992 972 98 10.1%
1993 3790 954 25.2%
1994 1521 180 11.8%
1995 573 67 11.7%
1996 877 101 11.5%
1997 93 19 20.4%
1998 75 8 10.7%
1999 19 0 0.0%
2000 129 11 8.5%
2001 60 2 3.3%
2002 35 0 0.0%
2003 61 3 4.9%
2004 79 4 5.1%
2005 71 3 4.2%
2006 84 5 6.0%
2007 99 5 5.1%
2008 88 6 6.8%
2009 100 4 4.0%
2010 90 5 5.6%
2011 86 2 2.3%
2012 105 4 3.8%
2013 106 3 2.8%
2014 619 32 5.2%
2015 521 50 9.6%
2016 1036 83 8.0%
2017 1535 217 14.1%
2018 1271 98 7.7%
2019 1289 94 7.3%
2020 473 53 11.2%
2021 1102 121 11.0%

Total 18,926 2,384 12.6%


Last 4 years Pre Covid


2016 1036 83 8.0%
2017 1535 217 14.1%
2018 1271 98 7.7%
2019 1289 94 7.3%

Total 5,131 492 9.6%



100 entries per year or more

Male Female
1982 158 13 8.2%
1987 279 15 5.4%
1989 149 37 24.8%
1990 475 21 4.4%
1991 679 50 7.4%
1992 972 98 10.1%
1993 3790 954 25.2%
1994 1521 180 11.8%
1995 573 67 11.7%
1996 877 101 11.5%
2000 129 11 8.5%
2009 100 4 4.0%
2012 105 4 3.8%
2013 106 3 2.8%
2014 619 32 5.2%
2015 521 50 9.6%
2016 1036 83 8.0%
2017 1535 217 14.1%
2018 1271 98 7.7%
2019 1289 94 7.3%
2020 473 53 11.2%
2021 1102 121 11.0%

Total 17,759 2,306 13.0%



Sample years:

Qld. Championship 2019 24 1 4.2%
Qld. Blitz Championship 2019 43 1 2.3%
Qld. Reserve Championship / U/1600 Champ. 2019 41 1 2.4%
Qld. Veterans Champs 2019 16 0 0.0%
Qld. Womens and Girls Championships 2019 8 8 100.0%
Qld. Juniors 2019 158 19 12.0%
Qld. Open 2019 65 4 6.2%
Toowoomba Open 2019 42 3 7.1%
Toowoomba Jack Tweed Memorial 2019 16 0 0.0%
Charm City Motel Open 2019 42 4 9.5%
GC Nell Van De Graff Classic 2019 110 10 9.1%
GC Open 2019 176 10 5.7%
RCC Peninsula Open 2019 61 3 4.9%
RCC Leo Wilkinson Memorial 2019 78 7 9.0%
RCC Wendy Terry Memorial 2019 62 4 6.5%
Qld Reserves/Tin Cup 2019 74 5 6.8%
March Open 2019 66 4 6.1%
FIDE Open 2019 101 8 7.9%
Brisbane CC Championships 2019 31 2 6.5%
Brisbane CC Rapid Championships 2019 34 0 0.0%
Brisbane CC Lightning/Blitz Champs. 2019 26 0 0.0%
The Gap CC Lightning Championship 2019 7 0 0.0%
The Gap CC Flood Cup 2019 8 0 0.0%

Total 2019 1,289 94 7.3%


Chess-Ed Challenge 1996 141 13 9.2%
City of Brisbane Championship 1996 61 7 11.5%
Suncoast - Noosa Open 1996 83 11 13.3%
Toowoomba - Darling Downs Open 1996 75 7 9.3%
Charters Towers Open 1996 16 1 6.3%
Redcliffe Peninsula Open 1996 60 6 10.0%
Qld North Qld Championships 1996 29 1 3.4%
Qld Juniors U/18 to U/14 1996 31 5 16.1%
Qld. Womens/Girls 1996 22 22 100.0%
Qld Champs. (4 events) 1996 65 7 10.8%
Gold Coast Open 1996 118 11 9.3%
Mackay Open 1996 22 1 4.5%
Innisfail Open 1996 33 2 6.1%
Atherton Open 1996 25 1 4.0%
Gold Coast Classic 1996 58 3 5.2%
Suncoast (Coolum) 1996 14 0 0.0%
The Gap CC Lightning Championship 1996 10 1 10.0%
The Gap CC Flood Cup 1996 14 2 14.3%

Total -1996 877 101 11.5%


Qld Junior Championships total 1982 66 10 15.2%
City of Brisbane 1982 25 1 4.0%
Pre-Games event Brisbane 1982 47 2 4.3%
The Gap CC Flood Cup 1982 20 0 0.0%

Total - 1982 158 13 8.2%

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With 51% of the population, I think we are missing out on a substantial % of the client base.
With some foreign names it is a bit difficult to determine sex. I have included “all female” events because there are so few of them,
the percentages stay roughly the same.

WHAT TO DO?
1.Stick to the current plan. Eventually the stats. will turn our way and people will come back from online.

2.Try something different.
a. Don’t stop team’s chess at Grade 11. Have the club’s out ” talent scouting”, and signing up players for their adult teams.
b. Have State Teams. – Open, Female and Junior – what is the pathway for aspiring members?
Have National Teams – Open, Female and Junior - what is the pathway for aspiring members?

Give these teams names, and PUBLISH THEM,

"What's the use of having a Doomsday Device, if you don't tell anyone about it!"

My offer to pay for the publishing on our websites of the Australian Olympiad Teams’ names still stands. I am still waiting for the A/C details and I will pay!
All other sports have these state and national teams. Why are we not allowed to have the same?

c. Try having female friendly venues. Try having club meetings or big events in female friendly venues. Shopping Centres for instance. I remember the Qld Women’s and Girls Championships, 1983 I think, were played in Myers in Brisbane. There were spectators walking past all day, for several days. Meet your friends between rounds for a coffee or a meal. Do some shopping. Shop owners pay an amount above their rent to the centres for extra entertainments. With decreasing attendance at shopping centres, due to online shopping, I am sure they would be happy to accommodate, and pay us.
Function tables and chairs with good lighting – that’s all they need.

What do you think?

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How many ADULTS play 3,4 or more OTB weekend, or non-club championships or holiday tournaments in Australia each year?

I am going to go high in my estimations.

From where do my estimations come?

In order to put together the female participation data for Qld, I have had to go through every Standings file I could find in Qld. Every name in every file.
In a 100-player event, I would guess about 30-40% are Juniors. The standings files do not tell me who is junior or adult or female.
After a while, the same ADULT names keep cropping up. And there are not many of them.
The Junior names are not so important because we drop them at year 11 or 12 by dropping team’s chess at the end of school.
There is about a 95-98% drop out rate. Each year a handful of Juniors make it through to the weekender/club/championship level.
And each year there is a handful of senior players who get to meet Capa in person. It is about even.



Qld. – 200
NSW – 180
ACT – 40
Vic. – 180
Tas. – 50
SA – – 100
WA – 120
NT – 0?

Total = 870 – more like 4-500, but we will stick with the really big figure of 870! These are ADULTS who play 3 or 4 non club events per year.

Please, please correct me if you have data to prove my above estimations wrong!

This is why we have to get behind TEAMS CHESS AUSTRALIA. Just like the big sports.
From club level, all the way up to Olympian level.

What is your team?
Who do you play for?
Who do you barrack for?
Who is being poached – as a player – as a coach – as a manager?

Or we can stick with stopping teams chess at year 11 or 12.
How many students play interschool chess in Australia up to year 11 or 12?
I don't have those figures but guess at, “Thousands, maybe more".

How many ADULTS play 3 or 4 non club type events around Australia each year? Several hundred.
How much is your business making out of school teams’ chess and coaching now?

How much extra could your business make if most of those students stayed on and played for teams? Heaps more.

Start a business team and challenge the winner of the forthcoming RCC v GCCC Lichess Fixed Roster match. April 7th at 7pm.
$100 Best Game Prize - $100 Best Sacrifice Prize.
Next year we will be selling tickets to these matches - Wait for it! Step back from the keyboard. Steady----

$15 per ticket to watch on free Youtube TV.

"Why should I pay", you say, "After all, I am an adult chess player?"
Because it is in your own best interests.
"Now I'm listening"

Because $15 x 100 ticket buyers equal $1,500.

$1,000 1st prize for the Lucky Door prize and $500 back to the club that promotes the match and then invests the money into Junior Development.
Is it legal under Art Union regulations? We'll soon find out. Lucky door prize and all profits to Junior Development.
It is basically a pub, "chook raffle". If you want chooks instead, we'll give you chooks.

Coaches who have YouTube TV stations, you get a % of ticket sales bought through your TV station. So now we have a world wide audience for the tickets.
If it is in breach of any Art Union rules, we simply adjust the format to meet all legal requirements. That's what business people do.
Its called running a business.

Forget the expensive seminars on how to grow your client base. We already have heaps of clients. And we drop them at year 12!

Go Polar Bears!!!

[Sheroff]

Just having a quick scan at your excellent and very throrough data, Kerry, it does seem that Blitz tournaments appear to be even more male-dominated than normal tourney chess. Would you agree?

Cheers,
Kevin Casey

[MichaelBaron]

Interesting jump in female participation in 1993...but then it went back to the prejump levels...

[Kerry Corker]

Just having a quick scan at your excellent and very throrough data, Kerry, it does seem that Blitz tournaments appear to be even more male-dominated than normal tourney chess. Would you agree?

Cheers,
Kevin Casey

Thanks for your observations.
Casting my mind back to the 90s I recall that the girls loved Lightning just as much as the boys.
5 min brings out the aggressive competitive nature in kids.
In the 90s we had a concerted effort by the QJCL mums and the QWCL to get more girls playing, and it worked.
A few girls beget a few more girls etc.

To my everlasting regret, we didn't think of focussing on Girls Teams Chess.
That is why the small fire that was girls chess in Qld in the 90s did not catch on.

We lifted the numbers, but not to the extent to which Georgia had more girls than boys playing.
I believe every baby girl born there was given a chess set at birth.
Could be apocryphal, not sure.

Girls will play chess just as much as boys - IN THE RIGHT ENVIRONMENT.

If you get a Netball type who is not intimidated by boys their own age along to a club full of males, they will stay.
Every club has one of those girls. Hopefully.
What every club does not have is the other 20 or 30 girls who walk into the club and see an
- ALL MALE ENVIRONMENT, and grab mum's hand and say,

"Can we go home now?"

Compare walking into a Baseball Sign-On Day or a Basketball Sign-On Day to walking into 100% male environment in a school room.

The first two sports see new clients who will be buying raffle tickets, game tickets for the rest of their lives.
Their kids and grandkids will follow.

Chess - when is the last time you saw chess in australia have a sign on day? (small caps used on purpose)

Get more girls in and they will buy more of your excellent books, whatever the subject matter.
Females buy birthday presents, xmas presents. Raffle tickets.

[Kerry Corker]

Interesting jump in female participation in 1993...but then it went back to the prejump levels...

Please see my reply to Kevin Casey. We got a lot of new female clients. We worked hard to keep them. Having female RRs.
Making sure the Brisbane v GC matches had a certain number of females etc. Having Qld v Florida Female matches etc.
I don't know if Qld was the first to have female primary and secondary school teams. Other states will correct me on that.
Could be wrong.

We worked so fast that one of our hard working committee people came up to me and said, "Who's Vera Menchik?"
We were running a RR for girls (The Vera Menchik Memorial) that I had forgotten to mention. It was already running.
That's how fast things were happening.
Results? - check out 1995 Australian Juniors

Today, it would be put to committee (much easier than actually doing something),
and the proposed entrants would be looking at entering their grandkids,
- if it were approved at all.

The QJCL followed Patton's dictum that if you keep pushing forward, you don't have to worry about your flanks.
(His flanks were always covered, its just they didn't have much to do, because, he was always pushing forward.)

After coming back from dominating the 1995 Australian Juniors, the QJCL was attacked from, you guessed it, the flanks.
Long story short, it folded in upon itself and no one was left to keep those new female customers. The attackers, as always, drifted off
once they realised the work involved.
So numbers returned to roughly 12%

I think you will always get 10-15% female participation in chess. And australian chess is over the moon happy with that.
Couldn't be happier.

51% of the population is female.

Keep up the old moustache-pete ways and it will stay at 10-15%