Today’s Vintage Chess Humor

What does Gender Equality Look Like?

It would be naive to think that complete gender equality in chess would end the gender gap that currently exists. Some prestigious research even indicates that vigorously promoting gender equality can actually increase the gender gap!

And why is that? Well, you have to read the above two sources to get to the meat of the argument, but giving women the complete freedom to choose their profession or what kind of games they prefer  – without any cultural pressures or sexual stereotyping or ab initio financial incentives – should be the ultimate goal of any gender equality initiative. 

Accepting that women can and do make different choices than men and that they might have very different preferences is something that many have a difficult time getting their head around. Especially in the FIDE hierarchy.

To insist that gender equality means that 50% of any profession or recreational activity will be filled by women is just nonsense.  That is nothing more than social engineering and would simply replace one bias with another without really addressing the underlying causes.

Video on Sexism from the award winning series by artist Robin Pourbaix.  You can see more on his VIMEO CHANNEL. Excellent and thought provoking stuff! As I interpret the artist’s message, one can not eliminate sexism by merely empowering the other sex thru the transfer of identical perks.  That eliminating sexism requires all sides coming to the negotiating table with an open mind and an honest willingness to change behaviors.

Cartoons from 1966 ChessReview magazine.