Young female chess players in US found to face gender bias from those close to them

New Delhi: Young female chess players often face gender bias both in the male-dominated chess world and among parents and mentors who believe girls have less potential to succeed in chess than boys, new research reports.

Responding to an online survey, the parents and mentors said they thought girls' highest potential chess rating was lower than boys' ratings, especially if they believed that brilliance was required to succeed in chess, the research published by the American Psychological Association said.

Mentors, but not parents, who endorsed this brilliance belief also were more likely to say that female mentees were more likely to drop out of chess because of low ability, the study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General said.

However, parents, but not mentors, believed girls had a less supportive chess environment than boys, the researchers found through the survey.

Nevertheless, neither parents nor mentors believed girls were more likely to drop out of chess because of an unsupportive environment, the researchers said.

"Our research suggests that bias can come even from those closest to girls," said lead researcher Sophie Arnold, a doctoral student at New York University, US.

"It's disheartening to see young female players' potential downgraded, even by the people who are closest to them, like their parents and coaches.

"Gender bias also may prevent girls from even starting to play chess competitively if their own parents and mentors aren't convinced that they will succeed," said Arnold.

The study included participants from a US Chess Federation mailing list, comprising 286 parents and mentors of 654 children.

Of the adults, 90 per cent were men, and of the children, 81 per cent were boys, mirroring the gender disparities in the chess world, it said.

The study did not include enough mothers and female mentors to determine if their views differed from those of fathers and male mentors, the researchers said.

The findings also may not reflect the opinions of the general public because the participants were already involved in competitive chess and had extensive interactions with the players they were rating which usually reduces bias, the researchers said of their study.

"Continued structural support for all female players is needed to improve girls' and women's experiences in chess," said Arnold.