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From: wildbill@ucbvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Game playing
Message-ID: <1410@ucbvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 24-Jul-84 22:33:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbvax.1410
Posted: Tue Jul 24 22:33:29 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Jul-84 20:50:30 EDT
References: <4927@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Organization: U.C. Berkeley
Lines: 49

>      Why do only a miniscule number of women play games?
> I have noticed this in almost every game.  I suppose bridge might be an
> exception [...]

> Tom West
>  {allegra,cornell,decvax,ihnp4,linus,utzoo}!utcsrgv!platzer

Not really. Although there are a fair number of female bridge players,
the quantity of such is directly proportional to age and inversely
proportional to ability beyond a certain minimal level. Once you progress
beyond the social level (who knows how many women play a game of chess/
scrabble/etc with a consenting adult in the privacy of their home; this
is the level of interest which I associate with the social games of
bridge you are thinking of), bridge is quite male-dominated. As a serious
bridge player of approximately 8 years' standing, I offer the following:

o  Local tournaments often hold a Men's Pairs and a Women's Pairs on Friday
   afternoons. Despite the fact that substantially more men than women
   have jobs which would be expected to prevent them from playing, the
   events attract roughly the same number of entrants.

o  Of the bridge players whom I know who are under 40, about 10% are
   female. (Once again, these are primarily tournament-level players.)
   Hardly any of these (there are a few) can be regarded as more than
   reasonably competent. Most are involved in the game because their
   husband/SO is either very interested or an outright fanatic.

o  In a recent Unmixed Pairs (only man/man or woman/woman partnerships
   allowed) at a major tournament, the highest finish by a female pair
   was 11th.

o  Only one woman has ever represented the United States in any of the
   open events (World Championship Teams, Olympiad Open Pairs, Olympiad
   Open Teams) since the organization of continuing world championship
   play. None have since 1960.

o  Only one woman has ever won the McKenney Trophy, awarded annually for
   the best performance in American Contract Bridge League sanctioned events.

o  Of the 25 members of the ACBL Board of Directors, only 2 are female.

So I would have to say that bridge isn't really an exception. Maybe a
little less male-dominated than most, but not a whole lot.

                  ____                  Bill Laubenheimer
      ___       /      \       ___      UC-Berkeley Computer Science
     /   \     |  o  o  |     /   \     ucbvax!wildbill
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          ...Killjoy was here!