Why are more speedcubers male than female?

[F2LCub]

I've watched videos of loads of competitions and can never recall a single girl competing - it seems to be overwhelmingly guys.

It seems as though the reason why there are fewer girls who are fast is just because there are far fewer of them in cubing in general.

Why is the whole thing so male dominated and what would be a reason why more guys get into cubing?

 

[shadowslice e]

I think there are two main reasons: both sort of self perpetuating.

1) Cubing and puzzle games like it are stereotypically male activities in a similar way to maths, science etc. This means that males are more likely to be set something like cubing as a challenge. This is also likely linked to the amount of interest as when I learned there was a group of us who learned how to cube and all were male although there were also a couple female who learned. For he most part those who learned were just those who seemed most interested.

2) Most cubers are male and most (especially as many cubers are children or young teenagers) will have predominantly male friends. This means that male humans will have more exposure and be more likely to learn it.

 

[Gomorrite]

I don't really know, but about 8% of active cubers are female. It used to be up to 12% some years ago, so the situation is worsening.

 

[Isaac Lai]

I don't really know, but about 8% of active cubers are female. It used to be up to 12% some years ago, so the situation is worsening.

I think it's just the fact that speedcubing is growing, but (as mentioned above) more speedcubers being male to begin with means that more males are likely to be exposed to speedcubing. Thus, the male proportion of cubers grows at a higher rate compared to the female proportion of cubers. However, on the whole, the number of female cubers is increasing.

 

[F2LCub]

So what's the reason that it's stereotypically male in the first place?

 

[obelisk477]

I don't really know, but about 8% of active cubers are female. It used to be up to 12% some years ago, so the situation is worsening.

"The situation is worsening". Lol you sound like you're reporting a category 5 hurricane or hostage situation.

I see that it's a thing, but who cares? There are things that women do more of, and things that men do more of. And it's fine if either switch between. No one ever asks why men don't play volleyball or cheerlead.

 

[Underwatercuber]

Could you add a poll option “other”?

 

[One Wheel]

Could you add a poll option “other”?

Do you really want that debate here?

 

[FastCubeMaster]

No one ever asks why men don't play volleyball

D:

 

[Underwatercuber]

Do you really want that debate here?

Fite me, I identify as a transfluid-non-genderspecific-hemaohroditic-tractor

 

[One Wheel]

Fite me, I identify as a transfluid-non-genderspecific-hemaohroditic-tractor

I think that describes all tractors. I don't suppose you could help me do some plowing next spring?

 

[greentgoatgal]

Fite me, I identify as a transfluid-non-genderspecific-hemaohroditic-tractor

I guess you aren't on the male-female spectrum then. So you will have to start your own discussion thread

 

[Max Cruz]

Why is the situation worsening? What defines a "perfect" equilibrium? Sometimes, different fields are just dominated by one gender. There's nothing wrong with that...

 

[Max Cruz]

As of the August 3rd WCA database export (I used it to find out which first names were the most common in the WCA), there were 71373 males and 7468 females who have competed officially, for a male:female ratio of about 90.5:9.5, or about 9.53:1. I think a lot of it is just because more guys are naturally into this sort of nerdy hobby.

Although, I definitely think the percentages would go up over time for females. That'd be an interesting graph.

Just wondering, what are the most common first names?

 

[xyzzy]

Fite me, I identify as a transfluid-non-genderspecific-hemaohroditic-tractor

Do you, really? Or are you just making fun of real people who don't fit nicely into categories because they're easy targets? (Funny thing that; when you have fuzzy categories, sometimes things don't clearly fit into them. How totally mysterious.)

 

[Roman]

Just came here to see some *kitchen* jokes but this thread is so SCIENCE, meh

 

[DGCubes]

Just wondering, what are the most common first names?

Name, frequency, percentage:
Daniel 706 0.8908%
David 485 0.6119%
Juan 406 0.5123%
Michael 356 0.4492%
Nguyễn 348 0.4391%
Muhammad 323 0.4075%
Ryan 320 0.4037%
Alex 318 0.4012%
Kevin 311 0.3924%
Matthew 293 0.3697%

So, Daniel by a long shot as of August.

 

[Max Cruz]

Just came here to see some *kitchen* jokes but this thread is so SCIENCE, meh

Fine, I'll say it:

Spoiler: Kitchen Joke

Little Johnny's preschool class went on a field trip to the fire station. The firefighter giving the presentation held up a smoke detector and asked the class: "Does anyone know what this is?"

Little Johnny's hand shot up and the firefighter called on him.

Little Johnny replied: "That's how Mommy knows supper is ready!"

 

[Gomorrite]

Interesting how some of the countries with a higher percentage female cubers are countries of muslim majority.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hCee2Y9-0G7TIimpoRS5pzJpD10EvUl_LGs2xujQT-g/edit?usp=sharing

 

[One Wheel]

Interesting how some of the countries with a higher percentage female cubers are countries of muslim majority.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hCee2Y9-0G7TIimpoRS5pzJpD10EvUl_LGs2xujQT-g/edit?usp=sharing

That is interesting, I would note, though, that those are very small sample sizes on both ends of that list.