Why do we have women-only tournaments for Chess?
Looking past our blind spot to enact changes in the organisation.
Why do we have women-only tournaments for Chess? And what does that have to do with enacting and anticipating a change in your organization? Let’s find out.
In traditional sports, we separated men and women categories because of inherent physical differences. Why do we also do that in intellectual sports such as Chess? Women-only chess tournament is meant to develop a healthier chess tournament scene, with the hope that in future we do not need to differentiate gender in intellectual sports.
It is a misconception that no woman can participate in a modern Chess world championship tournament. World championship level tournament does not prohibit women’s participation. Though the world championship tournament is usually dominated by males.
Chess has been around for 15 centuries. The game has outlasted many historical events and tremendous cultural changes. One of the most important changes that are closely tied to this topic, is the women’s rights movement. For a very long-time women do not share the same status, education, and opportunities as men. Taking care of children and cooking for the family seems to be the standard path of life. Men and women may share the same entertainment when they are children. When they are in their teenage years, adults (their parents, teachers) started developing their skills and talents differently, thus women rarely get to choose what they might want, like playing chess.
This phenomenon lasted many centuries, only recently, women started to receive similar rights & privileges that men have been enjoying. That includes playing chess and participating in chess tournaments. However, the consequences caused by the lack of development for female chess players, namely the lack of female-friendly scenes and tournament experiences still exist. It might be intimidating for women, to play comfortably in an environment with all the stares coming from their male counterparts before, during, and after a match; for parents to have their young daughter participate in a chess tournament that is full of young boys and men.
There is no denying that skill differences between men & women still exist if we look at the global chess ranking but having female-only tournaments has started to cut down the skill gap between men and women significantly, thanks to the attention drawn by female-only tournaments and the prize money awarded to the courageous women trying to break the subconscious gender ceiling in intellectual sports.
So, what does that has to do with enacting change in your organisation Sometimes we are ignorant of the consequences of previously existing cultural bias.
Our subconscious mind thinks that trying to change company culture or organisational behaviours would work like a perfect market, telling people to be open, and suddenly they will speak their minds during the meeting. It doesn’t work that way. Having a proper structure for people to transition, and providing ample time and nudges are often necessary to change your employee and your organization’s culture.
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