Abstract for: Gender Inequality dynamics: Women’s participation and performance in competitive chess in the Netherlands

Whereas equality and diversity are vital for social justice and sustainability and contribute to organizational and national economic performance, problems of gender and other inequality persist in many forms and configurations. Through multiple methods I analyze persistent gender inequality within the context of competitive chess, leveraging unique tractability of social processes and data availability. Central to a conceptual model developed from the literature, elite-player interviews, and a rich quantitative spatio-temporal (1994–2018) dataset, involving all +30,000 members within the Dutch Chess Federation, are multiple processes involving player entry, exit, participation, and performance improvement, interacting through a peer-induced motivational climate and that together reinforce any fixed societal biases from gendered role expectations. Quantitative partial model estimations using dynamic and static methods yield strong evidence about the presence of multiple hypothesized mechanisms. Counterfactual analysis through simulation of an empirically grounded integrative computational model shows how persistent gender inequality is explained through the system of feedbacks and accumulation of advantages. Policy explorations aimed at improving gender equality in chess point to the need for a broad portfolio of interventions and commitment over long time horizons. I discuss opportunities for research that addresses the causal and dynamic complexity underlying the problems of societal inequality.