Why is the female attendance at competitive Magic: The Gathering events so low? This is one of the “Big Issues” with Magic: The Gathering, and one that is very important to me, as a budding competitive player with some reasonable finishes at the Grand Prix level and below. Grand Prix events are open to the public, but while women make up a significant portion of the overall M:TG player base, women don’t attend these Grand Prix in large numbers (usually they make up 1-5% of the event). There are a variety of reasons for this, but some of them can be mitigated with some work from Wizards of the Coast, Coverage teams, and large Magic stores. Women want visibility, support, and a community of people they can connect with, and this is difficult for women in a male dominated activity. I have a few suggestions to those groups that I believe would reduce the gender inequality gap and bring more balance to the attendance of events such as Grand Prix.

Highlight Women with Feature Matches

Putting women in feature matches develops storylines for the few competitive female magic players that there currently are. This provides women with a feeling of accomplishment and lets women at home know that there are female magic players at Grand Prix who are doing well. Women at home need role models to inspire them to play at the highest level. When Melissa DeTora played competitive magic I used to love watching her on stream and she inspired me to want to play competitive magic. What magic is missing now are other women who can fill that place now that she and Jackie Lee work for Wizards.

There are female magic players out there now who want to compete and do well, and I find it disappointing when coverage teams have an opportunity to feature a female player playing against a pro with a good record and they choose not to. For example, at Grand Prix Charlotte in round 8 at a record of 6-1 I was paired against Brad Nelson and our match was not featured. I feel like this was a missed opportunity for Star City Games to feature a female magic player playing against one of their own pros. Coverage should take every chance they get to feature female magic players, to inspire women at home to come out and compete.

In addition, one of the major factors contributing to women’s lack of enthusiasm for competitive magic is the lack of respect given to women when they achieve results. Often when women do well at Magic tournaments observers will attribute that finish to luck or male help. It’s common to hear phrases like “I can’t believe I just lost to a girl” or “I just played a girl, so basically a bye”, and this perception contributes to the lack of respect that women receive, and does not encourage them to continue to play Magic and improve. The Magic media needs to provide visibility, so that others can see that women can achieve their own results. We need to dismantle these stereotypes and bring the magic community to a place where women are respected for their achievements as much as anyone else.

Provide Sponsorships to Women

While coverage teams can work to feature women, stores that sponsor magic players can work to encourage women to attend and do well at Grand Prix events. For example, a store like Channelfireball.com could choose to sponsor a group of women by have them to wear their T-shirts and providing small incentives for attending, as well as for getting a feature match or placing well at the event. This would give women some motivation to attend and would provide them some publicity and visibility. This would lead to more sponsorships for women as a stepping-stone for being a professional magic player. These stores would get more female fans and customers, which would give them a foot-hold into the female demographic. When female players are more involved in the competitive magic scene they will be able to inspire more women to come out and compete at a competitive level.

Run Female Meet-and-Greets

One of the things I dislike most about large magic events is the heavily male-dominated atmosphere. While I enjoy the company of my male friends, sometimes it would be nice to meet and socialize with other female magic players. Due to the heavily male-dominated attendance for Grand Prix events, often female magic players are forced to travel with a group of men to events, as the only woman. This can be a very uncomfortable situation for them. However, an opportunity to meet other competitive female players can offer women a solution to that issue when they decide to travel to a Grand Prix. For example, if a woman is uncomfortable staying with a group of men in a hotel room, a Meet-and-Greet might give them the opportunity to find like-minded women they can room with for future events.

If Wizards or tournament organizers would put together female “Meet-and-Greet” events at Grand Prix events it would provide an incentive for female magic players at home to go to the event, especially if they could meet the female magic players who have gotten more coverage. It would also improve their Grand Prix experience and make it more likely that they attend events in the future. If Wizards could encourage their female R&D employees to attend the function, that could be a very interesting motivation for women to attend, and could inspire them to be more interested in Magic.

You Can Inspire Change!

If Wizards of the Coast, Magic coverage teams, and large Magic: The Gathering stores want to increase female attendance at Grand Prix events, these suggestions would be a step in the right direction. I would love to see the day where Grand Prix events have attendances that are more representative of the overall breakdown of Magic players. We need to do everything we can to increase female attendance and visibility, and the few suggestions I’ve outlined here would be great opportunities to do just that. Building female role models will inspire younger girls, even in non-Magic endeavors. Once we get the ball rolling it will be much easier to get additional women to come out to events. I’d love to hear your suggestions as well!