# Questions about the women on Jeopardy. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 28, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499 "2013-10-28T22:58:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/1 "2013-10-28T22:58:52Z")
I’ve been watching Jeopardy I get the feeling that women win infrequently. Wondering about this I did some Googling and found where one amateur statistician claims women only win about 17% of the time. I’m not seeing even that much. What do you think? Then I went browsing for why do we see so few women winners on Jeopardy and only find the usual recitations about women are not risk takers, or the questions favor men etc. Any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/2 "2013-10-28T23:16:59Z")
What percentage of contestants are women? Gotta be more than 17%, but probably much less than half? Seems like men tend to be, ahem, dorkier than women too. I’d go with fast twitch muscles to buzz in faster as the biggest reason though. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/3 "2013-10-28T23:34:12Z")
today they have a whole cateogory about the play Wicked each clue is read by a cast member and they’re reading the clues soooo slow what a waste of time ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/4 "2013-10-28T23:36:38Z")
Yeah, musical theater’s day is long gone. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/5 "2013-10-28T23:38:15Z")
oops I posted this in the wrong thread but luckily it is still relevant it was supposed to go here [Anyone notice that a lot of Jeopardy! episodes this season are ending with unread clues - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=704218) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/6 "2013-10-28T23:50:50Z")
I’ve noticed that women aren’t as aggressive at buzzing in or betting on Final Jeopardy. There may be some male-centricity to the questions…er… answers that is, but I’m not sure about that. Perhaps not very many women with a chance of winning attempt to get on the show and so more of the female contestants come from the low end of the preliminary selection process. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/7 "2013-10-29T01:00:41Z")
I auditioned to be a contestant twice. Both times, the crowd of applicants was maybe 60% male. We took a written test, and those who didn’t score high enough were asked to leave. After that, the crowd was at least 90% male, maybe higher. I have no idea why, or what — if anything — it means. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/8 "2013-10-29T02:30:51Z")
At my audition, the balance of men to women in my group that passed through to the contestant pool was 11 men, 3 women. I auditioned in Washington, DC and the group was 12 attorneys, most of whom worked for the government, a teacher, and me. On my filming day, I can’t recall exactly how many of us there were, but the group had one more man than women. My game was two women (me and the returning champion) and a man, and the man beat us both because we were more aggressive with our FJ wagers, though all 3 of us got FJ wrong. He was in third place going into FJ, too. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/9 "2013-10-29T02:32:23Z")
When I was on there were more men, in general. Plus, I’ll admit straight out that I studied up on strategy, knew people underbet on Daily Doubles (especially women)… and underbet on my Daily Double. But really, fewer women in general. I suspect it isn’t just that fewer women get to the audition; rather that fewer women take the tests in the first place for various societal reasons. ---
**Author:** ![JuliaSqueezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@JuliaSqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JuliaSqueezer)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/10 "2013-10-29T14:35:44Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > But really, fewer women in general. I suspect it isn’t just that fewer women get to the audition; rather that fewer women take the tests in the first place for various societal reasons. Many of us were raised with the notion that men don’t want to marry smart women, so if you are smart, it’s best to downplay it. Certainly don’t show it off! You’ll be an old maid! ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/11 "2013-10-29T14:48:24Z")
Anecdotally, the women I know are better at word games while the men I know are better at trivia games. I do not know how much of this is due to innate proclivities, societal expectations, confirmation bias or my limited sample size. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/12 "2013-10-29T16:43:13Z")
I don’t think I am incorrect in saying that if you group IQ scores by gender, there are more men on the extreme high end and extreme low end of scores. Both men and women form a nice bell curve, it is just that the male curve is flatter with longer tails on each end. I know IQ does not directly relate to Jeopardy performance, but you could argue there is some overlap. If you go out searching for the smartest 1% of the population, you will probably get a group consisting of more males than females. I am not saying women are not smart or that there are no smart women. They just not as _likely_ to inhabit the upper or lower ends of some intelligence tests. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/13 "2013-10-29T17:29:50Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > I don’t think I am incorrect in saying that if you group IQ scores by gender, there are more men on the extreme high end and extreme low end of scores. Both men and women form a nice bell curve, it is just that the male curve is flatter with longer tails on each end. I know IQ does not directly relate to Jeopardy performance, but you could argue there is some overlap. > > If you go out searching for the smartest 1% of the population, you will probably get a group consisting of more males than females. > > I am not saying women are not smart or that there are no smart women. They just not as _likely_ to inhabit the upper or lower ends of some intelligence tests. ::grabs popcorn:: That line of discussion will go well. IMHO, I assume it is a cultural/nurture thing, as other posters have opined. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/14 "2013-10-29T17:34:47Z")
If someone’s willing to put in the time, we’ve got all the data necessary to find out exactly how many contestants are women and how often they win. > **[J! Archive](https://j-archive.com/)** > > The fan-created archive of Jeopardy! games and players--481,052 clues and counting! ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/15 "2013-10-29T17:38:12Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > ::grabs popcorn:: > > That line of discussion will go well. > > IMHO, I assume it is a cultural/nurture thing, as other posters have opined. Unfortunately for your popcorn, it’s pretty well-established that men tend to gather more at the extremes of bell curves than women do. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/16 "2013-10-29T18:17:52Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > Unfortunately for your popcorn, it’s pretty well-established that men tend to gather more at the extremes of bell curves than women do. If so, cool - I just struggle with arguments that start by going _there_. Does anyone really think that the IQ required to win at Jeopardy is one that plots that far up the curve? I’m skeptical. ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/17 "2013-10-29T18:45:40Z")
In his book _Brainiac_, Ken Jennings explains that there are far, far more men at the auditions. Out of those who pass the test, they are more likely to select women in order to balance out the show better. So men have to be better to begin just to get on the show, while women just have to pass the test. As to why more men pass the test and show up at the auditions, Ken Jennings speculates that men are more competitive and also more likely to be an obsessive type who would dedicate years to trying to get on the show. ---
**Author:** ![lew\_cody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e274bd/32.png) [@lew\_cody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lew_cody)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/18 "2013-10-29T19:13:47Z")
In February 1972, Art Fleming gave some stats on the gender of Jeopardy! players up to that time (begins at 1:17)– [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBc6bAOyDro](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBc6bAOyDro) Certainly, more women than men would be watching the show in those days (it aired at 12 noon Eastern), so more women might have been motivated to try out as contestants. And perhaps game shows in general attracted more female than male contestants at the time. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/19 "2013-10-29T19:38:27Z")
> [@lew\_cody](#): > > In February 1972, Art Fleming gave some stats on the gender of Jeopardy! players up to that time (begins at 1:17)– > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBc6bAOyDro](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBc6bAOyDro) > > Certainly, more women than men would be watching the show in those days (it aired at 12 noon Eastern), so more women might have been motivated to try out as contestants. And perhaps game shows in general attracted more female than male contestants at the time. I was about to ask about that. My recollection is that there were more women as contestants on the original show. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499/20 "2013-10-29T23:19:30Z")
In the last several months of \*new \*shows, it would appear that about _half the challengers_ are women but it would appear _few winners of Final Jeopardy are women_. Is my perception of these recent months far off? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/questions-about-the-women-on-jeopardy/672499.md?page=2)