Why are there only few female chess players at the top level?

The current highest rated female chess player is Yifan Hou (2658) at #84 in top 100 of standard chess.

Why aren't there many female chess players at the top level?

What is the reason for this?

Maybe it could be because of that females are not interested in chess as much as males are. Second reason that I can think about could be that females are not as supported as males are, but still I think it is getting better. In 20th century I guess women did not play chess. Now some do, so it is about popularity maybe.

Yes, it could be the popularity, because in society, chess is more popular among men.

Also, another question could be, generally why are men more interested in chess?

In most developed (and even developing) countries, i think they are equally supported, today. But i do not notice any current female chess prodigies. Why is that so?

Maybe men are more interesting because of that they tend to be naturally more logical (at least in my opinion), females are more emotional, it is even noticable in work where men and females participate in. Another reason could be that men like more strategical games etc...but I really do not know. Maybe it will change in next 10-20 years, when you look at FIDE website, there are a lot of girls playing chess.

Ummm....... i dont think people play chess because of history....

i think people play chess to test their intelligence, practice logical thinking, creativity and strategies, and because of their competitive spirit.....

I think that with the history is not so much inaccurate idea, maybe if you will ask a lot of people why they play chess, you will hear a lot of reasons. For someone chess is art, for someone else it is competition between two people, for someone else it is just fun (game), for someone else it is life... Maybe some person, who really loves History would play it for that reason, but most people play it for fun I guess.

Hmmmm.....interesting perspective that is, to play chess because it is a historic game....

Once I read a question here on forum who invented chess, why was it invented etc... 

I believe Judith Polgar was ranked number 8 player in the world at one point. Her father's experiment proved that females are capable of being in the top ten chess player list if they are raised with competitive chess in mind.

Yeah, also he wanted prove by this experiment that geniuses are made, not born. But I still think that she was gifted too, but chess of course could help to improve her cognitive skills.

hope so.....

yes, there is a possibility of it being based on their personality, and general personality types of each gender.

but also i think women are more competitive, so that should be one trait to make them interested in chess.

bullet champ!

Also, there should be online bullet and blitz chess as an esport...

The women and girls who play chess, at least the ones I know, play chess because they enjoy it.  The average playing strength of female players is just about the same as their male counterparts, but since there are so few of them, relatively speaking, it's natural that the higher ranks (which are a small subset of players to begin with) has proportionately fewer women.

That being said, breaking in to the very top of the chess world requires one to play the best competition available.  There is something to be said about women-only events holding back female players from reaching the very top of the chess world.  Judit Polgar, who is doubtless the best female player of all time, did not play women's events - only open sections.  She was able to earn a spot in the Candidates' tournament in 2007, so suffices to say at her peak she was truly a world-class player.

I think the broader issue is that folks want more women and girls to play chess, and it is clearly true that women-only events do help achieve that.  And it isn't that regular chess clubs are unwelcoming to girls (quite the opposite, the girls who do play get along extremely well with their male counterparts, and both give and receive nothing but encouragement), it's just that very few get into the game deep enough to appreciate it (and let's be honest, Chess doesn't really start to get interesting until you reach the 1200 level or so).

it seems a bit dark to me, when you say that it was her fathers experiment to make her a chess genius....

He wasn't trying to make her a chess genius. He was trying to prove that all children are equally capable of becoming successful, but that success depends on hard work and determination much more than genetic predisposition. In other words you are not born a genius, you work hard to become one, and that's not dark, it's actually very inspiring. He had three daughters and all of them were chess masters.

Chess has nothing to do with IQ you can be a moron and play chess. Women just don't have much interest in games that's it. These topics pop up every now and then, and all of a sudden a thousand psychologists jump from nowhere.

i see, interesting.....

also, i think that even though only women chess events are helpful for popularizing and supporting women chess....... it does not help the importance of women competing at the highest level (it might even be harmful to that, in my opinion). They need to play against better opponents to compete on a higher level. Women only chess events can just be an opportunity for good female chess players to win prize money and trophies by competing against weaker opponents (hence, not improving their game).

it has proven to be very difficult to get the girls as addicted to chess as the boys. something to do with brain plasticity, the girls just keep slipping out of the loop.