There are some interesting studies about girls and women playing chess. When blind, the two sexes perform on average about the same, but when they know the gender of their opponent, girls and women underperform.

It is hypothesised that the reason behind this is because chess is a boys’ club, so to speak, and thus there is not a lot of representation.

Absence of representation means that it may seem that you are the only one doing XYZ, which in and of its own can be terrifying because we often feel that the odds are stacked against us (which is a self-fulfilling prophecy), or that we are held to much higher standards than others.

Personally, I enjoy seeing diverse representation even if I am not represented. I want people to not be afraid to pursue their dreams and goals, I don’t want implicit prejudices due to lack of representation either.