A recent post from the D&D Research Wizards showed a significant uptick in female players that aligns with Hasbro saying ~ 40% gamers now female in 2019. I wanted to track this back through time to see if it there was a shift in the trend.
This chart was built by starting from the fantastic GenCon GMs effort and then adding in as many forum polls, site data and research surveys as possible.
Looking at the change in share of women over time 2 points stand out
1. Rise in participation of women in TTRPGs - not a new thing but a continuation of a long-running trend.
2. Split between forum participants and groups identified through research efforts or by questioning people 'who do you play with'. Mostly men respond to online surveys. Direct surveys of players at tables or asking 'who do you play with' showed more women playing.
Forums, until 5e launched, were > 90% male. At the same time GMs at GenCon and other data on play at tables were reporting more women playing at them. It appears that pre-5e online participation remained mostly male even while the demographics of players were changing. Post-5e that gap appears to be closing.
This broadly maps to my own experiences - starting to game in the mid 90's my regular table was myself and 3 guys. In college in the early 2000s I ran a group of six with one woman in it for 14/86 including me. In the 2010s I ran an online campaign with 2 men, 2 women for 40/60. Now my home game has 2 women, 1 man for 50/50 including myself.
To conclude - the picture Hasbro paints looks on trend. The range of people participating has been broadening along a steady trend since the hobby was founded. The participation of women in online forums appears to be rising more sharply since 2015 from a low base compared to the general player population.
Sources for play at tables:
D&D Research Wizards summary of 2019, 2020 survey data
Friendship and D&D 2020 survey.
Hasbro 2019 - "D&Ds best year yet"
Meeple mountain 2019 - "Whos at the table"
Enworld Table Reports 2018
Seattle Times 2017 - "Behind the Scenes: the making of Dungeons & Dragons"
RPG Research site 2015 - Study on Gender Bias in Gaming Community & Industry
The Women and Men that Lead Games - analysis of Gencon GMs
The Science of Roleplaying #6: Women in Gaming 2012 on RPG.net compiles a bunch of obscure sources.
"Of Dice and Men: An Ethnography of Contemporary Gaming Subculture" 2011 by Christopher Shane Brace of University of Arkansas, Fayetteville [link to pdf]
WotC 1999 household survey.
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