Chess? What woman has time to play chess?

So UKIP treasurer Stuart Wheeler thinks women are “nowhere near as good as men” at games like chess, bridge and poker.

Of course, following last week’s “Bongo Bongo land” comments, the media had a field day and Wheeler was forced to point out that what he actually meant was “there are some things men are better at than women, some things women are better at than men and we shouldn’t be imposing a minimum of either sex on the board”.

Okay, far be it from me to support the average racist, sexist, xenophobic member of UKIP, but the old git does have a point.

I have known very few women in my time who are better than men at chess, bridge and poker. But not because they are less intelligent but because most women (or certainly the women I know) aren’t terrible interested in playing games. In fact, I’d go so far as to say most women I know aren’t really interested in playing anything.

That’s not to say they don’t enjoy themselves. Have you ever watched a bunch of women on a night out? They just don’t see a lot of point in playing when there are so many more productive ways to spend their time.

While the boys are perfecting their poker face or working out if moving their Queen from d1 to h5 will be more effective than moving their Bishop from f1 to c4, the women are reconciling the bank statements, emptying the third lot of washing, taking an Open University degree course, turning last night’s leftover Bolognese into lasagne, checking little Jonny’s homework and making Tabitha an angel costume out of an old sheet.

What is this obsession our media has with questioning why women can’t or aren’t allowed to compete in the same arena as men? Why does nobody question why men aren’t measuring up to women? Can you imagine The Today Programme dragging some woman into the studio and demanding to know why men are being prevented from dominating the home?

So the world’s top chess players are men? Big deal. I prefer being a grown up. As do most of my female friends.