My wife and I are big fans of the Food Network television show Chopped. It appeared to us through casual observation that women contestants would get “chopped” (eliminated) earlier and more often than men resulting in noticeably less female winners over time. I decided to actually chart it out to see if it was true.
What I ultimately discovered is that there are less women participating to begin with, so there are less women winners overall. Below you see the number of men vs. women participants in each round for each season and an aggregate of all complete seasons (as of February 2014) at the top. In only one season (#16) were there more women winners than men and only one where there were the same number (#8).
Very broadly speaking, the percentage split between winners (68% / 32%) is very close to the percentage split of total participants (64% / 36%). Therefore, the main issue revealed in the break down is that there are about twice as many men competing on the show as women to begin with so you do end up with more men winning overall, but it doesn't suggest anything about one side significantly under or over performing compared to the other.
~ Lucas