These stats say female CSGO pros are just as good as men

Stats taken from a recent Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournaments may prove that female CSGO pros play on par with men despite common claims to the contrary.

Women’s esports are a hot topic, and a recurring theme in the conversation is that almost all female professional players aren’t able to compete with their male counterparts. While women’s teams tend to struggle in most esports when competing at the highest levels, they may be very close to doing so successfully in CSGO. A recent review of stats from two pro CSGO tournaments shows that many women in professional CSGO play right on par with men.

Scope.gg tracked players at ESL Challenger Valencia and ESL Impact Valencia to compile its stats. Men’s data was taken from Challenger, while Impact was a women’s-only event. The Impact teams featured include top-level female teams including Nigma Galaxy Female,  FURIA Esports Female, and Na’Vi Javelins.

How good are female CSGO pros compared to males?

According to data collected from ESL Valencia, female CSGO pros perform 93% as well as male players.

Stats collected by Scope.gg show that the female teams at ESL Impact Valencia put up very similar stats to their male counterparts. The men’s teams still won out in every category, but the deficits average out to just under 7%, a small number.

The biggest differences are in grenade usage and time-to-kill with rifles. Women are 10.7% less likely to use a grenade while men are more eager to throw utility. Note that this stat does not track utility effectiveness, only if the grenades were used at all. As for time-to-kill, that number still significantly favors men. TTK depends on a number of factors including crosshair positioning, aim accuracy, and reaction time.

The category related to pure reaction times is the closest stat of all. Sniper time-to-damage is virtually the same between male and female AWPers. Reaction times are a frequent subject of debate in women’s esports, but this stat shows that there’s hardly any difference.

Of course, these numbers don’t reveal every difference between women and men’s CSGO team. This is only data from two tournaments, and the data cannot account for differences in training, experience, and commitment to the game. It also doesn’t account for obstacles players and teams may face that are unrelated to the game itself.

Even with the small sample size, a 7% deficit may surprise many CSGO fans. Women’s teams are often considered less skilled than men’s teams. But from these stats, it seems like top female teams could at least hold their ground against most male CSGO counterparts.

In our recent interview with Nigma Galaxy Female, Ksenia “vilga” Klyuenkova emphasized the need for more opportunities in women’s CSGO. If events like ESL Impact Valencia continue to put up $100,000 prize pools, that 93% comparison rate could eventually turn to 100%.