Does Equestria have a larger female population?

[cider float 2,535]

Though males aren't shown that often and aren't the center of the show I kind of feel there are more mares than stallions.

 

[PiratePony 8,473]

Though males aren't shown that often and aren't the center of the show I kind of feel there are more mares than stallions.

 

 

Yeah, definitely. Although, I feel that in Canterlot it's more evenly matched than in Ponyville. 

[CrystalRarity 118]

For suure.  Though have noticed in the later seasons- well especially five, think?- that the guest pony characters are more frequently male than in the past.  Kinda preferred the previous ratio...just because it was different from every other show.

[Megas 27,064]

Considering the target audience, it shouldn't be surprising that there's a heavier presence of female characters

[GeekySonic 1,150]

Well, yeah. I never really gave it much thought until I watched more of seasons 1-3. It seems like they're getting a little more balanced out lately.

 

Also, and I do not know this for a fact, but I think Lauren Faust actually commented in an interview that she would have preferred if the gender ratio was equal.

[20% Cooler Than Cake 161]

Well, I decided to do a bit of research  and found that of all of the ponies in MLP:FiM that were not background characters or antagonists, 38% were male. However, of the antagonists of the show, 63% were male. Background ponies are also mostly female, but I agree that the ratio has been evening out recently.

Edited January 2, 2016 by 20% Cooler Than Cake

[Vixor 80]

Of course not. Background pony crowds are pretty much copy/pasted and are not hand-placed, and this has made them wildly inconsistent and full of clones. If you look at them, you'll see this, and it pretty much renders them fairly useless for determining anything. The gender ratio is probably even, and we just don't see it because DHX copy/pastes too much. Not that I particularly blame them, hand-placing ponies to make it more realistic and detailed would take a lot of time and not many people would even take notice. Either way, I'm pretty sure it's even. The ponies are also primarily monogamous (means most ponies are monogamous, though poly individuals would obviously exist, they'd just be pretty uncommon like here), which is definitely very relevant.

 

The show features more female characters because of it's target audience, but of course Equestria doesn't actually have a higher female population.

 

Considering the target audience, it shouldn't be surprising that there's a heavier presence of female characters

 

Not that it doesn't contribute to skewing perceptions a bit, but OP isn't really talking about the number of female characters with speaking roles, they're actually talking about the in-universe population, as if there were some sort of difference in the birth numbers. But I'm pretty sure the gender ratio is even (meaning there is no significant difference between the number of males and females), all things considered. Given all their flaws, background pony crowds aren't good for determining things, especially complicated stuff like what amounts to census data.

Edited January 2, 2016 by Vixor

[I used to be a stranger 7,989]

Either way, I'm pretty sure it's even. The ponies are also primarily monogamous (means most ponies are monogamous, though poly individuals would obviously exist, they'd just be pretty uncommon like here), which is definitely very relevant.

 

The show features more female characters because of it's target audience, but of course Equestria doesn't actually have a higher female population.

 

 

I made this nearly four years ago, and I made sure I didn't count cloned characters.

As far as I know, there is no corresponding version of this which has more detailed information since Season 5.

Edited January 2, 2016 by Blue

[JeyWiz 1,097]

I guess you could say that. Considering that the target audience was girls, they decided have more female population than male, just to make it more 'girly', you know? Shows targeted to either boys, or both genders, a majority of the characters are usually male. But with a girl's cartoon like mlp has majority of female characters. However, in the recent seasons, the writers seem to have evened out the genders, probably due to the fanbase, since a lot of us are dudes.

[Vixor 80]

 

I made this nearly four years ago, and I made sure I didn't count cloned characters.

As far as I know, there is no corresponding version of this which has more detailed information since Season 5.

 

This is a quick reply, since I just happened to check MLPforum just moments after you replied, but...

 

I don't find that chart convincing, especially given that it's not even the sort of data you'd need to determine something like the population statistics of Equestria. One of the big points of my arguments is of course, that the crowds of ponies in the show are unreliable for determining things. They are not hand-placed, and thus they end up filled to the brim with duplicates. Different locations like Canterlot and Manehattan have pretty much even ratios in the crowds, but it varies with episode. In Ponyville, it's basically anyone's guess as to what it will look like any given episode. Hence me calling them inconsistent, it's clear that the writers and animators aren't putting any conscious effort into them.

 

As far as the clones go, here's an example. My apologies, but apparently I can't embed the image because the file extension is not accepted (what is accepted, I tried a jpeg version and it didn't work either?), so a link will have to do. http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/a/af/Audience_and_actors_singing_The_Heart_Carol_finale_S2E11.png/revision/latest?cb=20121017104840

 

Stuff like this is common and insane, and the chances of it being accurate are an obvious zero. There are probably less than 15 unique ponies in that crowd, while there are dozens of duplicate ponies. I stand by my assertion that the gender ratio is probably even, and that we don't observe this because background pony crowds do not receive any significant amount of care or effort from the animators and thus end up like, well, the above.

 

The chart you made seems to be recording a different metric than the ratio of ponies standing around though, it's going directly to counting the number of unique, named characters that have been featured or had their name revealed in other sources. This metric is not a metric of Equestria's population though, but rather a count of the makeup of named characters in the cartoon. A metric which is no doubt being skewed heavily by the number of female characters with screentime/speaking roles being higher in the cartoon (in other words, the show usually focuses more on female characters when it comes to screentime, and that means more of them often get featured directly to some degree). There has indeed been many more named male characters in more recent seasons though, so no doubt it's much closer to even now, even strictly looking at characters with speaking roles rather than the background pony crowds. I'm not sure how many named, unique characters of each gender there are as of now, and recounting would be a lot of work.

 

But yeah, I'm still pretty sure the gender ratio would be even. The crowds of ponies we see around, which contain the vast majority of ponies we see onscreen in the show, named or otherwise, are in such a disarray and otherwise feature so many problems, that I hardly think you can begin to use them to determine anything like a census. You can't really even use them to determine where many of the background ponies in the crowds even live, because the animators use a lot of the ponies anywhere. 

Edited January 2, 2016 by Vixor

[Castle Bleck 19,167]

I think it's most likely just 51% mares, 49% stallions.

[Nameless Knight 1,001]

I always though like in most societies the numbers are relatively equal. It would be hard for a group to have more of one gender because there is a 50% change of a male or female to be born meaning that it is mostly equal. Unless something happened and a good portion of the male population is killed off. In my opinion, I just believe that most of the males are off doing work for most of the day (Big Mac, and the royal guards for example), Female are more prominent because they have the time to go do things that the males just can't so they show up on camera more often...

[Vixor 80]

I guess you could say that. Considering that the target audience was girls, they decided have more female population than male, just to make it more 'girly', you know? Shows targeted to either boys, or both genders, a majority of the characters are usually male. But with a girl's cartoon like mlp has majority of female characters. However, in the recent seasons, the writers seem to have evened out the genders, probably due to the fanbase, since a lot of us are dudes.

 

The show features more female characters with screentime to some extent due to the target audience, yes. But that's not the same thing as the show implying that there are actually more females. To claim that would be like watching something like G.I Joe, seeing the larger number of male characters, and somehow coming to the conclusion that Earth on G.I Joe has a larger population of males, which just isn't true.

 

I think it's most likely just 51% mares, 49% stallions.

 

The same ratio as humans, then.

 

I always though like in most societies the numbers are relatively equal. It would be hard for a group to have more of one gender because there is a 50% change of a male or female to be born meaning that it is mostly equal. Unless something happened and a good portion of the male population is killed off. In my opinion, I just believe that most of the males are off doing work for most of the day (Big Mac, and the royal guards for example), Female are more prominent because they have the time to go do things that the males just can't so they show up on camera more often...

 

Well, there's certainly no chance of any mass die-offs. Or anything else that's extremely and nonsensically grimdark and terrible like mass die-offs would be.

 

Anyway, there's not really a basis for one gender having more or less 'work' on average in MLP, I think it just comes down to the individual. Even with farm-work and stuff of that nature that might employ a higher than average number of ponies in a place like Ponyville (still wouldn't be enough to impact the ratio in town to that extreme degree), I'd say the show has demonstrated that females have the potential to be pretty even to males in physical strength. Definitely moreso than humans, anyway. We certainly know Applejack helps with the farm-work a lot, so I'd bet there are more ponies of both genders helping with that sort of stuff.

 

A lot of things we've seen in the show points towards Equestria not having any strict gender roles, so ultimately it just comes down to the individual. I'm certainly not about to buy the idea that one gender has a lack of free time in Equestria. Ultimately, I think the ponies have more free time than we do, to spend with their friends, a lover, or their family.

Edited January 2, 2016 by Vixor

[Moony the Cat 3,697]

Well, in all the Episodes it sure seems, that they are much more Females.

And im okay with that.

Some of the Male ones doesnt look that good anyway, because of the strange Flash Animation Style.

Shining Armor from the front, is really really odd looking for example.

[I used to be a stranger 7,989]

But yeah, I'm still pretty sure the gender ratio would be even. The crowds of ponies we see around, which contain the vast majority of ponies we see onscreen in the show, named or otherwise, are in such a disarray and otherwise feature so many problems, that I hardly think you can begin to use them to determine anything like a census. You can't really even use them to determine where many of the background ponies in the crowds even live, because the animators use a lot of the ponies anywhere. 

 

So you're saying "it's open to interpretation because obviously the show doesn't care about the nitty gritty of population science just like it doesn't care about cake shipping logistics, waste management, power generation or the ontological effects of magic".

 

Which means you simply want to explore this particular aspect of the show from a worldbuilding view as-to-realism, and not necessarily from a narrative viewpoint (where the rule of Chekhov limitation applies). In which case, you can't really say "Equestria IS this way"; only that "Equestria is this way in my headcanon", where your headcanon applies a harder and more realistically defined worldbuilding logic.

 

There's nothing wrong with that interpretation. I'm just pointing out this stuff because it sometimes annoys me personally when people state interpretive inference as fact.

[Midnight Chimes 69]

I came across a theory once that was something like because Equestrian society is matriarchal and runs on the magic of friendship, there is a higher percentage of mares in populated areas, for example Ponyville, where friendships are more likely to occur. Stallions meanwhile are sent away to do work that doesn't involve a lot of friendship/interaction. While it may be a flawed hypothesis I did think it was interesting.

[Vixor 80]

So you're saying "it's open to interpretation because obviously the show doesn't care about the nitty gritty of population science just like it doesn't care about cake shipping logistics, waste management, power generation or the ontological effects of magic".

 

Which means you simply want to explore this particular aspect of the show from a worldbuilding view as-to-realism, and not necessarily from a narrative viewpoint (where the rule of Chekhov limitation applies). In which case, you can't really say "Equestria IS this way"; only that "Equestria is this way in my headcanon", where your headcanon applies a harder and more realistically defined worldbuilding logic.

 

There's nothing wrong with that interpretation. I'm just pointing out this stuff because it sometimes annoys me personally when people state interpretive inference as fact.

 

Eh, I suppose, but I'm pretty confident in it being even. The only way you could really headcanon it as uneven is if you did what those Winningverse fanfics did, and also headcanoned same-sex reproduction through the magic of love. All mammals have a relatively even gender ratio, and I disagree that it's anything approaching likely, but since the data is ultimately lacking, someone could headcanon it as uneven if they really wanted to, they simply have to account for the ponies being primarily monogamous, and the same-sex reproduction thing is the only real way around that if you headcanon that it's uneven.

 

Anyway, I daresay there's not much more to be said here. I will say that, as far as 'chehkov's gun' goes, I think that's a bit of a hyperbolic extreme, and I can't really say I'm going to find something like that agreeable in all or even most cases. It seems to suggest that detail can't/shouldn't exist without a significant purpose in the narrative, which isn't really true in most cases. I think the show's scope is limited, with it mainly focusing on characterization and slice of life with some adventure thrown in, and a lot of details like this are obviously left out without any discernible harm, but it doesn't really mean it'd be a problem if they were included just for the sake of it, it would just be a lot more work on the writers part for relatively little benefit, given the target audience. Tiny details being prominent in cartoons is something people tend to expect from things like anime more than western animation. They're good, as long as they don't take away much from the focus of the show, but they aren't essential. I'll put some more thought into that "dramatic principle" later, either way.

 

I came across a theory once that was something like because Equestrian society is matriarchal and runs on the magic of friendship, there is a higher percentage of mares in populated areas, for example Ponyville, where friendships are more likely to occur. Stallions meanwhile are sent away to do work that doesn't involve a lot of friendship/interaction. While it may be a flawed hypothesis I did think it was interesting.

 

Wow, where on earth did you hear that? I find that theory very disgusting and disturbing. Males care about and enjoy friendship and interaction just as much as females do, end of story. I don't know where you found that theory, but it's a huge load of nonsense, and more than a little insulting (extremely insulting, really). The magic of friendship applies equally to both genders, and both genders can and will be able to enjoy it equally. To suggest otherwise would be blatantly spitting on all the good messages of the show, and would in general be very horrible. I could say a lot of other bad things about that little theory, because honestly that's just one of the most terrible things I've heard in a while, but I don't really want to write a huge wall of text about it. It's just incredibly sexist, and goes against everything MLP stands for.

 

Besides, Equestria is clearly not matriarchal, everything in the show we've seen points towards it being egalitarian with gender. There's no basis for one gender being advantaged or dominant, and both genders have been portrayed as equally capable. Equestria is gender-egalitarian, there's just never been any real evidence for it being matriarchal or patriarchal. We've seen ponies of both genders in all sorts of positions, etc.

Edited January 2, 2016 by Vixor

[Midnight Chimes 69]

Wow, where on earth did you hear that? I find that theory very disgusting and disturbing. Males care just as much about friendship as females do, end of story. I don't know where you found that theory, but it's a huge load of nonsense, and more than a little insulting (extremely insulting, really). The magic of friendship applies equally to both genders, and both genders should be able to enjoy it equally. To suggest otherwise would be blatantly spitting on all the good messages of the show, and would in general be very horrible. I could say a lot of other bad things about that little theory, because honestly that's just one of the most terrible things I've heard in a while, but I don't really want to write a huge wall of text about it. It's just incredibly sexist and goes against everything MLP stands for.

 

Besides, Equestria is clearly not matriarchal, everything in the show we've seen points towards it being egalitarian with gender. There's no basis for one gender being advantaged or dominant, and both genders have been portrayed as equally capable. Equestria is gender-egalitarian, there's just never been any real evidence for it being matriarchal or patriarchal. We've seen ponies of both genders in all sorts of positions, etc.

 

While I don't entirely agree with the theory myself, I think there is ground to at least argue that Equestria is matriarchal, given that  all known alicorns are princesses, for instance. There are lots of ways of interpreting Equestrian society and just because one theory isn't objectively true, doesn't mean it shouldn't be explored. Sure we'd like to believe our magical utopia of ponies is egalitarian but sometimes the nicest interpretation isn't the necessarily the most interesting.

[Vixor 80]

While I don't entirely agree with the theory myself, I think there is ground to at least argue that Equestria is matriarchal, given that  all known alicorns are princesses, for instance. There are lots of ways of interpreting Equestrian society and just because one theory isn't objectively true, doesn't mean it shouldn't be explored. Sure we'd like to believe our magical utopia of ponies is egalitarian but sometimes the nicest interpretation isn't the necessarily the most interesting.

 

The alicorns are chosen based on merit and being a good, benevolent leader, so there's no real relevance to gender there. Starswirl, for example, almost became one. Given that it's a merit based position, I think any gender could become one, otherwise it would considerably hurt their legitimacy. Genitals are not a relevant thing to consider when finding a good, benevolent leader. And it's not even inherited based on title alone, which is also worth mentioning.

 

Anyway, I don't feel that there are any grounds to argue that Equestria is matriarchal, as we've seen plenty of ponies of both genders in all sorts of positions, including some that are socially/economically influential. And I strongly disagree that making Equestria a matriarchy or patriarchy would be somehow interesting, but the big point is it being egalitarian is far more in-line with the canon and makes more sense. Again, there's simply no indication whatsoever that one gender is advantaged or dominant, and both genders have been shown to be equally capable. Believe me, I've been arguing with people about this topic for a long time, and I'm very much sure that it's egalitarian with gender. With the gender ratio, there's at least some room for headcanon, but not here, there is overwhelming evidence for gender equality in Equestria, as we can see bits of that in every episode.  

 

As for the theory, yeah, I can't understate how terrible and disgustingly sexist that is, but again, I don't wanna go into it.

Edited January 3, 2016 by Vixor

[Steve Piranha 28,780]

Well, for a show whose target audience are little girls, makes sense, but it's been toned down lately, with now a more even ratio between mares and stallions 

[CT-1138 3,180]

My theory is that pony population is just like humans, more females than males, but not nearly as drastic as it's portrayed in the show. I think that Equestria is like some European countries: males have mandatory military service. Think about it. Every Guard we've seen is male. Most civilians we see are female. All those missing males are just doing military service. 

[Vixor 80]

My theory is that pony population is just like humans, more females than males, but not nearly as drastic as it's portrayed in the show. I think that Equestria is like some European countries: males have mandatory military service. Think about it. Every Guard we've seen is male. Most civilians we see are female. All those missing males are just doing military service. 

 

Didn't really want to make another post in this thread, but eh.... I'm fairly certain the ponies would be against forced military service. I think it's a pretty horrible thing to force onto someone, honestly, so I see not a chance in hell that they would tear ponies away from their homes and such for something like that. Besides that, a few other things...

 

One, the military would have to be absolutely, totally, unrealistically massive to make that much of a difference. There's just no way. An army is usually only a small portion of the population. 

 

Two, there doesn't seem to be much of a point for a huge military, at least that we've seen. Equestria seems to be the only 'superpower' we've seen in the region in the first place, except perhaps the Yaks, and I doubt there's some big Pony-Yak war going on. There's reason for them to have a military, but surely not one with millions of participants. 

 

Three, the show has repeatedly shown that the females have the potential to be pretty equal with the males in physical strength. At the very least, with training, they would have no trouble keeping up. Thus, there's no reason whatsoever, and no possible justification, for a draft or anything of that nature that is gender-exclusive. IF Equestria ever had a draft (and I don't forsee them ever needing one), it would absolutely be both genders.

 

Again, the background pony crowds in the show are clearly inaccurate. There are tons of clones, and etc, I've already said a bunch about it in the posts above, but suffice to say it, I'm pretty darned confident the gender ratio is even. And honestly, the same could be said for the guards, since all of them look identical. One thing is that there's clearly no reason whatsoever for all of the guards to be male, so I'm going to have to assume there are indeed female guards too, and we just don't see them because, well, DHX doesn't have the time to diversify their royal guard assets. I do know we've seen at least a few in the comics though, if you count those.

 

But yeah, I'm very much sure Equestria would have an all-volunteer military, and that it would be open to either gender, because there's no real reason for it not to be. Forced military service and drafts are very cruel (and very sexist if it's gender exclusive), basically slavery, and is ultimately not ever needed except maybe in the case of a total disaster, because a good country will get enough volunteers to defend itself in it's time of need. America, for example, is all-volunteer and gets by just fine (better even, since volunteers are much more willing to be there and often more qualified), and Equestria is a pretty damn nice place, so it's not about to go undefended. With that in mind, I'm not about the buy the idea that Equestria would have forced military service for anyone, that's just ridiculous.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Vixor

[ThatOneComrade 1,091]

Yes

I made this nearly four years ago, and I made sure I didn't count cloned characters.

As far as I know, there is no corresponding version of this which has more detailed information since Season 5.

WOW just... points to you for going out of your way to do that