This is a spinoff from the recent thread about declining interest in the ACW. A number of posters, including myself, observed those interested in the war are disproportionately male. I will hypothesize why in a reply.
Other posters may have a different perception from their experience or may have statistics to offer on women's interest in the Civil War.
This is not to say women can't or shouldn't be interested in the subject. There are a number of academics, rangers, authors, and posters on this forum who easily disprove anyone holding such notions.
The title of this thread made me think of this satirical piece from The Onion,
Late Blooming Dad Just Now Getting into Civil War History, where the concerned adult children of a middle-aged man are expressing relief that their dad is finally showing an interest the Civil War:
“
It took a while, but I’ve finally noticed Dad starting to show a lot of interest in the major Confederate military figures,” said his daughter, Julie Reeves, 22, who added that while she never wished to shame or ostracize her father, most of his friends had become obsessed with generals such as Stonewall Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart at a much younger age. “He never cared much about that stuff until recently, and now all of a sudden it seems like it’s the only thing he ever thinks about.”
“It’s as if one day, there was this whole world out there he’d never even noticed before,” she continued, “and the next day, he couldn’t stop talking about the Battle of Antietam.”
https://local.theonion.com/late-blooming-dad-just-now-getting-into-civil-war-histo-1819579124
My adult kids thought this was hilarious and spot on--yeah, it's mostly a guy thing, and many believe it's also mostly an
older guy thing as well. As if to drive home the point, one of my kids once asked me for a stamp so he could mail a follow up letter to a potential employer after a job interview to make a good impression--I gave him a stamp, and he said, "Great. Thanks, dad. The Battle of Manassas. A bunch of people dying." He found an Elvis stamp and used that instead.
As a reenactor for almost 20 years, having done scores of living history events where I've interacted with the public, I've seen numerous men with their wives and kids in tow, where the demeanor and attitude of the women is explicitly meant to convey the message, "He dragged us here." While certainly there are some women interested in the subject and willingly accompany their spouses, it's also not a coincidence that there's a large shopping mall near the Gettysburg battlefield.
I'm sure there are exceptions, but I think that overall, Civil War battlefields are probably pretty low on the list of most women's favorite places to visit, if they're on the list at all. When they do visit Civil War encampments, men often get into long, detailed discussions about weapons and tactics, while women find the material culture more interesting--how the soldiers lived, what they wore, what they ate, medical care, music, etc. Women also seem grateful when we start playing fife and drum music and always appreciate the musical aspect of it, seeing that there's more available than the traditional focus of such events--who shot who where and how.