In every group I have run over the last 10 years, at least half the group has been female, and most of the time, they are not the wives, girlfriends of any of the other gamers. Here are a couple of tips on how to get and keep female gamers in my experience.
1. If you ask a female gamer to play, make sure you or none of your other players start ogling her like a piece of meat. I have seen to many gamer guys do a "Oh geez, its a girl!" thing, and as pathetic as it looks to guys, it makes women really uncomfortable.
2. (kinda goes along with #1) have others in the group give her helpful suggestions if she is new to gaming, but avoid treating her like she is just a "dumb girl". Give her a chance to play her character like any of the other guys, along with the chance of making mistakes, etc. Don't coddle her either.
3. From my experience, most female gamers like more than just four hours of kill the baddie, take his stuff, kick in the next door. Allow more chance for role-playing, and for interaction with NPCs in your game. I know not all female gamers are more into role playing, and everyone loves to kick butt once in a while, but most female gamers enjoy the chance to solve a problem other than by killing it.
4. When first approaching a female to play (especially if she has never gamed before), don't act embarassed by your hobby, and try to present it in a way that it seems interesting. Don't talk about the stats (AC, hp, etc), but about the world you have made, some interesting pieces of info regarding your adventures, the characters, etc. Tell them its basically a game where one person presents a scenario, and the players co-operatively help tell the story and decide what the outcome will be. For theater people, tell them its like improv theatre, but with slightly more structure. Actually, this piece of advice goes for both men and women, but especially women.
Actually, thjinking back on the female gamers that have been in my group, none have been theater majors. We have had a geneticist, a chemical engineer, a physicist, a stay-at-home mother, a computer tech, a sociologist, a linguist, a pre-law student, and a printing company exec (my girlfriend). Good luck with your search though- hope my advice helps!
).
