Fierce Women case study

FORMAT for CASE COLLECTION (WP2)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------SECTION 1 (cover page): Introduction (in English) Name of the Case

FIERCE WOMEN Abstract Fierce Women is an inspiring card game that familiarizes its players with women’s contributions in the fields of culture, politics, science, feminism, human rights and art.

Fierce Women is the first Croatian social game dedicated to women, which offers a subtle opportunity to bring the topic of gender equality into our social circles. It is also an opportunity to get our closest ones off gadgets and spend our free time together in a way that is fun, educational and socially engaging.

Website http://fierce-women.net/ Contacts (SIKE team) SIL Zagreb researcher Mirna Karzen mirna.karzen@socinnovationlab.eu

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SECTION 2: Case description

FIERCE WOMEN Objectives Their vision is a society unburdened by sex and gender categories and which actively helps to improve the lives of all members of the community.

Fierce Women card game is an idea developed by the organisation Expanse of Gender and Media Culture ‘Common Zone’. For the past 13 years they have been promoting gender equality, social justice and independent culture through our non-profit media VoxFeminae.net and the Vox Feminae Festival. This card game is a natural outcome of the values they are actively promoting and activities they have been undertaking for the past decade.

Clients, audience Because of its simple rules, it is suitable for every generation, from age 5 and up. Due to its educational component, the game can also be used in the classroom or workshops. The tool was very well received with parents and educators because of the great inspiration that the tool provides, especially for girls and young women.

Position along the SI Spiral One of the following: - Identify Opportunities & challenges - Generate ideas - Develop & test - Making the case - Deliver & implement - Growing & scaling - Changing systems.

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Relationship with HEI(s) (High Education Institutions) • •

There was no relationship with HEI Fierce Women representative held a presentation at VERN’ University on May 7, 2019 during the SIKE Croatia site visit.

Finance model and resources The have decided to do this project with minimum support from donors, focusing mainly on the crowdfunding and insisting on sustainability and lean principles of growth on the project.

They have thus funded the production of Fierce Women card game through a successful crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/fierce-womenall-the-right-cards#/ The goal was $25.000 but it was raised $32.391 by 735 backers.

Methodology The game is designed for 2-6 players, and the rules are simple. More at the video: https://youtu.be/xmlldAZE6yA Innovation in Project Idea – Novelty Project is taking a unique approach on tackling gender issues - through a social game. It focuses on great examples and achievements that are less known and introduces them through a card game, which is addressing all target groups, especially men, that are usually not interested in gender issues.

Innovation in Accessing Target Groups – Involvement Artists and activists from a local community joined forces and ideas and contributed in prototyping new tool based on their complementary expertise. In the next phases of the project they intend to continue engaging activists and artists from other countries and make an international alliance that will have broader reach in introducing achievements of women through history with new Fierce Women decks and other complementary tools.

Innovation in the Realisation of the Project – Effectiveness They have received feedback from their target groups and are developing complementary tools that are needed (for example 16 ideas for the youth workers and mobile application that incorporates quiz about Fierce Women). Team that consists of innovators, artists, designers, economists and IT developers stands in joyful cooperation behind this endeavor.

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Products, results The final product is the Fierce Women deck, a card game with artsy portraits and concise narratives of 60 women’s significant contributions to the field of Culture, Science, Feminism, Human Rights and Art combined with a simple set of rules comprehensible to every generation. Cards include women such as Judith Butler, Temple Grandin, Frida Kahlo, Bell Hooks, Kate Bornstein, Naomi Klein, Mary Wollstonecraft, Jo Spence as well as few Croatian women. Cards are artistic and original creations of 8 Croatian female artists (Sanja Stojković, Rina Barbarić, Tea Šokac, Željka Tkalčec, Ana Kovačić, Ivana Štrukelj, Branka Hollingsworth and Nataša Rašović) and writer and programmer Želimir Periš.

They are engaged in plans for modifying deck and making versions of it for Central Europeans countries, central Europe, and Scandinavian countries. Our long term goal is to become an international hub of support for fierce women and their allies that incite gender equality and sustainable development around the world by expanding circles of social innovation, independent media and cultural practices, as well as access to information and opportunities.

Impact and results This card game is educational as you can learn about a particular woman’s fierceness and significant achievements in different fields. Many women are not well known so this is a great opportunity to learn something new and interesting. Besides been fun, it also raises awareness about gender issues and women’s equality.

Fierce Women also received the SozialMarie Award https://www.sozialmarie.org/en/news/5610 Appreciation of the Jury “Fierce Women offers a simple yet innovative way of telling stories of atypical, courageous, and passionate women from different historical eras and fields of activity. The attractively designed and enjoyable card game promotes recognition of the merits of these women. It is very suitable as a gift and fits in with the most diverse social contexts. It is thus widely distributed. In this way, the cliché of women being the “good” gender is playfully undermined. And new generations of “Fierce Women” are inspired. Hopefully”.

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