Gender neutral playing cards?

Hey, it’s Rich Dale!  Have you ever thought about gender inequality while playing poker?  Neither have I but Indy Mellink, a Dutch card fan, did and now her gender-neutral playing cards are making people think twice about the king, queen, and jack playing cards.

While playing cards the 23-year-old asked herself, “Why is a king worth more than a queen?” She pondered the questions and was encouraged by her father to make a change.

“If we have this hierarchy that the king is worth more than the queen then this subtle inequality influences people in their daily life because it’s just another way of saying ‘hey, you’re less important,” says Mellink.  Now she’s got me wondering about the jack!

After a few trials and errors, Mellink designed a genderless deck which instead of featuring kings, queens, and jacks the decks had images of gold bars, silver coins, and a bronze shield.

That doesn’t really bother me, but now I’m thinking about chess!  Even though trapping the king is the object, why is the queen so much more powerful than the king?  Maybe I’ll give Indy a call.