Well, before IeSF changed their rules yesterday (under massive social media feedback + comments from Blizzard), there was no world championship for women in Hea

Well, before IeSF changed their rules yesterday (under massive social media feedback + comments from Blizzard), there was no world championship for women in Hearthstone; it was male-only. So even if the local organizers in Finland would have rebelled (which they did not), and allowed women to participate in the national event (which would have been against the IeSF rules), they probably could not have sent the national champion – in case she was female – to the international championship games. So the local organizers decided to follow the IeSF rules and not allow female participants. But something like this stands out in Europe, so there was something of a media storm, and everything turned out nicely: IeSF decided to update their rules.