The early 1900s Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) used games to raise funds, teach strategy and build awareness. Suffragetto pitched suffragettes against police – the former trying to storm the House of Commons, the latter to infiltrate the WSPU. Wrong moves put players in prison or hospital. The card game Panko, and Pank-a-Squith – named for Emmeline Pankhurst and prime minister Herbert Asquith – similarly promoted votes for women. Feminist activist-artists have also toyed with board games. Stella Dadzie made Womanopoly ‘for a society where the cards are stacked against women’.
Riffing on the 1960s hit The Game of Life, it uses game staples like ‘move x spaces forward’ and ‘miss a turn’ along gender lines, with pointed effect. Square eight, for example, reads: ‘Man: a new better job means you and your family move away from your wife’s job. Move forward four. Woman: give up work to start a family… back four.’ Dadzie encouraged players to gender swap for the game.
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