''Panko or Votes for Women'' is a

card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ...

about the

women's suffrage movement Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to gran ...

Game play

The game "pits opponents and supporters of suffrage against each other in a game similar to

rummy Rummy is a group of matching-card games notable for similar gameplay based on matching cards of the same rank or sequence and same suit. The basic goal in any form of rummy is to build '' melds'' which can be either sets (three or four of a k ...

." The game contains forty-eight cards, divided into six different categories.

Background

The game was published and manufactured by Peter Gurney in 1909 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The game was named after

Emmeline Pankhurst Emmeline Pankhurst ('' née'' Goulden; 15 July 1858 – 14 June 1928) was an English political activist who organised the UK suffragette movement and helped women win the right to vote. In 1999, ''Time'' named her as one of the 100 Most Impo ...

, an English

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

and leader of

women's suffrage in the United Kingdom A movement to fight for women's right to vote in the United Kingdom finally succeeded through acts of Parliament in 1918 and 1928. It became a national movement in the Victorian era. Women were not explicitly banned from voting in Great Britai ...

. The cards were designed by

Edward Tennyson Reed Edward Tennyson Reed (1860–1933) was an English political cartoonist and illustrator, primarily known for his cartoons in ''Punch'' Magazine. Biography Edward Tennyson Reed was born in Greenwich, London, on 27 March 1860, the son of Chief Na ...

, an English political cartoonist and illustrator well known for his work in the magazine ''Punch''. The cards featured images of prominent figures of the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom. The game was widely advertised and distributed by the

Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...

, along with private merchants. Packs of the game originally sold for two

shillings The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...

. The "translation of the women's suffrage movement into card games, and also board games, helped bring the message of the cause into domestic circles where more overt forms of propaganda might not have been welcomed."

References

{{Reflist Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom Women's Social and Political Union British card games Card games introduced in 1909

Game play

Background

See also

References