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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 12th Jan 2020 at 3:19 PM
Default The Suffragette Challenge
Summary

This challenge revolves around the women’s suffragette movement in Britain at the turn of the 20th century. Playing as a young woman, you will balance being a wife and mother with being a militant advocate of women’s suffrage.

This was inspired by the documentary ‘Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley’ which I highly recommend viewing.

GAME SETUP
  • You will need a 6-sided dice to help decide your Sims future.
  • The city living expansion pack is essential. I also recommend the Vampire game pack or Get famous for era appropriate clothing/objects. Parenthood and Laundry will help make the challenge more difficult and fun.
  • I recommend starting a new world for this challenge.
  • I have added some timings to the challenge to tell you when to move onto to the next section. These are not essential if you’d rather play at your own pace. To use my timings, make sure the lifespan is set to short, and if you have seasons I recommend starting in summer.

The Household
  1. You – Young Adult, female. Self assured, out-going, and good.
  2. Husband – Young Adult, male. Hot-headed, materialistic, and jealous.
  3. Maid of all work – Teen, female.

I have uploaded a family to the Gallery for use in this challenge under the hashtag #suffragettechallenge.

I recommend placing your household in the Old Salt House lot in the Spice Market area of San Myshuno. Again, I have created a lot under the #suffragetechallenge hashtag which you can use if you don’t want to create your own.

If creating your own lot, remember at this time there was no electrical grid and most houses were lit by gas light downstairs and candles upstairs. Most houses still had outside toilets, and fires were essential for keeping the house warm.

GAMEPLAY

Day 1 – Married Bliss?

The year is 1905. You are a 20 year old woman. You live in Dulwich, London England, and are the daughter of a middle-class accountant. You have just been married to a colleague of your father, and moved into your matrimonial home – a two up, two down in suburbran London. You are ready to start your new life as a respectable wife and mother.

The newspapers are reporting an incident where two women, Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney, disrupted a political meeting by unfurling a ‘Votes for Women’ banner. Both women were arrested and sent to prison. You note the event with interest.


As a new wife, your job is to manage the household, and entertain your husband’s guests. It would be completely inappropriate for you to have a job, so you spend your days socialising and working on hobbies. Appropriate hobbies are painting, music, writing, and flower arranging. You will be expected to exceed at social events and so should work on your charisma, comedy, and dancing.

Social rules dictate that you may visit museums or art galleries but only during the day and with an appropriate escort (husband, male relative, or female friend). You may have female visitors or visit female friends’ households. You may never be alone with a man unless he is your husband or a male relative.

Your husband has a career in business and works hard every day. He drinks every evening and expects you to provide him with children. Therefore you must woohoo every night. If you give birth, he will not help with any of the childcare. You will be expected to educate and nurture your children.
  • Before woohoo, roll a 6-sided dice. If you get an even number, you must try for baby (recommend immediately using a pregnancy test to speed up the game). If you get an odd number, select the woohoo option.

As a middle-class household in this era you would be expected to keep a live-in maid of all work. She will cook at least two group meals per day which will be served in the dining room for you, your husband, and any teenage offspring. She eats in the kitchen along with your toddlers and children. She does all the cleaning, laundry (tub and washing line only), gardening, and baby/toddler care. If she has nothing to do, she stays in her room out of the way. She may have Sunday afternoons off to visit her family.
  • NOTE: No food may be stored in the fridge.

On day four, your husband invites his colleagues round for a dinner party. You will host and entertain his guests as a dutiful wife. Your maid must prepare and serve at least 3 courses of food. Any children must not be seen by the guests. During this meal, you begin to realise how much you detest your life.

Day 5 – The Women's Social and Political Union

The year is now 1908. You are beginning to chafe under the control and oppression of your husband. Your freedom and opportunities are severely limited. The newspapers are full of news about a large demonstration in Manchester by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). They spoke passionately about women’s rights, particularly their right to vote in public elections.

Feeling inspired you decide to join the suffrage movement and become part of the WSPU. Your husband highly disapproves and tries to stop you. As a working class woman your maid cannot afford to join WPSU movement and remains in her job as your servant.
  • Have your Sim join the Political career. You must click work from home each day and carry out the daily tasks.
  • All rules from the previous section regarding your husband and woohoo each night still apply.
  • Your maid carries out the same tasks as before.

You donate all earnings from the job to the suffragette cause
  • Use the money cheat to remove your earnings from the household.

As a member of the WSPU, your motto is ‘deeds, not words’. Militant tactics are introduced such as window smashing, setting fire to post boxes, and even detonating bombs. As such you are at risk of being arrested. As you progress up the WSPU ranks, the police increasingly single you out for arrest.
  • At the end of each working day, roll the 6-sided dice. The outcome of the dice roll determines whether you will be arrested. Choose the charity organizer career track if needed.
  • At rank 1 and 2 of the political career, rolling a 6 means you are arrested.
  • At rank 3 and 4 of the political career, rolling a 5, or 6 means you are arrested.
  • At rank 5 and 6 of the political career, rolling a 4, 5, or 6 means you are arrested.
  • At rank 7 and 8 of the political career, rolling a 3, 4, 5, or 6 means you are arrested.
  • At rank 9 and 10 of the political career, rolling a 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 means you are arrested.

If you are arrested, you will be sent to prison and kept in social isolation. You go on hunger strike to protest your treatment. Eventually the prison guards fear you will die from lack of food. To prevent you becoming a matyr, you are released from prison and return to the suffrage movement.
  • Move your Sim out of the household and place into a prison lot (there is a created room for the 19 Culpepper apartment in the Spice Market on the Gallery for you to download #suffragettechallenge). Do not eat anything while in the prison.
  • When the ravenous moodlet falls to 12 hours remaining, move your sim back to the original household. Continue as normal with the political career the next day.

Day 13 – The Great War

On the 28th June 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated. Within weeks Britain is at war. Emmeline Pankhurst, the founder of the WSPU, suspends suffrage activities and instructs the suffragettes to focus on the war effort. Your life is turned upside down overnight.

Your husband, along with any teenage sons, signs up and is sent to France. Your maid finds better paying work in a munitions factory and leaves her position.
  • Move both your husband and maid out of the household. If you have any sons which are/become teenagers during this period, they must also be moved out of the household.

You are now in sole command of the household. All the cooking, cleaning, laundry, gardening, and child care must be carried out by you and your female children.

You are also now responsible for the finances of your family. You leave the WSPU, and take a job as an office clerk in a governmental body.
  • Quit the political career and join the secret agent career as rank 1. You may be promoted to rank 2 but cannot progress past that point – use cheat to demote if needed.

Day 20 – Victory at last?

After four hard years, the war is won. The suffragettes’ focus on war work turns public opinion in their favour, and on the 6th February 1918, women over the age of 30 who met the minimum property qualifications gained the right to vote. As a woman married to someone who owns property this includes you, and in December 1918, you take part in your first general election. Some equality at last you think, but there’s a long way to go.

The men have returned from the Front and require work. You are fired from your clerical position so a man may take the job.

This means your future is once again dependent on husband, and if he returns from the war.
  • Roll a 6-sided dice. If 1-5 your husband survives the war, and returns to the household. If 6, your husband dies and does not return. Repeat for any sons who have been sent to war.

If your husband dies, you are now in control. You want to continue your work in votes for women and so rejoin the political career. This means you know can earn your own money to support your family. Your goal is to become a Member of Parliament (level 10, politician branch) and represent women in government

If your husband lives, then he expects to life to return to the way it was before the war. You are not allowed to have a job or pursue a career. Domestic servants, after experiencing a different life during the war, are reluctant to return to their positions. This means you have no maid of all work and so all domestic chores are still your responsibility. Your husband will want you to maintain the house to excellent standard and present yourself well to society. You are expected to give up your dreams and focus on raising your children. You must raise them to be well mannered, responsible, and obedient. Your goal is to get your sons into good jobs, and your daughters into good marriages. You love your children, but you can’t help but think: has your suffragette plight been worth anything?

THE END

This is my first time creating a challenge so please do let me know how you find it, and if you enjoy it! Happy Simming everyone!
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