Suffragette by Carol Drinkwater

Suffragette by Carol Drinkwater is part of the My Story Scholastic collection. This story is An Edwardian Girl's Diary 1909-1913 when the women's suffrage movement (the right to vote) led by Emmeline Pankhurst was in full force in England. The Suffragettes were a militant group using force and destruction of property to gain notoriety. Carol Drinkwater also notes that there were suffragists who used less violent tactics to gain the vote.
Women who were arrested received cruel punishment in the English prisons and rather being treated as political prisoners (First Division) which would have given them certain privileges such as visitors, books, newspapers and writing materials, they were kept in solitary confinement with no exercise or companionship. Despite the 1689 Bill of Rights which states "It is the right of the subjects to petition the king, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal" the treatment of the women suffragette's was barbarous including force feeding. This consisted of a rubber tube (often unsterilized) and a funnel. Women who were ill were allowed to leave prison but were then returned after they recovered - this was nicknamed the Cat and Mouse Act.
Women in New Zealand gained the vote in 1893 and Australia followed a year later.
It wasn't until 1928 that all women over age 21 gained the vote irrespective of property qualifications (previously voting was only given to those who owned property).

More about the history of voting in England here