Lady Lytton’s nails dug into the rough skin of the Wardress’ arm as she was forced by several hands to sit back on the wooden chair. A clammy palm held her throat in an iron grip locking her head into place. She glimpsed at the four foot long tube for a few seconds before she felt it being forced into her mouth and down her throat, scraping the sides. The sensation was not new, but hard to get used to, and she vomited straight away, all over her dress, hair and even the man in front of her.

Yet the doctor, with an eerie calm, continued with his job and filled the cylinder attached to the tube with food, eyes focused on it with a steady silence. When all the liquid had been emptied into her stomach, the wardresses let Lady Lytton go and left the prison cell.

It was her seventh experience of being force fed. She had been on several hunger strikes, like many Suffragettes, all so that women would have the right to vote.

Nearly a century later, Tulsi Patel, a 19 year old Information Systems student said: “I am not going to vote in the upcoming election because I don’t have a clue on politics. I’m a bit interested, but not that much. I wouldn’t bother to read a book or a newspaper about it to find out more.”

Mary Hudson, a 22 year old Drama student also expresses similar views on voting: “I strongly believe women should have the right to vote, because men and women are equal. But I don’t get involved in politics; I don’t understand it and I don’t really want to. Part of me thinks that I should at least try to read up about Labour or the Conservatives because some women have died for my vote, but to be honest, I just can’t be bothered.”

These girls are not alone in their political apathy. 65% of female KU students interviewed said that they would not vote in the upcoming Election. Nationally, female voter turnout has slowly decreased in the General Election, from 73% in 1983 to 63% in 2005.

In 1928, The Representation of the People Act gave universal suffrage to all women aged over 21 thanks to the work of the Suffragettes. Their Movement made men seriously re-consider a woman’s place in society and made them realise that they were not “too emotional” to vote and were, in fact, capable of making clear, rational and intelligent decisions. It also led the way for women to find their part in politics, from the often loathed, but no doubt formidable Margaret Thatcher to the 126 current female MPs in Parliament today. So, what has happened since, and why do women not value their right to vote?

All of the women aged between 18-25 interviewed stated that it was very important that women should be able to vote. But out of those who are not planning on voting, 88% claimed that it was because they were “not interested” in politics or “could not be bothered”.

Some would argue that the Suffragettes did not fight for women to vote, but more the right to able to vote if they want to – and to have the choice not to is as important.

But, if the vote was taken away from you, would you regret how little you bothered to learn about a system which affects every part of your life?