Margaret Thatcher - Feminist Icon?

What enjoyresponsibly said was spot on IMO. Regardless of my personal opinion of the woman, she did that at least.

I don't agree with a lot of what she did, however she was a strong leader for this country and she did what she thought was right rather than what she thought was always going to be popular.

I'd rather have her than an apathetic bunch of loonies who can't agree anything.

Thatcher as a feminist icon?

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Ahem...sorry whilst I pick myself up off the floor in hysterics.

This is the woman who did the washing up at one of her vote gathering staged media hyping events so as to ingratiate herself with women voters and show she was a 'real' woman. I mean wtf? Washing up promotion being a vote decider . I know it was the 70's/80's but even then surely most women would have seen right through it.

An alpha female with determination and steel resolve maybe, feminist no.

Those of us who were adults in the 70s, working and trying to run businesses have memories of what the 70s were like under Conservative Heath "the 3 day week" and then Labour Callaghan - Britain going cap in hand to the IMF for funds to bail us out - we were the Greece of the 70s. We were "the sick man of Europe", Jim Callaghan "crisis, what crisis?" millions of days lost through strikes, many of them wildcat, the "winter of discontent". Britain going down the toilet so fast with the Labour government completely impotent when it tried to do anything about it.

That is what brought Thatcher in - the need for tough decisions if Britain was not to sink into a morass of strikes and debt. So, yes, massive suffering via the mines, the shipyards etc. and of course there is ongoing hatred for the person who is seen as a destroyer by those who saw their livings destroyed. And misogyny too - the fact that a woman was tough enough to do what was absolutely necessary to rescue Britain from bankruptcy while the previous weak male PMs had presided over failure, didn't go down well.

As for the apparent "not interested in women's issues". It was clear why. She had the whole country to think about - the big picture. And if the economy goes down the tubes everyone, including women, suffer. A PM's job is to be PM for all - not any one class, sex or group.

She won't be seen as a feminist icon because she was not of the left. But she should be because she showed that women can succeed without special pleading, special status and tokenism.

Maybe she didn't promote women because the men were better qualified or no women applied.
Just a thought!

I think as a woman to get as high as she did, she did amazingly.

She did nothing to help other women though. I cannot think of any policies.

Pity her having Alzheimer's as I do anyone.

Not one to comment on feminism usually, however, how can anyone dispute the fact that she is a feminist icon? She made it to the top in a time when there were hardly any women in politics - I am sure she contributed a lot to women saying "I can do this", I can make it" even if you don't agree with with the politics or what she did.

Also I agree with shakey - she has Alzheimers and is really sick. It is an illness I would not wish on my worst enemy (I have seen loads of people with it) so I strongly resent people using it to suggest how convenient it is that she can't recall her decisions.

I don't think she was a feminist icon. Policies aside, she never promoted one woman to her cabinet.

I think the 'right to buy' for Council tenants was about the only good thing she ever did, but failed to follow up the offer with building more affordable/social housing stock to replace that which was bought.

Cogito I think they could well make a Tony Blair movie. They have already done a TV drama. He wasn't our first male PM but he was the youngest (wasn't he?)

Well I couldn't stand the woman myself but I think you could be a feminist icon without being a feminist yourself - isn't Judy Garland a 'gay icon' for example?
I think the film might make some Americans and younger Brits think 'wow what a strong woman, pioneer in a man's world, etc etc) but those who know more about her record and attitudes to feminism probably aren't going to change their minds.

agree with thunderbolts!

I'd cite her as an iconic woman and I'd put her in the same bracket as Barbara Castle and Shirley Williams ie. women that got to the top of politics at a time when it was even more male dominated than it is now. I'm old enough to remember how dismal the UK was in the early/mid seventies and what a breath of fresh air it was to have someone in the top job that wasn't some identikit ageing, white male. She didn't push an overtly feminist agenda - with the country being so far in the shit maybe she had bigger priorities at the time? - but I don't think that stopped her being an inspiration to other women. Same as Obama in the US at the moment might not be pushing the black agenda as much as some would like but who is still, by his sheer presence, an inspiration to black Americans.

I think a lot of the criticism levelled at the Thatcher government has a misogynistic element. She famously ran rings around men and they are still smarting about it. All political careers end in failure and Mrs T certanly fell victim to hubris and an over-reliance on ideology in the end, but I think a lot of nastier comments simply wouldn't apply if it had been 'Mr Thatcher' in power.

Will they be making 'John Major: The Movie' or 'Tony Blair: The Iron Man' in a few years' time?..... Says it all.

I would agree with that witch. I do think she gets treated extra harshly because she is a woman.

two points, she was no feminist but the pure fact of her being a woman must have changed people's views of gender roles.
I did see quite a bit of mysogyny on the left though in the attacks on her. It appeared that her crime was being a strong and strident women as well as dissmantling the welfare state

Not a feminist icon, but definitely a female icon.

She benefitted from feminism, being the right person at the right time. Ten years later or ten years earlier she wouldn't have been able to do what she did. The women's movement offered an opening of possibilities for women at that moment that hasn't quite been repeated, although women are still making great inroads. She would also probably never be able to admit to that - she had to imagine that she did it on her own.

She also demonstrated in a very concrete way that women could be leaders, women could make decisions, and that women were competent. Something that sexists had been disputing for centuries.

One feminist thing she did was put pressure on the police investigating the Yorkshire Ripper case because she thought they weren't taking it seriously enough because the victims were prostituted women.

It's not possible to write her off completely.

re-read my and the other posts

That about sums you up...

LittleGnu I've said everything to you that I want to already. Perhaps re-read my and the other posts because you don't seem to be understanding it is you who looks a fool flinging around your insults.

IslaDoit In a comprehensive dictionary, you can look up either "mock" or "mocking". I used the word "mocking" as that was the word used. But if you really need to look that word up, this is all rather irrelevant. But carry on making yourself look a fool by all means...

I don't think that Mrs Thatcher could be called either a feminist or feminist icon.

I was 10 when she was elected.

My belief is that a woman can reach the top through hard work and determination.

A woman can lead.

A woman can be just as good, if not better, than a man.

There are many women I admire, but I can tell you that these are facts I learned from directly from Mrs Thatchers influence.

IslaDoit I'm not entering into a long debate with people who don't understand the word "mock". The point was perfectly valid, she was a despicable woman who now can't recall any of what she did. I wish she could!

I have a dictionary thank you. I do not appreciate being called an idiot. It is not just I that thinks you were unacceptable. You made light (is that better?) of someone's illness. Not on.

FWIW I disagree with many of the descisions she made regarding his country and I do not think she is a feminist icon. I do think, however, that she was an individual with a very strong personality, who could command attention and had courage of conviction (whether those convictions were right or wrong)

No mock was correct

Feminist icon? I don't think so!!

LittleGnu do you have to be so rude? You made a joke at the expense of the woman's illness. You were called on it. A more grown up response would have been to reflect and maybe apologize. Insulting others in the way you have on this just makes you look unhinged and loses any valid points you might have been making.

Maybe you could apologise for being a bit off and join in the discussion? Alternatively if you feel unable to do that perhaps another thread or logging off and making a cup of tea might be better ideas?