Feminism chat for right wingers

Another pp here who was influenced by Maggie - she was the only PM I knew until John Major came along. I couldn't really get my head around her being the first and only female PM, particularly as we also had the Queen as our non-elected head of state. You don't have to agree with everything she did to recognise the importance of Thatcher

(I'm another closet TM fan - she's not perfect by a long shot, but she was the only one willing to step into the breach and sweep up this sorry mess. Typical woman, eh?)

I was just having a look at the Women2Win website as a result of this thread, to see whether it contains a definition of who qualifies. The home page says:
"Women2Win aims to increase the number of Conservative women in Parliament and in public life, and is committed to identifying, training and mentoring female candidates for public office."

Anybody know where W2W stands as regards transwomen?

I agree LWeji - my non-binary comment was a bit tongue in cheek.

‘I am not a woman Prime Minister, Jenni. I am the Prime Minister.’ So, in the modern parlance, was Thatcher the first non-binary PM?

More like she didn't want to be a lesser or different type of PM. She was PM as all others before her.
I think, in a way, that was very feminist of her.

I'm quite a Theresa May fan on the quiet, and I am pretty frustrated with the inclination of modern feminism towards identity poltics and left wing socialist agendas. Only to see women wholesale thrown under the bus the moment it's convenient.

I also was very much influenced by Mrs thatcher being pm as a child. She came to power when I was five. I had no memory as a child of anyone else being leader. That was hugely important for me, psychologically.
Undoubtedly she would not have described herself as a feminist, in part because she too identified feminism as an inherently left wing movement.

Just as a point of information, back when Theresa May went to Oxford, they gave BA degrees in all subjects - including engineering, physics, chemistry, maths... (I am only a few years younger than her and have one of these in an impeccably mathematicky-hard-science). So it wouldn't have been the case that TM was doing BA geography in preference to BSc geography - BA geography would have been the only degree on offer.

For the person who said Theresa May has not helped women apart from being PM- she founded the organisation women2win which helps & encourages more women to get involved in politics - local & national.
She is definitely not a person to pull the ladder up behind her.

I voted Tory at the last election, and am very unhappy at self id. Only recently become aware of it all, and have realised that I am a feminist after all.

Can I ask, if you are right-leaning, which right/centre-right female journalists do you read or follow on Twitter (if you're on it)?

No, not at all. "Non- binary" is meaningless. Thatcher was rightly pointing out the important part was that she was the prime minister - her sex was irrelevant to that part.

In other aspects of her life being a mother was hugely important but before she entered politics she was a scientist. I'm sure she never described herself as a female scientist.

According to Wiki She was reportedly more proud of becoming the first Prime Minister with a science degree than the first female Prime Minister, and as Prime Minister attempted to preserve Somerville as a women's college

I did not know about her being the first PM with a science degree but thinking about it Wilson and Heath's degrees were PPE, Callaghan wasn't a graduate, McMillan's was Classics and Douglas -Home's was history. Earlier PMs will be either none or Arts/PPE.

She is actually the only PM with a science degree. Blair's is law, Brown's is history and Cameron's is PPE. Theresa May's degree is Geography but as a BA, not a BSc (I've never quite understood how that works although am informed by an Arts Geography graduate from my university that the BSc degree was much harder - she might have been being facetious)

I can't see how anyone can not describe Margaret Thatcher or Theresa May as feminists. Surely doing the job they do/did, fighting against centuries of male oppression and being successful at it, makes them feminists? Same with Diane Abbot and Harriet Harman who despite the fact I disagree with almost everything they say, I still admire them as feminists just for doing what they do.

YY to this!

I'd say I was pretty central, but slightly right of centre economically & more liberal socially.

I voted Tory in the last 2 elections, Lib Dem in the 2 before that & Labour once in '97, so a mixed bag really.

I don't think political leanings affect how feminist you are - it seems bizarre to me that someone would suggest being right wing/Tory voter is incompatible with feminism.

To be clear, I don't think either Thatcher or May have done anything for women. Except being PM.

I disagree actually!

I was born the year MT became leader of the Tories - a female PM was all I knew growing up.

Growing up with a woman in charge of the country meant that nothing seemed off limits for me - I never thought 'I can't do that, because I'm a girl'.

Thanks to the OP for starting this thread.

TBH until a month ago ‘feminism’ had never really registered with me (and I’m 45!) I’ve never felt I couldn’t be something because of my sex. The worst sexism I’ve experienced was my [female] boss groaning when I announced I was pg.

However, I feel like the trans thing has woken me up. There are so many things I’ve taken for granted that I feel are under threat - and I worry about my DD and her teen friends facing all this gender bollocks at school. (DD’s best friend is ‘binary’ or ‘non-binary’, whatever the term is - and I feel so sad it has come to this and they’re so conflicted about just being girls.)

Anyway, I came on here to quote Jenni Murray re her interview with Thatcher: ‘She would just say,’ notes Jenni in her best Thatcher impression, ‘I am not a woman Prime Minister, Jenni. I am the Prime Minister.’ So, in the modern parlance, was Thatcher the first non-binary PM?

Another interested lefty reading along silently here! I'll never vote Tory, but I'm intrigued to learn something about right-of-centre feminism.

@citykat I could have written what you did word for word re being politically homeless after moving from the Home Counties to the big city.

I’m going to the Conservative Women’s Forum next week which is titled Deeds not Words. Amber Rudd is one of the speakers and I want to bring up the GRA and self ID with her but I’m struggling with how to do it in a way that isn’t combative and counterproductive, I’d like to be able to peaktrans some of the women in the room rather than have them label me a bigot straight off.

Given that Deeds not Words is a suffragette thing I’m sure I should tie it back to this but can’t come up with an eloquent way, aside from pointing out the irony in our voices being silenced when we’re celebrating the centenary of some women finally getting a voice. Any ideas? And is anyone else going - it would be nice to say hi!

I am really really hoping that Diane Abbot takes over from JC.

Please let this happen, somehow .

Thank you for starting - as a fairly recent MNer & long time Tory member, I was beginning to wonder if there were any right wing women on here! I am centre right because it don't want the state to direct our lives, I believe in regulated free markets and I think Britain is a force for good in the world. All of that is compatible although being a feminist, in my view. I do wish Justine Greening and Maria Miller would see sense on the GRA, but I think a lot more Tory women are naturally more cautious about speedy change of this kind and recognise that safety is crucial.

I don't think any political party is particularly feminist tbh. I'm mostly centre right but does it really matter? Being in Scotland, I find the snp to be primarily concerned with headline grabbing politics, appeasing the trans activists and even though they have a strong female leader they seem to be out of tune with women on this subject. Scottish Labour , well the new leader is basically a Corbyn/momentum puppet so nothing to see there. Scottish Conservatives, I find them more palatable than many of their Westminster buddies and Ruth is a woman I admire (and nobodies puppet), but I don't know where they stand on (real) women's equality.

I'm naturally a centrist - on some issues (like the right to form a trade union and withdraw labour) I'm a left winger, on some issues (like having a small state government) I'm a right winger. For various reasons, the Lib Dems used to be my natural home, even though I haven't always voted for them - in some elections it really would have been a wasted vote.

I wonder how history will look back at the period we are in currently? It feels as if there are a number of important political issues that are not traditionally right / left wing. Self ID is obviously one of these, but also Brexit, immigration, care for the elderly and housing.

Thank you Q !

Soubry is also responsible for squashing any idea of compulsory counselling before an abortion- much to the annoyance of Nadine Dorres.

Mrs Thatcher introduced the Child Support Agency- its implementation needs radical overhaul but as a theoretical concept I see nothing to argue about.

I still remember the outraged horror of supposedly lefty male friend at the idea that a man had to support a child conceived on a one night stand or even , shock horror as he put it " even if she was a prostitute?"

Glad you are back lass!

I have , as many people do, moved from the left to the centre as I got older. Due to the odd nature of Holyrood I have always voted Labour for first preference and Conservative for second in Scottish elections so voting Tory doesn't scare me.

I wonder if Davidson could have the nerve to push a different type of Conservatism for Scotland. The SNP don't make full use of Holyrood's powers. Davidson could say she woud use them and could push a centrist Conservative government at Holyrood. She would not lose Tories voters- there is no where else for them to go and Labour in Scotland is a spent force at the moment.

At the moment I'm aligned to politicians like Alan Johnstone, Anna Soubry, Liz Kendall, Chuka Umunna, Ken Clarke - basically all centrists. And then there are the surprises like Andrea Leadsome supporting Stella Creasey over the northern Ireland travelling for abortion issue.

I suppose by MN standards I'm a right winger.

Oh thanks for the call outs!

I posted the words "tax credits rape clause" on a thread in AIBU asking why Labour calls the Conservatives sexist and got asked "Whats that got to do with it? Says it all really.