Did or does your Mum admire any strong and/or successful women?

[TheTecknician]

Mine did. She's long gone, born in 1938, and she certainly had her favourites, or at least ladies that made an impression:

Margaret Thatcher. I don't know what Mum thought of her politics but she was always amazed by her stamina and determination.
Tina Turner. For extricating herself from a brutal marriage and restarting her career from virtually nothing.
Debbie Harry. Mum was definitely a Blondie fan and it wasn't that common then for a woman to lead a successful group. We could also mention Patti Smith and Ann and Nancy Wilson.
Vivienne Westwood. Very focused businesswoman who knew what she wanted. Being with Malcolm McLaren can't always have been easy!
Gloria Hunniford. Mum always admired her style and fashion sense for an older woman. I'm sure a fashion magazine declared GH as their best-dressed woman once or twice.

Any more?

Nope

I am so disappointed that she had zero ambition for herself or her daughters.

A strong woman to her was someone that could physically fight another women in the street for sleeping with her husband.

She was totally enmeshed in the wife role, totally dependent on a man.

I learned from an early age that I must seek to understand myself. To form thoughts, ideas & learn about subjects that my parents and family would never ever even have heard about by reading & being open & curious.

I also learned that no way on this green earth would I end up like her. And I haven’t. Thank fuck.

Apart from worshipping the ground the Royals walked on, my late DM was very much a 'The men are in charge, and they don't like women trying to be clever'. She actually said something like that to me as I set off for my very first day at work.

My mother never really mentioned admiring any women or disliking them, and tbh I never talk about admiring other women or men either. It just feels a bit strange and unnatural to me. I mainly talk about qualities that are important rather than specific people.

My mum loves Greta Thunberg!

My Mum admired our vicar's mother because she was friendly and got on well with people.

I think she saw that as a way of being successful.

Same 🙄 it’s quite depressing really but I swung me in to total opposite direction fortunately.

My mother (born 1928) voted Conservative in 1979 as she wanted a woman PM - I was appalled! She also loved Esther Rantzen and Angela Rippon but I think it was more for their clothes/looks/slim figures. Like others commenting she was also obsessed with weight/thinness and male approval.
In spite of this she was fiercely independent, remained at home until her death last year and was very proud and supportive of my sister and me, there’s nowt as queer as folk….

My mum was quite prim and proper, but she loved Diana Dors for some reason. She also admired Diana Ross and thought Patricia Routledge (especially as Hettie) was hilarious.

Oh yes, a confident child was said to "have a lot off" and that was a very bad thing. Sorry a confident female child. I wasn't so that was usually ok although i remember once getting off the bus and saying thank you to the bus driver. That wasn't acceptable and I got in trouble. To this day I do not know why.

@SuperSharpShooterdid we have the same mum :)

My mother, born in 1942, was brought up by a woman who qualified as a medical doctor in the early 1930s, and worked as a GP until her 70s. I have no idea where my DM got her very low opinion of women from - but she didn't get it from her own mother and she hasn't passed it on to her daughters.

My mum is a boomer and a completely misogynistic Mail reader! She always told me "men are just better drivers etc etc "
in any divorce/relationship she'll blame the woman!
I'm a complete feminist and so are my kids - we all weirdly get along with her - she knows not to be annoying when we're around but she's a man's woman and it's VERY deep rooted.

• mum also a massive Thatcher fan.

Seems like a lot of mumsnetters have very un-feminist mums! I honestly can't imagine mine cheering on another woman ( apart from Thatcher). Sad really

My mum (born 1948) is exactly this. And thinks most of the world's problems are due to "women working". I despair.

How on earth did we all cope with mothers that couldn't praise other women? So many things people have said are so similar to my mum. Mine finds sentimentality very awkward, she'd never compliment us (me and my sisters). I don't think she's ever liked anyone famous. She can't talk about anyone larger than a size 14 without mentioning their weight. She commented on my size, and that of my sister, within a couple of days of us giving birth. Such deep internalised misogyny.😔

Not really. She would have various snide comments about women in the public eye

I think that’s a good point. My mum’s mum was a suffragette (I never knew her unfortunately). My MIL, so roughly same generation as my mum, is an inspirational feminist. So it does come down to the individual.

Oh no @Greedybilly 🤦‍♀️
I never know when she's gonna come out with a snide insult - usually about the least deserving people. She was mocking a 'funny little artsy woman' the other day.
At least she never liked Thatcher so ill give her that!

My late mother (born 1936) was a 70's feminist. Gawd bless her. Liked Germaine Greer, Gloria Steinem, Agatha Christie and Spare Rib magazine,

@CrystalSingerFan- she sounds amazing!

Thanks! In many ways she was.

She went to my sisters' parents evening where (allegedly) the male physics teacher said that girls couldn't/(shouldn't?) do physics. He regretted that.

That reminds me of a Grange Hill story, c.1980, where Trisha Yates was told by the headmaster that she couldn't take Technical Drawing O-level because it was for boys only. Needless to say, Trisha didn't take that shit kindly and rightly so. She probably said 'shut yer mouf' a few times.

Trisha Yates an early role model for me.

Reading all these comments has reinforced how lucky I was with my mum. She was born in 1936 and was absolutely f*ing awesome. Brought up four kids on her own, built her own business, built her own house and admired Shirley Bassey, Germaine Greer and Margaret Thatcher ( a weird combo). She made me believe I could do anything and I'm so grateful.