2013/05/28 by June Purvis · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Irish and British Studies #Political and Economic history of UK and US #Gender Politics and Representation
paper · doi:10.1080/09612025.2013.801136
openalex publication_date 2013/05/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
This article considers the legacy for women of Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013), Britain's first and to date only woman prime minister. It is suggested that although Thatcher had to struggle against many of the sexist prejudices of her day to achieve her political ambitions, she was no feminist. The hard ladder up which she had climbed was drawn up and not extended to other women. Yet for some women, such as the Spice Girls, she was the pioneer of their ideology of girl power. Overall, it is concluded that Thatcher was a polarising figure whose legacy is one of much divisiveness, in which the divisions between women is only one of many strands.