Women still waiting for political equality 45 years after Margaret Thatcher made history

On May 4, 1979, Margaret Thatcher made history when she became the first female prime minister of the United Kingdom.

There have been two more female PMs since then – both also Conservatives – and no matter your personal politics, Thatcher’s impact on our political climate cannot be denied.

In the years during and since her tenure at 10 Downing Street in 1990, her policies and decisions have been rightly scrutinised, from overseeing the introduction of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation Section 28 and the Poll Tax, to the drama of the miners’ strikes and ongoing impact of Right to Buy.

But what about her impact as a woman in a male dominated environment? Well, that’s complicated. Thatcher definitely didn’t consider herself to be a feminist, even if in hindsight her success was seen as a win for women’s equality.

In fact she famously told Paul Johnson, the editor of the New Statesman, ‘I hate feminism. It is a poison’ – a hindrance to the growing second-wave feminist movement which hoped a female PM could force real change through the Commons and beyond.

Metro.co.uk has spoken with MPs, feminists, and campaigners to find out how things have changed for women in politics since Thatcher left No 10, for better or worse.

Thatcher’s legacy 45 years on

It’s no secret that Thatcher is a highly controversial political figure – the fact that a statue of her built in her home town of Grantham, Lincolnshire was swiftly marked as a public toilet on Google Maps should make that clear.

The week of her death, Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead from The Wizard of Oz reached number two in the UK singles chart following an anti-Thatcher campaign – with rival song I’m In Love With Margaret Thatcher only making it to 35.

From the Iron Lady to the Milk Snatcher, several nicknames followed her throughout her career – but feminist certainly wasn’t one of them.

Despite this, she’s still seen as a feminist icon by a wide variety of women.

Dawn-Maria France is editor of Yorkshire Women’s Life Magazine, and she believes she’s got a unique insight into Thatcher’s leadership as she grew up as a black woman in the north of England.

She said: ‘Margaret Thatcher’s tenure as the UK’s first female prime minister was a groundbreaking moment for women in politics.

‘Her leadership style was awe-inspiring; she spoke her mind and stood by her convictions, even if others didn’t agree with her politics.

‘Her election broke barriers and inspired women nationwide, including those in my black northern community.

‘She inspired women to get involved in politics, and her trailblazing moment proved that women can achieve greatness in any field they pursue.’

Entrepreneur Rachel Watkyn OBE, a feminist and speaker at International Women’s Day Events, also had praise for Thatcher’s time as PM.

She said: ‘Margaret Thatcher didn’t just change politics for women, she contributed massively to the breakdown of the traditional family structure – where it was suddenly OK for women to work AND have children.

‘She was effectively the modern suffragette, not by protesting but by doing it herself and making it possible that you can have both and that a female opinion was equally as valuable as a male one.

‘She led the way and opened the doors of possible opportunity.

‘Maggie wasn’t scared to challenge the historic male hierarchy and she became a force to be reckoned with, making positive changes and leading the way for the next future generation of females in politics but also females in business.’

Why is parliament still unequal?

The Jo Cox Foundation was set up when its namesake, the MP for Batley and Spen, was murdered in 2016 in the street.

Sadly Jo, a beloved daughter, wife and mother, was not the only MP to have been attacked in recent years, with Sir David Amess killed at a constituency meeting in 2021.

But Jo is the only female MP to have been killed in British history.

The Foundation, which was created to create ‘stronger communities, respectful politics and a fairer world’ in Jo’s honour, says ‘abuse and intimidation’ is stopping women from getting involved in politics.

Its CEO, Su Moore, told Metro.co.uk: ‘Abuse and intimidation is unfortunately impacting women’s political participation in the UK right now, both in influencing some women’s decision to step down from elected roles, or putting women off entering politics in the first place.

‘We work on this issue because Jo was passionate about achieving a gender-balanced parliament.

‘It’s vital that we see change made on this issue, which is disproportionately impacting women and minority groups.’

Currently there are 226 female MPs in the House of Commons – 35% of the total and far off equal representation for men and women in parliament.

Groups like 50:50 Parliament campaign for the gender split in parliament to become equal – for the benefit of everyone.

The group warned the UK is ‘sleepwalking into continued inequality’ as numbers ahead of the May local elections show just over a third of the candidates put forward are female, despite women making up 51% of the population.

The organisation says there would be outrage if the gender balance was the other way around – and is calling for more conversation around the issue.

Only 35.7% of candidates for May’s local elections are female – 30% of Tory candidates, 33% of Lib Dems, 41% of Labour candidates, 42% of Greens, and just 28% of independent candidates.

Lyanne Nicholl, CEO of 50:50 Parliament, told Metro.co.uk: ‘There is a significant imbalance in parliament. Men outnumber women by 2:1 in the Commons and on most elected bodies – which means that as things stand today, it will be at least  2060 before women have equal seats.

‘Just 36% of the selections for the local elections are women – which means we are knowingly sleepwalking into more of the same. 

‘We need to open our eyes and stand up against the passive acceptance of this gender imbalance.

‘Imagine the discontent if it was the other way round, if voters in some seats were choosing from 100% female candidate lists and men were blocked from standing.

‘It simply wouldn’t be accepted, so why are we letting this lack of representation and very real, very unfair gender imbalance continue?’

What can be done to balance the scales?

Su explained some of the work the Jo Cox Foundation does to try and push for gender equality in parliament.

‘We have worked with a range of organisations such as Centenary Action, who are experts in increasing women’s political representation, to find solutions to this problem and this year we published a call to action featuring 28 recommendations which will make a difference,’ she said. 

‘These include introducing a central government unit that holds responsibility for tackling abuse and intimidation and making political and media literacy mandatory in the school curriculum.’

While Lyanne explained: ‘In order to achieve gender parity, we need to break down the barriers that prevent women from standing – the biggest barrier is the culture, which is viewed by women as misogynistic.

‘We need women to feel safe and respected in parliament, and whilst there is recognition that change needs to happen, it’s not enough to just name the problem; you have to put actions in place to drive real change.

‘We need to support women in speaking up when things aren’t right, which means there needs to be a safe system in place to do so.’

Whatever happens, it’s clear change won’t happen overnight, with elections supposed to be held every four years and the change in societal attitudes towards women and feminism a gradual shift.

But hopefully we won’t have to wait until 2060 – 81 years after Thatcher became Prime Minister – to see political equality.

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