not a woman

In 1970 Jim Prior got a call from the new Prime Minister. Ted Heath said that he and Willie Whitelaw were trying to decide who ought to be the one statutory woman in the Cabinet. Prior didn’t hesitate: “Of course, it should be Margaret Thatcher.”

“Oh yes, we’ve discussed her,” Heath replied. “Willie says if we take her, we’ll never be able to get rid of her.”

Off-hand, it’s hard to think of a woman that isn’t a child murderer who has been more detested. I was at a literary festival recently when someone on stage happened to mention Maggie Thatcher. The liberal, bookish audience made a sound – ffftttssssssow! – a reflex hiss of dislike.

If they had been cats, the hairs on their backs would have stood on end.

The feminist critique of Margaret Thatcher is that she did nothing for the advancement of women, only for herself. Her list of unsisterly crimes is as long as the barefoot, shapely legs she liked to tuck under her while enjoying a late-night whisky with male colleagues in the Downing Street flat.

What lessons could an ambitious young woman today learn from Margaret Thatcher’s example?

Rid yourself of the crippling female need for approval for a start; happily, not something Mrs T was ever burdened by. “I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left,” she said.

... Margaret Thatcher had to sacrifice her family life to get the job done, as men always have. Just by doing it, she made it more possible for other women to occupy the most senior positions. Was she normal? No, but then neither was her achievement.