Sympathy for the Devil
I had a strange night last night. There I was, sitting at home, feet up in front of the TV, when I started to find myself feeling sorry for Margaret Thatcher.
The cause of this was BBC4 drama Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley which fictionalises the life of the young Margaret Thatcher and her quest to be elected to parliament. The programme suggests that Thatcher was constantly held back by Conservative constituency party members because she was from the ‘wrong background’ and because ‘a mother’s place is in the home’.
Oh, she was still annoying, power obsessed and downright bossy, but by God, the sexist old men who tried to keep her down would test anyone. So for the first time in my life, I found myself egging Margaret Thatcher on as she experienced 8 years of being patronised because of her gender.
I feel kind of dirty now.
Tags: hell in a handcart, sexism
June 13th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
If she hadn’t done over half the country her acheivements in a male dominated world would be laudable. Also It’s arguable that she’s queered the pitch for other women following in her foots steps. Plus I am worried by the BEEB rehabilitatiing dodgy types like hughie Green , whitehouse etc.
June 13th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
There has been a spate of revisionist history on the BBC, yes, and portraying Mrs Thatcher as a sexy woman fighting the system and as Mary Whitehouse as as lovely and kind is a bit suss.
I’m not entirely convinced that Thatcher has hindered other women’s careers in politics - that argument just reinforces the fact that the system is sexist. Feminism as such was never on her agenda (like Condoleeza Rice!), yet Thatcher did definitely have to fight to get to the top on her own terms. No one ever accuses Tony Blair of putting off men from becoming politicians… It’s just a fundamentally sexist/male dominated system.