Feminist responses to Thatcher and Thatcherism

In the 1970s, the Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM) viewed both Labour and the Tories as part of the mainstream political establishment, dominated by men and largely indifferent to women’s concerns. Now, although many feminists continue to have a contentious relationship with the Labour party, most would see Labour as, at least, the lesser of two evils. This chapter argues that it was Thatcher’s free market ethos and her emphasis on traditional family values, which she articulated from the late 1970s onwards, compounded by the cuts to social welfare programs and the marginalization of the Equal Opportunities Commission during her first government, which convinced many feminists that the two “establishment” parties were not, in fact, interchangeable. It highlights the extent to which Thatcherism was perceived by feminists to be incompatible with feminism, even if the practical record of Thatcher’s administrations was more nuanced.