Female trailblazer or anti-sisterhood? Stylist examines the legacy of Margaret Thatcher.

On 22 November 1990, Margaret Thatcher stood on the steps of Number 10 Downing Street with tears in her eyes, burgundy power suit in place, clutching her famous black handbag. After 11 years and 209 days in power, an assassination attempt, a revolutionised economy and a war, Thatcher resigned as Britain’s most controversial Prime Minister, a working mother of twins who’d changed the country forever.

For Iain Dale, author of the book Margaret Thatcher: In Her Own Words, it is an anniversary worth celebrating. “Even 20 years later her legacy dominates British politics, she still comes up in conversation and in newspaper articles; she is the most influential politician of her era.”

Iron Lady or devoted wife? Feminist icon or misogynist? The country is still fiercely debating what Thatcher meant to British politics. And to women. Nothing divides opinion more than her feminist status. Should we cheer at the glass ceiling she smashed or see the hypocrisy of the agenda she followed – cutting spending in areas traditionally supported by women like healthcare and housing, while criticising working mothers for not prioritising their children.

Watch the trailer for The Iron Lady here

For Claire Berlinski, author of There Is No Alternative: Why Margaret Thatcher Matters, her arrival heralded the birth of the ultimate feminist icon. “She proved very clearly that she could rise to the pinnacle of power, and that she could exercise it more confidently than any man. She changed the game.” But Beatrix Campbell, author of Iron Ladies, vehemently disagrees. “Nothing Margaret Thatcher did, absolutely nothing, created positive change for women. In fact she made everything worse.”

Debate rages but one thing is certain: Thatcher disliked feminism. “I owe nothing to women’s lib,” she said during her first term in power.

Many feminists at the time attacked this, holding placards saying, “We want women’s rights – not a right-wing woman.” The thing was Thatcher’s policies went against feminist ideology at the time. She froze child benefit, criticised working mothers for creating a “creche generation” and of her eight female ministerial appointments, all but one (Baroness Young) failed to progress past junior level. That said, one of her most famous quotes openly praises women, she said, “In politics if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.” As her daughter Carol Thatcher says, “I think she led by example” – reinforcing the view that Thatcher was not anti-women but pro-achievement.

The making of the Iron Lady

She certainly managed to succeed without the sisterhood. Born Margaret Hilda Roberts on 13 October 1925, she spent her childhood in Grantham, Lincolnshire, living in a flat above one of the two grocer shops her father owned. Education was her escape. “She was formidably diligent and competitive,” explains biographer John Campbell, and her belief in complete self reliance began young. “She would always believe that if she worked hard she would deserve to win.”

A scholarship to the local girls’ school led her to Oxford to study chemistry and it was there she discovered politics, becoming the third woman ever to become President of the Oxford University Conservative Association. Graduating into a job as a chemist, paid £50 less than her male colleagues, she stood for her first seat in Dartford in 1950, winning national publicity as the youngest woman candidate in the UK.

She lost the seat that year to Labour Co-operative candidate Norman Dodds, but stood again the following year and while campaigning met Denis Thatcher who she married in 1951. For the next few years politics took a backseat, but Margaret was anything but idle. Deciding to become a lawyer instead she qualified after just two years of part-time study, all the while setting up a home with Denis and giving birth to twins, Carol and Mark in 1953.

Was Thatcher a feminist?