The Iron Lady

After our discussion in class about the set of qualities we attribute to leaders, I began to wonder about the lives of the powerful women that have changed and made history. I came across Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s first woman Prime Minister. Her whole biography is outlined here. Margaret Thatcher was nicknamed the Iron Lady because of her strong, firm and controversial politics. Her economic and social policies even evolved into a political philosophy that was named after her known as Thatcherism. The Prime Minister led Britain through a war, turned the economic decline around and served three terms in office, one of the longest in Britain history. She had phenomenal success, lasting influence and a formidable character in a nation dominated by uninspiring politicians. However, most of Great Britain hated her and believe she destroyed the nation. Depending on which side of the political spectrum you are on, Margaret Thatcher is either the best thing that happened to Britain or the worst. But I am not here to talk specifically about politics, just about how she made her policies stick. 

I have found several articles that discuss Margaret Thatcher’s leadership. This article provides a list of the qualities that brought her success while she was in power: 

• Courage 
• Decisiveness 
• Clear Beliefs 
• Physical Strength 
• Intellectual Capacity
• And she was a slight, pretty, feminine woman in a man’s world who turned this disadvantage in a useful weapon and had luck on her side.

Another article I found asks the question of whether Margaret Thatcher was a great leader. A woman answers yes because she was a woman who led from the front and a man answers no because she was a divisive leader who hardly brought us all together. When I first read this it was hard to even believe they were both talking about the same person because of the extreme oppositions of their arguments. To Zoe, Margaret Thatcher’s sheer weight of personality is what marks her leadership. To Steve, her pig-headedness is the last reason why Margaret Thatcher will never be truly great. 

More importantly of Margaret Thatcher’s history 

is her close relationship to Ronald Reagan, one of America’s greatest presidents. They were both conviction politicians united in certainty about their anti-communists and free-market views. They are often referred together as having a political marriage. Both were great leaders and both made remarkable and powerful change in their countries. The only difference is that Margaret Thatcher is intensely criticized and attacked.

My question: Is it politics that makes Margaret Thatcher one of the most hated and talked about women or is it gender and the immense power she held? Her gender is always mentioned in every single article spoken about her, not only because she was the first woman prime minister but because they are all implicitly calling her a bitch. To me, this is similar to the question of did America vote for President Obama just because he is black? Do people hate Margaret Thatcher just because she is a woman?

Margaret Thatcher passed away only a week ago on April 8, 2013 at the age of 87.