The Iron Lady

Don't look back.
You’re not going there.

Cynthia Crawford
Personal Assistant to Margaret Thatcher

Trying to convince potential backers she'd make a good candidate for Parliament, Margaret Roberts could "present" for half the night.  After dinner, she was expected to “retire with the ladies."
                       
Undaunted by the way post-war women were treated - including patronizing or dismissive attitudes - Margaret Roberts Thatcher became a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1959.  She rose through the ranks to become Britain's first female Prime Minister (PM) twenty years later. 

Serving longer than any other PM of the 20th century, she was often the only woman in a room filled with leaders.  Trusting her instincts, and her ability to persuasively make her points, Margaret led her country for 11½ years.  Then ... she lost power when her own colleagues - not the British electorate - turned against her.               
                       
How did this girl, from England's East Midlands, rise to such heights in her class-conscious, male-dominated culture?

ISSUES and QUESTIONS to PONDER:  Margaret Thatcher began her quest to become a Member of Parliament in the early 1950s.  What character traits would help her to overcome the significant prejudice against women-in-power at the time? 

Would she need to build upon, or modify, those character traits as she climbed the ladder to power? 

Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.

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Original Release Date:  January, 2012
Updated Daily for the First Month