‘Mais elle est l’inverse d’une féministe. Elle n’aime guère les femmes en général, ne flatte pas les électrices et ne travaille qu’avec des hommes, ou presque. En onze ans de règne, le plus long de l’après-guerre, elle ne promeut qu’une seule femme au sein du cabinet. Sa politique sociale n’exprime aucune compassion pour les mères au travail. Tout se passe comme si elle n’avait, égoïstement, revendiqué l’égalité des sexes que pour elle-même.’

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‘But she was the inverse of a feminist. As a general matter, she didn’t prefer women, didn’t cater to women voters, and worked with men only, or almost so. Throughout her 11-year tenure, the longest since World War II, she appointed only 1 woman to her Cabinet. Her social policies expressed no compassion for working mothers. Everything happened as if, egotistically, she had claimed equality of the sexes for herself alone.’

– Jean-Pierre Langellier, in a Le Monde article recalling Margaret Thatcher, the “divisive” British politician who died yesterday at age 87. His essay not only recalled the overt sexism that was directed at Thatcher even by other world leaders, but also stressed that she did not turn to sisterhood as a means to confront that hostility. (credit for (c) 1975 Reuters/Stringer photo)