A Celebration of Women

is honored to Celebrate the Life of this definite trail blazer, ahead of her time. As our world is seeking more women in office, here is one power of example to follow. 

WOMAN of ACTION

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Roberts was born in Grantham, England, in 1925. She attended the University of Oxford and earned her chemistry degrees. Then, from 1947 to 1951, she used her degrees as a research chemist.

In 1951, Margaret married Denis Thatcher and two years later, in 1963, she became a tax lawyer after passing the bar exam. In 1959, she was elected to the House of Commons by the Conservative party. This was her first start in politics, which would soon become an important part in her life. From 1970 to 1974, she was the Minister of Science and Education under Edward Heath. With this position, she abolished free milk in schools, although this caused much protest.

In 1975, Margaret won the leadership of the Conservative party and in 1979, the Conservative party became the leading party. Also that year, she became the first female prime minister and held the position from 1979 to 1990. She was also the first person to win the election for three consecutive terms. She decreased the role of the government in the economy of England and privatized housing, education, and health care.

In 1982, the Falkland Islands, belonging to Argentina and the United Kingdom jointly, were taken totally by Argentina. Reacting, Margaret sent her own forces to take them back and succeeded in defeating them. On June 1983, the Conservative party won the election and was in power again, but in October 1984, a murder attempt was made on Margaret’s life. Luckily, she survived the bomb in Brighton’s Grand Hotel, but she resigned in November 1990.

Lady Thatcher — who was Britain’s longest-serving prime minister in more than a century and, of course, the first and so far only woman to conquer the summit of British political life — has suffered a series of strokes in recent years, which triggered the onset of dementia.

 

 

Her mental frailty was the theme of the controversial recent film, The Iron Lady, which focused on her twilight years. (Neither she nor her son and daughter, Sir Mark and Carol, have seen the movie.)

Nowadays, Lady Thatcher spends most of her time in her elegant four-storey home in Belgravia with Kate, a trained private nurse, who works full-time with the former PM. Kate also lives in, serving as Lady Thatcher’s cook, her dresser and, most importantly, devoted friend and companion.

Another carer, a Yorkshire-born nurse called Anne, has also been employed in the past six months to share the responsibilities. And the police protection officers are never far away.

Read more here.

Margaret’s Speeches