Performing Masculinity and Governing as a Woman: Margaret Thatcher and The Glass Ceiling

Year 2025, Issue: 99, 171 - 190, 31.12.2025

Ömer Koç , Betül Tozar

https://doi.org/10.26650/imj.2025.98.1578442

https://izlik.org/JA84SA64GN

Abstract

When we look at political history, it is possible and even regular to see many male leaders who have made a name for themselves and have left permanent traces. However, in British politics, which has a very conservative profile and strict rules, it is not an ordinary event for a woman to be in the parliament, then the party chairman, and finally the prime minister, considering the England of the 1970s. Thatcher appeared on the stage of history in England’s most depressing years and made radical and courageous decisions. Thatcher, as one of the most famous examples of a woman who has reached the upper echelons, may have experienced the glass ceiling or how she overcame invisible barriers. Based on this question, in this study, Thatcher’s career was examined within the glass ceiling concept framework. With the information collected from Thatcher’s discourses, autobiography and biographies, thematic analysis was performed from qualitative analysis methods and three themes were reached. Eventually, three main themes shaped Thatcher’s leadership experience. These are the dissonance between gender and leadership, strategic masculinity in leadership and thatcher and feminity. Despite Thatcher’s strong political position, her indifference to the women’s movement is noted in the literature. In this study, Thatcher’s indifference was examined around the glass ceiling concept.

Keywords

leadership , glass ceiling , Margaret Thatcher , women , gender

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