Abstract

1979: my first awareness of ‘politics’ is the election of Margaret Thatcher as British Prime Minister. I remember my initial excitement as a 10-year-old girl that a woman was ‘in power’, given the dominant culture of chauvinism in the north-east of England. But this turned to despondency as my community experienced Thatcher’s conservatism – the north-east was decimated by policies pushing a free market economy, as unemployment in a traditionally industrial area increased and welfare services were cut, causing a range of social hardships.