Tory feminists: the true blue sisterhood

Published: Thursday, January 12, 2012

Who says feminists can only be leftwing? An influential group of Conservative women MPs are increasingly vocal about the need to tackle gender equality. With radical views on parenting and work, can free-market feminism leave its mark?

The woman in the photograph is smiling a fixed, red-lipsticked smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes. Snapped against a wall, she wears a black T-shirt with the words "This is what a feminist looks like" in defiant white letters across her chest. She was part of a campaign four years ago to challenge assumptions about feminism, and she encapsulates both why it was needed and how fast things can change. For the model is Theresa May, and, as her expression suggests, at the time this was a decidedly risky stunt for her.

Until very recently, the F word was rarely heard in Tory circles: even as late as the last election campaign, the media barrister and unsuccessful 2010 parliamentary candidate Joanne Cash recalls a glossy magazine shoot for aspiring MPs where several of her colleagues balked at being labelled with it.

As Louise Mensch, the Conservative MP for Corby and a self-professed feminist since her teens, says: "It's easy to get up there and be the reverse of Spartacus - 'No, I'm really not Spartacus! She's over there!' It's like Room 101: 'Take the other guy!'"

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