Recently, Theresa May has replaced David Cameron as Prime Minister of UK becoming the second woman to hold this august post. You! takes a look at her life...
Recently, Theresa May has replaced David Cameron as Prime Minister of UK becoming the second woman to hold this august post. You! takes a look at her life...
In today's time, the skills and talent of women are being recognised the world over. This is why women are now holding powerful positions all around the globe. One such example is Theresa May who recently became Britain's prime minister.
It took 26 years for United Kingdom to get its second woman prime minister, the first was Baroness Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher was also the longest serving prime minister of the UK and held the position of prime minister from 1979 to 1990. She was also the leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990.
Theresa May who is also a member and now leader of the Conservative Party became UK's prime minister after the upset of the Brexit referendum and prime minister, David Cameron's resignation.
Born on October 1, 1956, Theresa May hails from a middle class family - the daughter of a vicar. She may have grown up in a small village and worked at a bakery on weekends to earn a pocket money, but she always aspired to live in London specifically in 10 Downing Street. She wanted to become the first woman prime minister of United Kingdom but of course she didn't get this honour. Apparently she was quite upset when Margaret Thatcher became the first woman to lead the country from the front.
Theresa May was educated at a public school and then later on went to study at St. Hugh's College in Oxford. In 1976 she was introduced to her future husband by her fellow student at Oxford - Benazir Bhutto. She was another powerful woman who broke the proverbial political ceiling in Pakistan and became its first - and till date - only female prime minister.
In 1997 Theresa May became Member of Parliament for Maidenhead and then she became the Home Secretary in 2010 - the second longest serving Home Secretary in the last 100 years. Although her colleagues believed she wouldn't last long like her predecessors, she proved to be stronger than they gave her credit.
In 1999 Theresa May joined the shadow cabinet as shadow education secretary under William Hague and then later in 2002 she became the Conservative Party's first woman chairperson.
As Home Secretary Theresa May stood strongly against hate crimes - especially anti-Muslim hate crimes and pledged to treat them as more serious offences than they were being treated.
She said that there was no place for such hate crimes in Britain and that she wanted to ensure these crimes could be controlled if not completely erased from the country.
This was quite heartening for the large Muslim population of UK. And many hope that she will continue to work against such hate crimes now when she has become the prime minister. However, another section of the Muslims of UK are a little worried that she had taken steps to counterterrorism by strict policies as Home Secretary because of which some considered her to be Islamophobe in 2015.
But this may be a misconception since she has spoken out for the rights of people to dress as they please countering opinions that criticise the way some Muslims in the UK dress, especially the veil that woman wear.
Theresa May has always been a feminist and she stands for the rights of women whenever the need arises, which is the reason why she believes that everyone, especially women, have a right to wear whatever clothes they want. On an occasion she has also said that a woman should wear a veil if she chooses to and no one has the right to dictate her, adding that woman should remove the veil when it is necessary for security reasons like at the airport and other places.
It is hoped that as a Prime Minister, Theresa May will continue to protect these rights of her Muslim voters and from her past it appears that she will stand up for whatever is right.
Of course being the second woman in power, Theresa May is being compared to Margaret Thatcher - who was known as the Iron Lady owing to her strong stances on some tough issues during her time as prime minister.
But on closer observation the women leaders are quite different in their approaches to different issues. This could be because of the change of the time both are working in or other factors.
Anyone who knows or has read the life of Margaret Thatcher will agree that a weaker personality is surely to be lost in her political shadow which is probably why she is one of the most known prime ministers of the country. However, it is likely that Theresa May will make her own mark in the political history of the country and not live in the shadow of Margaret Thatcher.
And in many ways Theresa May has strong opinions and takes stronger stands on issues that were not deemed as important almost 26 years ago. Like Thatcher, May is also a moderniser, however, she is critical of what she sees as the damaging effects of the Iron Lady's legacy to the party. And unlike Thatcher, who was happy to be the only woman in the Cabinet and wasn't very forthcoming in promoting women to ministerial ranks, May has worked to get more women as MPs for the Conservative Party through an initiative in 2005 called Women2win.
Britain could be in for some progressive refreshing changes with Prime Minister Theresa May which could help bring more harmony in the country. This is quite necessary considering the issues that are slowly raising their heads following Brexit. She will probably have to take some serious steps and make some important decisions in the months coming ahead.
But despite her toughness as a political leader, Theresa May has many nice hobbies. With her grand collection of a hundred cookbooks, she loves to cook. And even though she may be a tough political leader, her taste in shoes has always been a favourite with the photographers especially her leopard printed heels. She probably has some comfortable leopard printed walking shoes for her long walks in the mountains - another hobby that she plans to pursue.
A lot of people are interested to see how the world and the region will change with strong and powerful women leading two of the powerful countries in Europe - UK and Germany. And if Hillary Clinton - another intelligent and powerful woman - is also elected later in the year, the future promises to be exciting.
