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Women, Justice and Gender Equality

I thank the hon. Lady for her interesting hagiography of Baroness Thatcher. Does she agree, however, that Baroness Thatcher was not the first woman politician to be elected as premier? The elections of both Indira Ghandi and Mrs. Bandaranaike, in India and Sri Lanka respectively, predate Mrs. Thatcher’s— [Interruption.] She was not the first woman to lead a country, although, to listen to the hon. Lady, one would have thought that she was. What does she make of the fact that under Mrs. Thatcher—this great champion of women—child poverty more than trebled? What impact did interest rates of 15 per cent. in 1991—forcing more than 200,000 to lose their homes—have on both the lives of women and their children?