BBC Radio host Emma Barnett was quick to push back when Hillary Clinton explained why she didn’t include former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in “Gutsy Women.”
The former Secretary of State and her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, spoke with Barnett Tuesday about their book — and Barnett asked whether they had even considered Thatcher, Britain’s first female prime minister.
“Was there a row about that? Because certainly she comes to mind with ‘gutsy women,'” Barnett prompted.
WATCH:
Hillary and Chelsea Clinton haven’t included Margaret Thatcher in their book of “gutsy” women@HillaryClinton tells @EmmaBarnett that Thatcher didn’t try to “make a positive difference” for other women
????Full interview: https://t.co/VqEUpMJ4jd#EmmaBarnettGetsAnswers pic.twitter.com/GDyYigC2pG
— BBC Radio 5 Live (@bbc5live) November 12, 2019
Clinton explained that while she agreed that Thatcher had been a trailblazer in her own right, she hadn’t done enough to propel other women forward.
“She doesn’t fit the other part of the definition in our opinion,” Clinton explained. “Which really is knocking down barriers for others and trying to make a positive difference. I think the record is mixed with her.” (RELATED: ‘Some Of You Have Accused Me Of Being A Traitor’: Tulsi Gabbard Goes For The Jugular On ‘The View’)
“The criterion that we were really looking at, okay, what were the positive differences, the changes that this person made to really open doors to more, that really wasn’t that apparent,” Clinton concluded.
“So it’s the idea that she didn’t promote women around her, for instance, in the cabinet —” Barnett pushed back.
“Right, there was very little interest in doing that,” Clinton replied, arguing that she had felt that Thatcher was “out of step” with the direction that she should have been going.
Barnett pressed again, noting that the book quoted astronaut Sally Ride as saying, “you can’t be what you can’t see,” and adding, “I grew up knowing there had been a female prime minister, so it’s a debatable point, isn’t it?”