Steinem on Thatcher

Press Association, via Associated Press Margaret Thatcher in 1975.

Margaret Thatcher, who died on Monday at 87, was the first female prime minister of Britain and, for a time, among the most powerful women in the world. But her conservative politics and dismissive attitude toward “women’s libbers” (her words) made Mrs. Thatcher a complicated figure for feminists, even after she withdrew from public life.

Brad Barket/Getty Images Gloria Steinem

“I didn’t agree with her,” Gloria Steinem, the feminist author, said in a telephone interview. “The women’s movement in Britain didn’t agree with her. But they defended her against sexist language and we all defended her right to be wrong.”

Ms. Steinem, a titan of the American women’s movement, said she never met the former prime minister, and her left-leaning activism rarely matched up with the social policies that Mrs. Thatcher oversaw during her time on Downing Street.

Some of those policies still seem to rankle Ms. Steinem, like Mrs. Thatcher’s alliance with President Ronald Reagan on an American rule that prohibited federally financed groups from performing or promoting abortions in foreign countries.

“She was supporting Reagan at a time when he initiated the gag order which was responsible for the deaths of a million women a year in the world,” Ms. Steinem said, referring to the rule by a common sobriquet.

“She also cut off milk for children,” Ms. Steinem added pointedly, referring to Mrs. Thatcher’s notorious effort to restrict free milk for some British schoolchildren.

Still, in the interview, Ms. Steinem made it clear that she was not entirely disillusioned with Mrs. Thatcher, noting that, as prime minister, she had provided more government assistance to widows.

“Like everyone else, it’s important that all the breadth of humanity be represented,” Mrs. Steinem said.

And she noted that the sexism Mrs. Thatcher faced in life â€" from the public, political opponents, even at times her own ministers â€" had not dissipated, even after her death.

“I saw photographs and banners in the London streets with people saying, ‘Goodbye to the bitch,’” Ms. Steinem said. “I’m sure the women’s movement there is protesting that.”