Conclusion

Abstract

In our analysis of the relationship between women and the Conservative Party from the time of Disraeli to the present, certain themes have clearly emerged. First, women’s involvement in the Conservative Party has always emphasized conviviality and social events, and their respectability has been a major factor in their success. Conservative Party functions have simply been more feminine than their equivalents in the Labour Party and therefore have attracted more women. Second, from the political point of view, there has rarely been a large difference between Labour and the Conservatives with regard to women’s issues. They both have, at least until recently, stressed woman in her role of wife and mother, and the dominant philosophy in both parties has been that woman’s place is in the home — at least until a chronic shortage of workers forced them to re-evaluate this stand. Finally, a certain tension is apparent in the Conservative Party between femininity and feminism and between feminism and conservatism. There has been a long tradition of family first and a glorification of the housewife — although this has never kept Conservative women from high achievements in the workplace. Let us now consider these themes in more detail.