The Crown: an analysis of Conservative Feminism

[Music] my name is alice and welcome back to my channel while most conservative women won't brag about their feminism um the word conservative feminism actually does exist the tv series the crown is very interesting in that matter because it portrays two um conservative women margaret thatcher a meritocrat and the queen monarch two very powerful women so what we're going to do is try to understand what do we mean by conservative women uh who are they how do they balance public and private life and yeah just talk about the crown because i really like this whole season let's jump into it but first let me grab some see okay so both thatcher and the queen are conservative women thatcher was elected to parliament in 1959 became the first woman to lead the conservative party and then became the first woman to become prime minister of the uk a position she kept for more than 11 years she's first introducing the crown through the lens of the british class system as the queen watches the news of her election prince philip describes thatcher in a sneering tone as the shopkeeper's daughter to which elizabeth's reply and now the men's shopkeeper's daughter who worked hard and gained a scholarship to oxford so you immediately get that glass ceiling meritocracy metaphor that was actually used by obama in 2013 he said that she stands as an example to our daughters that there is no glass ceiling that can be shattered so thatcher did not despise women yet she didn't do anything for them and she didn't have very high expectation in the first place in the show when elizabeth says she assumed thatcher won't include any woman in her new cabinet tather replies crisply that there are no suitable candidates i have found women in general tend not to be suited in high office they become too emotional tasha says i doubt you'll have that trouble with me elizabeth kelly replied so obviously this is fiction there is clearly no evidence this conversation really happened but i guess that's your behavior kinda speak for itself in her 11 years in office thatcher only appointed one woman and it was baroness young who's known to be the enemy of gay rights instead she was the class example of a very specific type of conservative women who believe that all women should pull themselves up that women shouldn't be victims of their circumstances but actors of their destiny madasha reuter a convinced conservative said that she showed that although female power and masculine power may have different languages different metaphors different gestures different traditions different ways of being glamorous as nasty they are equally strong equally valid no one can ever question whether women are capable of single modern figure or efficient leadership after margaret thatcher she is the great unsung heroine of british feminism so that's the idea forget about privilege forget about class forget about gender bias there is no obstacle if you work hard enough i guess what tatcha despised wasn't women as a group but more what do you call feminine characteristics we don't like this term so emotionality favoring security over risk-taking not being hard-working and yeah having limited interest and tacho was the complete opposite her dad made her different from the other girls from her mother from her daughter and therefore she deserved to be where she is she earned it now when it comes to the queen she's a conservative woman as well but for a different set of reasons she is the head of state and is supposed to represent the continuity of traditional values and a rich history there are indeed expectations that come with being a queen oh really the queen is the guardian of the unity of the nation she is the symbol of wealth of ownership and most of all monarchy she did not earn anything she just happens to be the offspring of william the conqueror who invaded england in 1066. that's it and i guess you can tell that tension between her and thatcher between the monarch and the meritocrac just that defiance in the way they look at each other despite their frequent disagreements there is a common point to both thatcher and the queen and that's motherhood i'm sorry but we cannot talk about conservative women without talking about motherhood no no in the tv series the crown and in real life both have been very much criticized as being bad mothers while thatcher refused to just restrain herself to the separate fear to domesticity she in turn had to face a lot of criticism on her way of parenting a motherhood the allegation on her preferences for her son mark over cowell her lack of involvement in her family during her years as prime minister in a way she failed her women's duties by putting politics first or at least that's how she's been repeatedly portrayed yet another way to see it is that margaret thatcher transferred motherhood from the private sphere to the public sphere indeed margaret thatcher conceptualization of politics is done using the metaphor of a nurse in episode 5 she can be heard on the radio discussing what kind of nurse is better one who caters to all their patients needs and ensure they stay rested in bed or one who encourages the patient to get up and take a few steps to keep their strength up well dasha is the nurse the language of care refers to what is expected of a woman to take care of her kids to take care of her husband take care of her family in this case the entire nation now while in the first season it appears that the queen successfully maintained the stability of her family um she got her sister to break up with her lover peter townsend as he happened to be divorced and her father which collided with the principal of the anglican church and corrected her husband prince philip behaviour after some rumors of unfaithfulness now to noche yet the final season shows the limits of her role she forces prince charles and diner to sort their marriage out as prince charles is still seeing camilla in secret charles and anne are profoundly unhappy in their marriages infidelity and divorce are not considered acceptable in the conservative view of the christian family and a big part of this series is the queen enforcing this view on her kids her sister and herself and prince andrew clearly appears that he was involved in the epstein business actually just enumerating all of that one after the other makes me realize how bad this actually is poor is the best if you have followed the tv series since the beginning or at least watched the first season well you might have noticed that she's always portrayed as putting her monarch duties first yet while the combination of being a good mother and a good monarch seems to be quite challenging the portrayal of bad mothers usually career driven mothers in the media tend to put those women in a very negative light the first thing i saw about when i saw like how the queen was portrayed throughout all the seasons i literally only watched the first and fourth but it's the concept of republican motherhood okay we're talking about the yanks now so let me just get rid of that cup of tea the concept of republican motherhood dates back from 18th century america and refers to the then new role given to middle class i insist on that women somehow political role women have the responsibility to pass on republican values to their children who would then lead the nation they were granted with this civic role a specific function in the household educating the kids checking their husband behavior white reinforced the idea of separate spheres women private and in public it forced middle-class women to educate themselves it started with reading and writing and then women could join classes mathematical classes for example well i kind of see the queen in that spectrum the concept is really interesting even if um it's an american concept and we're talking about english monarchy but the idea of caring for nation creating a sense of community and being a better more educated monarch is something that was quite relevant in the case of the queen i mean it's her duty to the nation just as a republican mother the queen doesn't have a political role that she does but the queen she has a civic role she's not expected to get involved into politics and when she does it doesn't turn out well just think about that episode on the appetite in south africa the way the press reacted to the queen's interference in the debate over the economic sanctions on south africa it clearly was a scandal at that time i feel like compared to the first seasons peter morgan the director really showed how insignificant the political role the queen is on the other hand thatcher represents a new generation of conservative women who get involved into politics or male-dominated sectors indeed today's conservative women will often brag about their ability to balance public and private life you see them taking help to home taking care of their children taking care of their husband and they feel liberated because on top of all of that they do also work some will argue that now women can get any job that feminism isn't really a thing anymore that feminists are victims and are we reach equal rights like seriously what are you complaining about even the republican party in the u.s saw a record number of women joining congress it is true that women gain significance in the public sphere largest thanks to feminist governments but we have to bring nuances to that these women they are conservative which means that they are more likely when you compare them to liberal women they are more likely to be in favor of said gender roles meaning that and we're going back to that conservative woman talking about thatcher that men and women have different qualities they have different biological roles that masculinity and femininity are two very different things but also and actually it's more or less related to uh what i've just said and the idea of separate fear is that even if women get into politics they get out in the public sphere very often they are associated with caring roles you'll see more and more women in education in medical professions and when they are involved into politics well very often there will be in charge of the ministry of health of education or culture i recently watched a video from ashtanya maybe you know her probably not she's another small youtuber i mean she has more subscribers than me but is it dora i'm trying to ask you to subscribe to my channel i'm not sure and yeah she made a video on environmental environmental like environmentalism i haven't got it right she made a video on environmentalism and women and once again it reflects this caring function that is constantly associated with women and that goes back to that long history of conservatism and women to republican motherhood um so yeah still all of work to do well that's it for today folks after the discussion do you think something as conservative feminism can actually exist um do you think that show was a feminist but yeah i hope you enjoyed this video i would be extremely grateful if you could like comment that's the right time subscribe but also share this video with a friend um that would really help me to grow this little channel so yeah i'll find you in the comment section and if not you'll find me next week [Music]

Channel: Alice Cappelle

Views: 118,746

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Id: -HYzdG8UqTE

Length: 12min 27sec (747 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 20 2020