The Media’s Reaction To Having A Female Prime Minister

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[Photo: Tumblr/suttonnick]

It’s happened - for the first time in more than 30 years, we have a female prime minister. That’s right folks - feminism’s done its job now - so we can all go back home and have a cup of tea.

Not quite. While having a woman at number 10 can mean several things for gender equality, it takes more than just putting one in power to change the world - and especially public attitudes towards women in politics.

You only need pop down to your local WHSmith’s and take a glance at the front pages to see how the media has reacted to May’s appointment as prime minister.

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Theresa May with husband Philip May [Photo: Getty]

The most famous so far is The Sun’s front page spread, with the headline ‘Heel Boys’ and one of May’s famously kitten-heeled feet squashing a selection of male Tory politicians. The Spectator even illustrated the same delightful image in order to add a bit of blood to the picture. Nice.

Going with the cruel mistress theme was The National’s cover, which featured May as Cruella de Vil (imaginative, we know), wild hair, talons and bright lipstick in place.

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[Photo: Giphy]

The Daily Star apparently went for a big image of Theresa May next to a photo of a woman with her breasts out with the headline “Darling Buds of May”, though we haven’t spotted it online yet.

The papers being littered with over-dressed villains and high heels isn’t exactly ideal for those of us wishing to feel optimistic about being a woman in politics. We need to be able to mock politicians, but are the papers making fun of May treading a fine line between satire and lazy sexism?

What do you think? Tweet us at @YahooStyleUK.

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