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ArgumentThis two-day international conference explores the relationship between women and conservatism since the late 19th century. In the media frenzy and the re-enactment of the visceral political divisions of the 1980s that greeted the death of Margaret Thatcher in April, 2013, it soon became clear that Britain’s first woman Prime Minister was being portrayed as an aberrant figure who had emerged from a party of men.  It appeared that the media and the public had not been well enough served by academics in making sense of and contextualizing the Thatcher phenomenon and, more broadly, the paradoxical sexual politics of the Right. In many respects– from the foundation of the Primrose League in 1883 all the way to the 2010 so-called ‘Mumsnet’ election — the success of British Conservatives to organise and mobilize women has been ‘exceptional’. In the weeks after the General Election, we will come together to assess the British Conservative Party’s gender politics, and rethink right-wing women as political leaders, activists, organisers, and voters.OrganisationCollaboratively organised by Julie Gottlieb (University of Sheffield), Clarisse Berthezene (University of Paris-Diderot) and Jeremy McIllwaine (Archivist, CPA), Dr Rosie Campbell and Baroness Anne Jenkin will present the keynotes, and Prof. Stuart Ball will chair a roundtable on “Conserving Conservative Women.” Other speakers include Matthew Hendley, Diane Urquart, David Thackeray, June Purvis, Richard Toye, Adrian Bingham, Krista Cowman, Laura Beers, and Sara Childs.We are grateful for financial assistance from the Conservative Party Archive, the C&#38;C of the PSA, the University of Sheffield, and the Maison Française d’Oxford.OrganisersJulie V. Gottlieb,Clarisse Berthezène,Jeremy McIlwaineProgrammeWeston Library, Bodleian, Oxford&#160;Day One, Monday 29 June, 20159.30-10.00:  Julie Gottlieb, Clarisse Berthezène, and Jeremy McIlwaine, Welcome and Introduction10.00-11.00 (Lecture Theatre, Plenary):Chair: Clarisse BerthezèneDiane Urquhart, Irish women and unionism, 1880-1914David Thackeray, At the heart of the party?  The women’s Conservative organisation in the age of partial suffrage, 1914-192811.00 coffee break11.20-12.20 (Lecture Theatre, Plenary):Chair: Stuart BallJune Purvis, Christabel Pankhurst (1880-1958) – a Conservative suffragette?Matthew C. Hendley ‘From Crucial Female Auxiliaries to Superfluous Women?’: The Primrose League and its Struggle for Survival, 1914-1932.12.25-1.25 (Lecture Theatre, Plenary):Chair:  David ThackerayJulie Gottlieb, Conservatism, Feminism and Models of Women’s Leadership in Inter-war BritainClarisse Berthezène, Women’s Voluntarism, Conservative politics and representations of womanhood1.30-2.30 Lunch outside the lecture theatre2.30-4.00 (Lecture Theatre, Plenary):Chair: Martin ConwayRichard Toye, Churchill, women, and the politics of genderAdrian Bingham, Conservatism, gender and the politics of everyday life, 1950s-1980sKrista Cowman, Margaret Thatcher before Thatcherism4.00 coffee break4.20-5.20 (Lecture Theatre, Plenary):Chair: Rosie CampbellLaura Beers, Feminist responses to Thatcher and ThatcherismSarah Childs, The (Feminised) Contemporary Conservative Party5.30-6.30 (Lecture Theatre):Chair:  Richard HaytonKeynote, Rosie Campbell, Whatever happened to Worcester woman? Conservative women voters 1945-20157.00 Book Launch with wine reception for Clarisse Berthezene @Quod8.00Conference Dinner@ Quod(Payment must be made in advance: method of payment TBA)Day Two, Tuesday 30 June, 201510.00-11.20: Parallel Sessions (6 papers)Session (a) Biographical Perspectives on Women’s Conservative Activism, Pre-1945Chair: Krista CowmanJohn Black, The Enigmatic Duchess: Katherine Marjory Stewart MurrayGary Love, Bringing the Conservative Party to Heel: Dorothy Crisp’s journalism and the limits of right-wing women’s political participation, c. 1927-1945Jacqui Turner, Nancy Astor and the question of a right wing female spaceSession (b) Thinking about Thatcher and ThatcherismChair: Gillian PeeleStuart McAnulla, Gender and the reception of radical legacies: Ayn Rand and Margaret Thatcher Matthew Bailey, ‘One tin of mackerel…One pound of icing sugar’: Mrs Thatcher’s larder and the politics of the 1975 Conservative Leadership electionJessica Prestidge, Thatcher as housewife: an image of the ordinary woman?11.20 coffee break11.20-12.50: Parallel Sessions (6 papers)Session (a) Gendering ConservatismChair: Richard ToyeNeil Fleming, Women and Lancashire Conservatism between the warsAkanksha Mehta, ‘The Reflexivity of Discomfort’: “The Ethics, Methodological, Approaches, and ‘Difficult’ Narratives in Feminist ResearchAngelia Wilson, Social conservative women and the political strategy of the US Christian RightSession (b) Race, Gender and Sexuality in Conservative PoliticsChair: Sara ChildsStephane Porion, Diana Spearman’s great role and influence within the post-war Conservative PartyMatthew Francis, Stepping Stones and ‘Sari Parties’: The Conservative Party and BAME Women, 1976-86Orlanda Ward, Framing Conservative BAME Women at the 2010 General Election12.50-2.00 Lunch at Old Bodleian2.00-3.20: (3 papers) Conservative Women in Comparative and Transnational PerspectivesChair: Julie GottliebMatthew Stibbe, Peace at any Price? Conservative women in Britain in the late 1930s and the Anglo-German FellowshipJudith Szapor, Right-wing women and the politics of gender in Hungary in the aftermath of WWI and after 1989Elena Musiani, Conservative women in Italian society and policy 1880s-1980s3.20-4.30: Parallel MeetingsSession (a) Brainstorming about funding prospects and moving the project forwardSession (b) Future Publication plans: Beyond the Book. This session is intended for those who would like to collaborate on a special issue or the like to emerge from this conference.4.30-5.30 Roundtable: Conserving Conservative Women (Lecture Theatre) chaired by Prof. Stuart Ball, Jeremy McIlwaine, and Stephen Parkinson5.30-6.30: Keynote Baroness Anne Jenkin, of Women2Win, ‘Reflections: looking back over the first ten years (and forward to the next ten)’