The left hasn’t yet overcome its bias against conservative women.

I t’s as predictable as a sunrise. A conservative woman reaches a position of power or influence and is immediately attacked for supposedly undermining the “true” interests of women, as these are defined by the left.

In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher promoted an entrepreneurial revolution and private sector recovery in Britain that lasted for more than three decades, which undoubtedly benefited businesswomen too. But noted feminist Germaine Greer sniffed that Thatcher’s individualism was antithetical to feminist solidarity.

In 1993, feminist icon Gloria Steinem called Texas Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison, who was running in a special election to replace a Democratic senator, “a female impersonator, . . . someone who looks like us but thinks like them.” Hutchison won with 67 percent of the vote, so a clear majority of women disagreed with Steinem.

In 2009, Playboy published (and then promptly took down) an online article listing ten conservative public figures who deserve to be “hate-f***ed.” Among other highly offensive descriptions used for the women on that list were “fascist Barbie” and one of the “illiterates who disprove evolution.” This by a company whose CEO from 1988 until 2009 had been Christie Hefner, the daughter of founder Hugh Hefner.

Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, caught it from both sides when she ran for president in 2016. Donald Trump mocked her by saying, “Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?” while a raft of left-wing feminists denounced her as a tool of male interests. Former Reddit CEO and diversity advocate Ellen Pao dismissed Fiorina by saying, “Leadership isn’t feminist just because a woman does it.”

In 2022, when conservative Giorgia Meloni became Italy’s prime minister, journalist Giulia Siviero said that Meloni “uses her own gender to do things that are completely anti-feminist.” Journalist Claudia Torrisi credited her appeal to “femonationalism,” a desire to protect “native” women from migrants.

Now, this bias against conservative women has spread to Japan.

Having become chairwoman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Sanae Takaichi is almost certain to become the Japan’s prime minister later this month. Not surprisingly, since Japan suffers from the kind of stagnation that Britain did in the 1970s, Takaichi has told audiences that she wants to emulate Margaret Thatcher’s success. “My goal is to become the Iron Lady,” she says, and quotes Thatcher: “The important thing is growth.” Takaichi’s admirers point out that she backs partial tax deductions for babysitting fees and corporate incentives for in-house child care, and that she pledges to have a cabinet that roughly reflects the 20 percent of Japan’s parliament that is female.

But left-wing parties in Japan are already trashing Takaichi. “She’s what you might call an idol for ‘old men,’” says Mieko Nakabayashi, politics professor at Waseda University. “She’s someone who expresses ‘old man’ opinions from a woman’s mouth and makes them happy.” Prominent feminist sociologist Chizuko Ueno laments Takaichi’s rise and asks, “Who is she deferring to?” Feminist commentator Natsuki Yasuda, in an op-ed in the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun, insists that true equality requires alignment with feminist policies, not just symbolism.

It seems that the left at home and abroad tends to suspects conservative women and think that their views are somehow illegitimate. But to do so is to ignore a long history of individualist feminism. Leading figures of this tradition include Rose Wilder Lane (author of the Little House book series), the writer Zora Neale Hurston, Camille Paglia, Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett, and many others. Those who are curious about the broad spectrum of varied views that have advanced women’s interests can consult the Independent Women’s Forum. And very few of these women, who don’t fit the orthodox feminist mold, would respond to their critics with the kind of vituperative and degrading attacks that they often receive.