Feminism in Top Girls by Caryl Churchill

Caryl Churchill has publicly acknowledged that Margaret Thatcher’s rise to the position of British Prime Minister was an important inspiration for writing Top Girls. Churchill is deeply interested in feminism and the ongoing consequences of the women’s liberation movement. There was a certain irony in Margaret Thatcher’s ascent to power in the wake of feminism, since Thatcher’s policies were deeply conservative and anti-feminist. The feminist movement in Britain has been typically connected to left-wing political positions, especially socialism. In Top Girls, Churchill draws upon this contradiction in her depiction of Marlene, a woman who is extremely successful in the professional world, but whose victories on this front appear to come at the cost of ignoring her personal life. Churchill clearly depicts the conflicting views over Thatcher in the conversation between Joyce and Marlene. Marlene is proud that Thatcher, a woman, has become such a powerful elected official, while Joyce does not consider Thatcher's gender in her assessment that the Prime Minister's policies are suffocating the working class.