RIP Old Maid

Call Ann Widdecombe reactionary, or divisive, or question her politics. But please don’t call her an ‘Old Maid.’

This was broadcaster Adam Boulton’s chosen description of a woman who spent decades in Parliament, became a government minister, wrote bestselling books, built a major broadcasting career and was one of Britain’s most recognisable political voices. 

A woman with a lifetime of achievements and the thing he focused on was her status as unmarried and elderly.

This simply would not happen if Ann has been a man. Imagine a former cabinet minister dies and the television discussion boils him down to “lifelong bachelor”. It just wouldn’t happen. His ideas would be debated. His legacy assessed. His successes and failures weighed. He would be remembered as a politician, with barely a reference to his marital status.

Meanwhile, too often it seems that, whatever a woman accomplishes, her relationship to a man is the most interesting thing about her - and her lack of one makes her an object of pity.

If you are in any doubt that we still live in a sexist and misogynistic world, think about the fact that even a woman with a lifetime of public achievement is filed under ‘Old Maid’ - and ask yourself how much respect do you think men like this have for normal women like you and me?

Please let’s start seeing women as the full human beings and contributors to the world that they are. And let’s start by saying goodbye to this archaic way of viewing and defining them.

RIP Ann Widdecombe - and RIP Old Maid.