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Who really said it

In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman

Spoken by Margaret Thatcher 1925–2013 · British Conservative politician; Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1979–1990
Documented in print the same afternoon — on a page that is not online. In copyright

She said it, and the source is pinned. Quote Investigator concludes “Margaret Thatcher did pronounce this maxim” ↗ and traces it to a page-one quote in the London Evening News of 20 May 1965, reporting her that afternoon to the National Union of Townswomen’s Guilds. She was a backbench MP at the time. One honest caveat, which we keep on the page rather than bury: that newspaper page is not available online, and QI reached it through a CD-ROM database rather than the open web.

Last verified 23 Aug 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

For presentations

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Verified quote & credit

“In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman” Margaret Thatcher, then Conservative MP for Finchley, speaking to the National Union of Townswomen's Guilds Conference in London, 20 May 1965. Earliest documented appearance: a page-one quote in the Evening News (London), 20 May 1965, as reported by Quote Investigator, which concludes Thatcher did say it. No online primary text of the speech survives.

Can you use it?

Still under copyright (rights held by The estate of Margaret Thatcher; the 1965 Evening News report remains the property of its publisher). A short, credited quote is generally fine for talks, teaching, and internal decks; for commercial, published, or large-scale reuse, get permission.

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In context

Evoking the world of Margaret Thatcher — British Conservative politician; Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1979–1990. Theme: "In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Minimalist

Minimalist editorial slide for the quote "In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman". Clean background, a single muted accent color, generous negative space, subtle paper or linen texture, no literal illustration — let the words carry it. Reserve clear space for a serif quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

Provenance

The source

Occasion
Speech to the National Union of Townswomen’s Guilds Conference, London
Date
20 May 1965
Speaker’s standing then
Conservative MP for Finchley — fourteen years before becoming Prime Minister
Earliest documented text
A page-one quote in the Evening News (London), 20 May 1965, reported by Quote Investigator

“In politics, if you want anything said ask a man, if you want anything done ask a woman.” — Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, Cons MP for Finchley, speaking to the National Council of the Townwomen’s Guilds in London this afternoon.

The Evening News page-one quote of 20 May 1965, as transcribed by Quote Investigator ↗ from the CD-ROM edition of Thatcher’s collected public statements. We are quoting QI’s transcription, not the newspaper itself. Note the punctuation differs slightly from the version in circulation, and the paper spells it “Townwomen’s.”

Quote Investigator’s investigation of the saying

How we verified this

  • Quote Investigator’s article on the saying ↗ is the anchor, and its verdict is unambiguous: “Margaret Thatcher did pronounce this maxim. There are two closely related versions and evidence indicates that she has used both.”
  • QI documents the earliest instance as a page-one quote in the Evening News of 20 May 1965, obtained from the CD-ROM Margaret Thatcher: Complete Public Statements 1945–1990. QI also records the honest complication we repeat here: the Guilds’ own 1965 annual report of that speech does not contain the line. Both the Yale Book of Quotations (2006), p. 754, and the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations carry a 1975 People magazine version with the “In politics” opening used here. We have not handled those volumes ourselves.
  • Wikiquote’s Thatcher page ↗ does not carry the line at all — not in its sourced quotes, and not in its Attributed, Disputed or Misattributed sections. That is an absence rather than a denial, but it is why we did not lean on Wikiquote for this one.
  • Wikipedia ↗ confirms she had been MP for Finchley since October 1959, which squares with how the Evening News identified her that afternoon, and that she did not become Prime Minister until 1979 — so the line is a backbencher’s, not a premier’s.
In copyright

Nothing here is in the public domain. The words were spoken in 1965 and first printed the same day in a London evening paper — far inside the term of copyright in both the United States and the United Kingdom. We quote a single sentence for the purpose of documenting its provenance.

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

What to watch for

Nobody else is credited with this one. The things that drift are the wording, the date and the office she held.

“If you want a speech made, ask a man…” Also hers

QI documents a second form ↗ without the “In politics” opening, reported in a Florida paper in 1982, and a 1990 Guildhall speech in which Thatcher quotes herself: “if you want someone to make a speech, ask a man; if you want to get something done, ask a woman.” Both are hers.

Quoted as a Prime Ministerial line Fourteen years early

She said it in May 1965 as a backbench MP. She did not enter Downing Street until 1979 ↗.

The Townswomen’s Guilds’ 1965 annual report Does not contain it

QI checked the Guilds’ own account of the speech ↗ and reports that the line is not in it. The only contemporaneous text carrying the sentence is the newspaper’s.

It is hers. Quote Investigator says so ↗ — and the page it rests on is one nobody can pull up on a phone.

Context

Why it mattered

In May 1965 Margaret Thatcher was a Conservative backbencher of five years’ standing, addressing a hall full of Townswomen’s Guild delegates on a theme the Guilds recorded as “Woman — No Longer a Satellite.” The line was a crowd-pleaser at a women’s conference, and the evening paper put it on page one.

It has outlived its occasion because it works in both directions: it can be quoted as feminism or as a joke about politicians, and it is short enough to survive being repeated by people who have no idea when or where it was said.

A backbencher’s applause line in 1965. Still on posters sixty years later.

Read the full story

The gap between how famous this sentence is and how thin its paper trail is makes it a useful example. There is no recording, no official transcript, and the hosting organisation’s own report of the speech omits the line. What survives is a reporter’s page-one quote the same afternoon — good evidence, and evidence of a kind that cannot be re-read by anyone without the right CD-ROM and an old computer.

Quote Investigator makes exactly that point at the end of its piece: having got the disc working, it notes that the database ought to be migrated somewhere it will stay readable. We mark the attribution as traced, because it is — and we say plainly which page we could not turn ourselves.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Work Power Leadership

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Quote Investigator: “If You Want Anything Said Ask a Man…”quoteinvestigator.com

The definitive investigation. Traces the saying to the Evening News of 20 May 1965 and concludes Thatcher did say it.
Wikiquote: Margaret Thatcheren.wikiquote.org

Her sourced quotations, plus separate Attributed, Disputed and Misattributed lists. This line appears in none of them.
Wikipedia: Margaret Thatcheren.wikipedia.org

Life and career: MP for Finchley from 1959, party leader from 1975, Prime Minister 1979–1990.
Wikipedia: Townswomen’s Guilden.wikipedia.org

The organisation she was addressing — then and now one of the largest women’s organisations in Britain.

The author

About Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher

1925–2013 · British Conservative politician; Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, 1979–1990

Margaret Hilda Roberts was born in Grantham in 1925, a grocer’s daughter who read chemistry at Oxford and was called to the bar before entering the Commons as MP for Finchley in 1959. She led the Conservative Party from 1975 and was Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, the first woman to hold either post. She died in London in 2013. This remark comes from 1965, when she was a backbencher addressing a women’s organisation — not from the years everyone remembers her for.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

The primary source (Chicago)

Margaret Thatcher, speech to the National Union of Townswomen’s Guilds Conference, London, 20 May 1965, as quoted on page one of the Evening News (London), 20 May 1965. Transcription from Quote Investigator, “Quote Origin: If You Want Anything Said Ask a Man, Want Anything Done Ask a Woman” (5 November 2010) ↗, which read the report in the CD-ROM edition Margaret Thatcher: Complete Public Statements 1945–1990. No online facsimile of the newspaper page is available.

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘In politics, if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman’?” Last verified 23 Aug 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/in-politics-if-you-want-anything-said-ask-a-man-if-you-want/

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