Made In Dagenham
Forget Katie Price/Jordan and Amy Childs (TV’s The Only Way Is Essex) - for UK females, the biggest role models today are their mothers, followed by the late Princess Diana and the phenomenally successful Harry Potter author J.K.Rowling, according to new research to mark the DVD release of Made In Dagenham.
The film (out now on DVD) celebrates the lives of yesterday’s inspirational female role models whose dedication and perseverance went on to positively influence today’s generation of women, after their protest action at the Ford Dagenham plant in 1968 was instrumental in the creation of the Equal Pay Act of 1970.
To mark the release, Paramount Home Entertainment polled over 1,000 UK women on who their biggest role models are today, ahead of this Sunday’s Mother’s Day (3rd April).
Overall, an overwhelming majority of women (40.37%) credited ‘Mum’ as their number one role model, while nearly one in ten women said that they look up to the late humanitarian Princess Diana (9.04%) and 7.58% the author J.K.Rowling.
Fellow Humanitarian Mother Teresa, who died aged 87 in 1997, was named in fourth place with 7.12%, while celebrated actress Audrey Hepburn was named as the fifth biggest inspiration (4.75%) to women.
Civil rights activists Rosa Parks, famed for refusing to give up her seat on a bus for a white passenger in 1955, was viewed as an inspiration for 4.11% of women in sixth place, while the UK’s former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, nicknamed ‘The Iron Lady’, was in seventh with 3.74% of the votes.
Australian author Germaine Greer (3.29%), regarded as one of the most influential feminists of the 20th century ranked just above HRH The Queen (2.83%).
The tenth biggest role model to UK women was revealed as singer-turned-media personality Cheryl Cole with 2.65%, beating the likes of US stars Angelina Jolie and Oprah Winfrey, and influential political figure Hillary Clinton.
UK names that failed to make the top ten included sports star Paula Radcliffe, Kate Middleton, Samantha Cameron, Kate Moss, Katie Price and Amy Childs.
Parenting and family expert, Liz Fraser comments: "The results are as surprising as they are positive.
"Where one might have expected a host of celebrities and film stars to have featured strongly, instead we see none of these in the top five in any age category, and instead a list of important, strong women who have truly changed the world, touched millions and done some wonderful work in their time.
"We may worry about our muffin tops, know all the latest celeb gossip and wish for Elle MacPherson’s legs but we still look to intelligent, strong, inspiring women as our true role models, in whatever walk of life they may be working in - from literature to film, fashion to politics.
"Many of us clash with our mums at various stages in our lives - the mother-daughter relationship is a notoriously complex one - but even through this, the results shows emphatically that Mums are our number one role model, disagreements and all."
The Biggest Female Role Models for UK women today are:
1. ‘Mum’/mother figure = 40.37%
2. Princess Diana = 9.04%
3. JK Rowling (Author) = 7.58%
4. Mother Teresa (Humanitarian) = 7.12%
5. Audrey Hepburn (Actress) = 4.75%
6. Rosa Parks (Civil rights activist) = 4.11%
7. Margaret Thatcher (Former Prime Minister) = 3.74%
8. Germaine Greer (Author, Feminist) = 3.29%
9. The Queen = 2.83%
10. Cheryl Cole (Singer, British television personality) = 2.65%
Others (6.7%) - including Angelina Jolie, Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, Rihanna