Paloma Faith has hit out at the widespread mockery of Theresa May’s dance moves, saying the prime minister is unfairly criticised because of her gender.

The British musician, a vocal feminist who is spearheading a campaign for global gender equality launched on the eve of the International Day of the Girl on Thursday, said: “Why shouldn’t Theresa May dance? I felt bad for her. I’m worried about her policies but I’m not worried about her dancing.”

Faith said ridicule of the prime minister over her dance moves, which she parodied by bouncing on to the stage at the Tory party conference last week to the strains of Abba’s Dancing Queen, was an example of the way women in the public eye are more harshly treated.

“She is criticised all the time because she’s female,” Faith said. “I’m not aligned to her party. I’m not for Brexit. But I do think the way the media reports on her, that she has a harder time than a male prime minister. I remember when Tony Blair came out as loving music and being in a rock band. Everyone said it was cool and great.”

Faith said the memes that appeared after May was photographed holding hands with Donald Trump at the White House last year were another example of the way society tries to put women down.

“There were all these memes of her holding the hand of Donald Trump, and people saying it was her being submissive. If it was a male PM who had stumbled on the stair and he had put a hand on their shoulder, there would have been nothing.

“I’m in my own little microcosm of music, a woman in power. I was at the [Brit] awards ceremony for best female and another singer won. The camera panned to me at that point and there was stuff about my reaction: ‘Oh, she’s jealous.’ There was nothing like that for the male singers. That’s the sort of stuff women in the public eye face, and that’s what happens to Theresa May. They treat her differently than if she was a man. Everyone says: ‘Oh, it’s just a joke.’ But the joke’s on us and it has a darker element to it.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Theresa May dances on to the stage at the 2018 Conservative party conference in Birmingham. Photograph: Mark Thomas/REX/Shutterstock

Faith, 37, who has recently become a mother for the first time and has refused to disclose the sex of her child for privacy reasons, said she will use the launch of Girls Get Equal, a global campaign aimed at catalysing change in gender equality, to promote the education of young women and girls.

“My upbringing, being raised by a single mother, was that you can achieve everything that you set out to achieve” said Faith, who is set to perform at the Girls Get Equal summit in Brussels on Thursday, in the presence of the Belgian queen and other campaigners, at an event run by Plan International.

“I’ve come into this role viewed as relatively superficial, as a pop star. But I’ve got education coming out of my ears. I have a masters degree from Central Saint Martins. Education is so important for women and if it is a woman’s issue it is also a human issue.”

The music industry has a long way to go in terms of gender equality, said Faith, citing a Billboard power survey this year that showed only 17% of the most influential musicians were women. She said that she was brought up in a feminist household and her mother handed her a copy of Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch when she was 14, but that coming into the real world to learn that men and women were not equal was a shock.

“The most important people who have driven my career in the most important way have been women. But they are not in the most important jobs. The majority of heads of labels are men.”

She said the system needed to change, to recognise women, and to realise that women in power should not have to act like men in power.

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She cited singers including Adele, one of the most successful female artists, as great role models for young women.

“Adele was raised by a single mother. She wouldn’t necessarily describe herself first as a feminist. But she has achieved so much as a human being.”

She said she has made a new video, which comes out in a few weeks time, which she sees as a feminist statement fit for the era of #MeToo.

“It has a sexy scene in it. I was very careful, which is why I’ve geared it towards the female gaze. I’m excited about it. It’s a feminist statement.”