Power and the Single Girl

Lady MacBeth, by John Singer Sargent

Helen Andrews has suggested that allowing women to dominate in any field or industry is catastrophic, for they will turn any institution “woke.” My interpretation is that they will lose sight of the mission. Hence journalism no longer reliably reports the news, the schools no longer teach, advertisements no longer sell the product, Hollywood no longer entertains, and HR departments no longer hire for merit.

Arguing against this are some obvious historical examples women who have risen to political leadership. Their terms have often been considered by general opinion successful. Moreover, they are conspicuous not for losing their sense of direction, but for standing firm on their principles, sometimes when men around them wilted. One could cite Margaret Thatcher, Giorgia Meloni, Golda Meir, Queen Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great of Russia, Joan of Arc, Indira Gandhi. Maybe Angela Merkel.

However, note that those who stand out as successful have emerged in male-dominated movements and male-dominated times. Margaret Thatcher emerged in the Conservative Party, not Labour. Giorgia Meloni leads the right-wing “Brothers of Italy”—note the name. Golda Meir emerged in a country at war. 

Compare women who have risen mostly for being women. They have been less impressive: Kamala Harris, Kim Campbell, Alexa MacDonough, Julie Payette, others we have forgotten.

Those who rose in “patriarchal” contexts are marked by this as exceptional, not average, women. Exceptional men who emerge from non-traditional backgrounds are also often unusually successful, probably for the same reason: they have demonstrated initiative and a special drive. A Rene Levesque, Benjamin Disraeli, or Winston Churchill emerging from journalism, a Ralph Klein from radio, a Mike Harris from golf, a Ronald Reagan from acting, a Vladimir Zelenskyy from comedy; Donald Trump from real estate and TV. They have demonstrated character.

Moreover: a Chinese student argues that, even if women can be successful in leadership. the professions, or in business, it is still gravely wrong. In doing so, they are acting like men. Just as there is something discreditable about a man acting “gay,” acting in an extravagantly feminine way, there is something discreditable about a woman acting “butch.” It is reasonable, if regrettable, for a man to order his army off to war. It is deeply improper, a betrayal of her nature and rightful role if a woman does the same. Or fires someone, for that matter, or orders someone around.

I think of Shakespeare’s Lady MacBeth:

“... Come, you spirits
That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here,
And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full
Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood.
Stop up th’ access and passage to remorse,
That no compunctious visitings of nature
Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between
Th’ effect and it. Come to my woman’s breasts
And take my milk for gall, you murd’ring ministers,
Wherever in your sightless substances
You wait on nature’s mischief.”

If she does so, she scars her soul, deeply. Lady MacBeth goes mad, after all, and kills herself.