Women and Power

Maggie Smith before Aunt Violet: Miss Jean Brodie

With Hillary Clinton's candidacy for President much as been written about whether she is actually making history or would be if she is elected.  And much has been said about her posing a threat to males. The words "emasculating" and "castrating" keep floating up from the loam.

Actually, I do not buy the idea that women who function in positions of power are a threat to the male ego. This may be because some of the best teachers I had in medical training were women. They were in a position of power over me but they infused me with new power by teaching me how to do things, an arterial stick, a mental status assessment. They left me more powerful, not less.

The Countess Markievicz

Power has been said to be an aphrodisiac, and Henry Kissinger is often the prime example. Henry, the ultimate nerd, a Dr. Strangelove look alike, dated beautiful women and nobody could understand why women accepted his invitations and the answer was always, "Well, power is an aphrodisiac." I cannot speak for these women, but the man was, is, and always has been a wimp and a phony, which is the worse sort of wimp.

What makes a woman powerful, in my eyes at least, is not the office or job title, but her personal qualities. Women like Aunt Violet of Downton Abbey, who can cut anyone down to size with a single line, a single apt observation. Those are the women who wield real power. 

Kathleen Lynn 1874-1955

Women who can see past the glitter, the uniform, the money to the essence of a man are the most dangerous and most interesting women. And the best women of all are those who may by birth or marriage or personal attainment have reached a level of comfort and security, but who remain sympathetic to and dedicated to those who have been left behind: women of a liberal persuasion who cut down to size the posers and the cruel and the men indifferent to the suffering of their fellow men.

Today's New York Times carries a discussion of women who were potent forces in the Irish Easter Uprising in the early 20 th century (circa 1917). The Irish, over the years have produced a disproportionate number of women who refused to be cowed.

The hung over day after St. Patrick's day is a good time to remember what Ireland really gave the world, and it goes way beyond Guinness, James Joyce and the Kennedys.