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I am sitting in Professor Mary Beard’s Cambridge kitchen, where the eminent 62-year-old classicist is showing me what happens when you type “Medusa” and then “Clinton” or “Merkel” into Google. Her computer screen fills with images of the two politicians as snarling, snake-haired gorgons. This illustrates Beard’s thesis that the myths of the ancient world still influence attitudes to women in power today — the subject of her forthcoming talk at the British Museum.

More potent even than Medusa — “an image of the powerful but despicable, frightening and disruptive woman… herself a rape victim, as it happens” — is the story common to many cultures, including Greece and Rome, “of a primitive matriarchy: the idea that once upon a time, women ruled”. Far from representing a proto-feminist idyll, this is a “classic justification of patriarchy” because, in each such myth, “in the end, the women f**k it up” and the male-dominated order reasserts itself. Hmmm. Is it just me, or does anyone else see this pattern repeating itself for Theresa May once Brexit proves a disaster in the short if not the long term? “She’s certainly drawn the short straw,” smiles Beard.

Actually, Beard thinks May is more “interesting” than many modern female politicians, partly because of her penchant for leopard-skin kitten heels. “Part of the problem — and this goes back to antiquity — is that we don’t have a model or a template for what a powerful woman looks like,” she says. “We only have templates that make them men.” Look at the pantsuit-and-short-hair combo of Clinton and Merkel, she says, or the way Margaret Thatcher was schooled to speak in a lower voice.

May has gone part of the way down this route, with her £995 leather trousers (which led to criticism of both her style and her perceived hypocrisy, whereas David Cameron’s appearance was only ever critiqued “because he was fat”). But generally, May “falls less into the leadership stereotype than the others. People laugh at her shoes but I think it’s a way of escaping this uniform of male dressing.”

The more Beard talks about the ancient and modern world, the more parallels one sees. Athena, Greek warrior-goddess of wisdom, is often portrayed as a feminist icon. But like Cleopatra, Elizabeth I and Elizabeth II she is an outlier, an anomaly, buttressed by male power, her existence completely alien to that of all normal women (Athena was even born of a man, springing from Zeus’s brow). Roman wives are either schemers, such as Livia, who supposedly poisoned her imperial husband Augustus, or docile creatures, who must not only be above reproach but be seen to be above reproach. You can slot any number of American First Ladies into one or other bracket.

What about Melania Trump, I ask? Her decision not to move to Washington, and to sue a newspaper over loss of potential earnings springing in part from her husband’s position, has been seen as a break with the dutiful, decorous past. “The First Lady is absolutely trapped,” Beard says. “If you do something you are damned: if you do nothing you are damned. Maybe what Melania is going to do is not play the game. In which case, clever.” Then again, she points out, Melania didn’t have great success when she did try to play the game, giving a speech that was directly plagiarised from one by Michelle Obama, so maybe her withdrawal “is not the principled decision we might make it”.

As an aside, we note that the #freemelania campaign on social media suggests she is a woman without agency, who needs to be “saved”, much as the “Don’t Do It Di” campaign in the Eighties suggested Diana Spencer needed rescuing from her impending marriage to Prince Charles (rightly, as it turned out). Beard is similarly exercised by the patronising tone of the #letlizspeak hashtag that spread after senator Elizabeth Warren was prevented from reading a letter by Martin Luther King’s widow Coretta in Congress, to protest the proposed appointment of Jeff Sessions to the Supreme Court. “Several men read [the letter] afterwards and were not thrown out of the chamber, including Bernie Sanders,” says Beard. “I mean, bloody extraordinary.”

In any case, Melania is just “a clothes horse” who, at the presidential inauguration, followed docilely behind her husband (much, she notes, as Kate Middleton follows Prince William). Trump, she adds, beat “a woman of extreme knowledge and competence” in the election by trumpeting his own ignorance. “This is the first period in my life where ignorance is something to be proud of,” she says. “But it’s male ignorance, bluff ignorance. Andrea Leadsom couldn’t get away with it. She just looked thick.”

The Trump administration throws up another extraordinary parallel. Aristophanes’ comedy, Lysistrata, in which women end a war by instituting a sex ban, is sometimes portrayed as a pioneering work in gender politics. But Beard points out: a) a woman representing Greece is symbolically carved up at the end and, b) the play “was originally performed by a load of blokes with cushions down [their fronts] to make big tits: pantomime women. Feminist play? Get real, sunshine.”

Donald Trump's Family Album 42 show all Donald Trump's Family Album 1/42 The young Donald Trump, on the left, in an old family photo posted on his Instagram page Donald J Trump/Instagram 2/42 Pictured when he was just four years old Donald J Trump/Instagram 3/42 Robert Trump, Fred Trump, Donald Trump, Ivana Trump and Elizabeth Trump attend 38th Annual Horatio Alger Awards Dinner on 10 May 1985 at the Waldorf Hotel in New York Ron Galella/WireImage 4/42 Donald and Ivana wave to reporters as they board their yacht 'The Trump Princess' in 1988 AP 5/42 Donald and Ivana in the 'Ruby Room' (a guest room) on 'The Trump Princess' Mario Ruiz/Rex 6/42 With Ivana in December 1989 at a social engagement in New York AFP/Getty Images 7/42 Comforting his by-now estranged wife Ivana in 1990 after the funeral of her father Milos Zelnicek in Czechoslovakia 8/42 Trump and new love Marla Maples confirming reports of her pregnancy in April 1993 Hai Do/AFP/Getty Images 9/42 Marla and Trump leave St Mary's Hospital on 13 October 1993 in West Palm Beach, Florida, with their newborn baby girl Tiffany AP 10/42 Trump dips Maples after the couple married in a private ceremony amid tight security at the Plaza Hotel in December 1993 Bib Strong/AFP/Getty Images 11/42 Now with Melanie Knaus at VH1's Divas Live concert at the Beacon Theater in New York City on 13 April 1999 Diane Freed/Getty Images 12/42 Daughter Ivanka attends the premiere of HBO's 'Born Rich' at The Screening Room on 15 October 2003 in New York Evan Agostini/Getty Images 13/42 Trump with Ivanka, left, and girlfriend Melania at the 'Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century' Costume Institute benefit gala on 26 April 2004 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York Evan Agostini/Getty Images 14/42 Melania Knauss on her wedding day to Trump at The Episcopal Church of Bethesda by-the-Sea, Palm Beach, Florida on 22 January 2005 Jeffrey Langlois/PB Daily News/Palm Beach Daily News/Rex 15/42 Donald Jnr, Trump and Ivanka at the offices of Trump Tower in 2006 promoting a news season of 'The Apprentice' Clark Samuels/Rex Features 16/42 Donald Trump holds a replica of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as his wife Melania holds their son Barron in Los Angeles on 16 January 2007 Chris Pizzello/Reuters 17/42 Ten-month-old son Barron walks with the help of his mother Melania after his father was honored with the 2,327th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 16 January 2007 Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images 18/42 Donald Trump Jr. poses with his pregnant wife Vanessa at the same Walk of Fame ceremony Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images 19/42 Trump and his children Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric write their name in cement after making hand prints to inaugurate the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago in September 2008 Amanda Rivkin/AFP/Getty Images 20/42 Marla Maples and Tiffany Trump walk through central London on 27 August 2009 Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images/Getty Images 21/42 Jared Kushner and Ivanka at their wedding on 25 October 2009 at Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster, New Jersey Brian Marcus/Fred Marcus Photography via Getty Images 22/42 Donald Jr is pictured as work begins on the golf course being built by his father in Balmedie, near Aberdeen, Scotland, on 28 October 2009 Derek Blair/AFP/Getty Images 23/42 Kai Madison Trump sits on her father Donald Trump Jr's shoulders at Z100's Jingle Ball on 9 December 2011 Michael Loccisano/Getty Images 24/42 Trump with Ivanka onboard his private jet as they arrive at Aberdeen Airport on 15 May 2014 Andrew Milligan/PA 25/42 Trump watches the action with wife Melania and son Barron during the Third Round of the Ricoh Women's British Open at Turnberry Golf Club on 1 August 2015 in Turnberry, Scotland David Cannon/Getty Images 26/42 Melania, Ivanka, Donald Jr and Eric Trump look on during the Republican Presidential debate at the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in Charleston, South Carolina on 14 January 2016 Timothy A.Clary/AFP/Getty Images 27/42 Trump stands with his family while discussing the presidential primary voting results in Indiana during a speech in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on 3 May 2016 Justin Lane/EPA 28/42 The now Republian nominee for President arrives at his Trump Turnberry Resort with son Eric and granddaughter Kai on 24 June 2016 in Ayr, Scotland Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images 29/42 Melania kisses her husband after delivering a speech on the first day of the Republican National Convention on 18 July 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images 30/42 Donald Trump Jr. along with Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump take part in the roll call in support of their father on the second day of the Republican National Convention Joe Raedle/Getty Images 31/42 Ivanka Trump waves to the crowd as she walks on stage to deliver a speech during the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention Joe Raedle/Getty Images 32/42 Trump embraces Barron after he delivered his speech on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention John Moore/Getty Images 33/42 Tiffany Trump attends the Taoray Wang fashion show during New York Fashion Week: The Shows at The Dock, Skylight at Moynihan Station on 12 September 2016 in New York Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images 34/42 Tiffany appears to void a kiss from her dad following his debate with Hillary Clinton in 2016 MSNBC 35/42 Standing with his family at his 2016 US presidential Election Night event in New York on 08 November 2016 Shawn Thew/EPA 36/42 Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump embrace as his wife Melania Trump, Jared Kushner and Tiffany Trump look on after delivering his acceptance speech at the New York Hilton Midtown on 9 November 2016 Mark Wilson/Getty Images 37/42 President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump are greeted by President Barack Obama and his wife first lady Michelle Obama, upon arriving at the White House on 20 January 2017 Getty Images 38/42 U.S. President Donald Trump sings to the song "My Way" while dancing with first lady Melania Trump during the inaugural Liberty Ball on 20 January 2017 Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images 39/42 U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks from the Truman Balcony with first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron Trump during the 139th Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House ON 17 April 2017 Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images 40/42 Pope Francis walks along with US President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump during a private audience at the Vatican on 24 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images 41/42 U.S. President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, their son Barron, National Turkey Federation Chairman Carl Wittenburg and his family on 21 November 2017 Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images 42/42 President Donald Trump and the first lady Melania Trump attend the 95th annual National Christmas Tree Lighting held by the National Park Service at the White House Ellipse in Washington, D.C., on 30 November 2017 Astrid Riecken/Getty Images 1/42 The young Donald Trump, on the left, in an old family photo posted on his Instagram page Donald J Trump/Instagram 2/42 Pictured when he was just four years old Donald J Trump/Instagram 3/42 Robert Trump, Fred Trump, Donald Trump, Ivana Trump and Elizabeth Trump attend 38th Annual Horatio Alger Awards Dinner on 10 May 1985 at the Waldorf Hotel in New York Ron Galella/WireImage 4/42 Donald and Ivana wave to reporters as they board their yacht 'The Trump Princess' in 1988 AP 5/42 Donald and Ivana in the 'Ruby Room' (a guest room) on 'The Trump Princess' Mario Ruiz/Rex 6/42 With Ivana in December 1989 at a social engagement in New York AFP/Getty Images 7/42 Comforting his by-now estranged wife Ivana in 1990 after the funeral of her father Milos Zelnicek in Czechoslovakia 8/42 Trump and new love Marla Maples confirming reports of her pregnancy in April 1993 Hai Do/AFP/Getty Images 9/42 Marla and Trump leave St Mary's Hospital on 13 October 1993 in West Palm Beach, Florida, with their newborn baby girl Tiffany AP 10/42 Trump dips Maples after the couple married in a private ceremony amid tight security at the Plaza Hotel in December 1993 Bib Strong/AFP/Getty Images 11/42 Now with Melanie Knaus at VH1's Divas Live concert at the Beacon Theater in New York City on 13 April 1999 Diane Freed/Getty Images 12/42 Daughter Ivanka attends the premiere of HBO's 'Born Rich' at The Screening Room on 15 October 2003 in New York Evan Agostini/Getty Images 13/42 Trump with Ivanka, left, and girlfriend Melania at the 'Dangerous Liaisons: Fashion and Furniture in the 18th Century' Costume Institute benefit gala on 26 April 2004 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York Evan Agostini/Getty Images 14/42 Melania Knauss on her wedding day to Trump at The Episcopal Church of Bethesda by-the-Sea, Palm Beach, Florida on 22 January 2005 Jeffrey Langlois/PB Daily News/Palm Beach Daily News/Rex 15/42 Donald Jnr, Trump and Ivanka at the offices of Trump Tower in 2006 promoting a news season of 'The Apprentice' Clark Samuels/Rex Features 16/42 Donald Trump holds a replica of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as his wife Melania holds their son Barron in Los Angeles on 16 January 2007 Chris Pizzello/Reuters 17/42 Ten-month-old son Barron walks with the help of his mother Melania after his father was honored with the 2,327th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 16 January 2007 Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images 18/42 Donald Trump Jr. poses with his pregnant wife Vanessa at the same Walk of Fame ceremony Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images 19/42 Trump and his children Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric write their name in cement after making hand prints to inaugurate the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago in September 2008 Amanda Rivkin/AFP/Getty Images 20/42 Marla Maples and Tiffany Trump walk through central London on 27 August 2009 Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images/Getty Images 21/42 Jared Kushner and Ivanka at their wedding on 25 October 2009 at Trump National Golf Club, Bedminster, New Jersey Brian Marcus/Fred Marcus Photography via Getty Images 22/42 Donald Jr is pictured as work begins on the golf course being built by his father in Balmedie, near Aberdeen, Scotland, on 28 October 2009 Derek Blair/AFP/Getty Images 23/42 Kai Madison Trump sits on her father Donald Trump Jr's shoulders at Z100's Jingle Ball on 9 December 2011 Michael Loccisano/Getty Images 24/42 Trump with Ivanka onboard his private jet as they arrive at Aberdeen Airport on 15 May 2014 Andrew Milligan/PA 25/42 Trump watches the action with wife Melania and son Barron during the Third Round of the Ricoh Women's British Open at Turnberry Golf Club on 1 August 2015 in Turnberry, Scotland David Cannon/Getty Images 26/42 Melania, Ivanka, Donald Jr and Eric Trump look on during the Republican Presidential debate at the North Charleston Coliseum and Performing Arts Center in Charleston, South Carolina on 14 January 2016 Timothy A.Clary/AFP/Getty Images 27/42 Trump stands with his family while discussing the presidential primary voting results in Indiana during a speech in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York on 3 May 2016 Justin Lane/EPA 28/42 The now Republian nominee for President arrives at his Trump Turnberry Resort with son Eric and granddaughter Kai on 24 June 2016 in Ayr, Scotland Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images 29/42 Melania kisses her husband after delivering a speech on the first day of the Republican National Convention on 18 July 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images 30/42 Donald Trump Jr. along with Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump take part in the roll call in support of their father on the second day of the Republican National Convention Joe Raedle/Getty Images 31/42 Ivanka Trump waves to the crowd as she walks on stage to deliver a speech during the evening session on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention Joe Raedle/Getty Images 32/42 Trump embraces Barron after he delivered his speech on the fourth day of the Republican National Convention John Moore/Getty Images 33/42 Tiffany Trump attends the Taoray Wang fashion show during New York Fashion Week: The Shows at The Dock, Skylight at Moynihan Station on 12 September 2016 in New York Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images 34/42 Tiffany appears to void a kiss from her dad following his debate with Hillary Clinton in 2016 MSNBC 35/42 Standing with his family at his 2016 US presidential Election Night event in New York on 08 November 2016 Shawn Thew/EPA 36/42 Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump embrace as his wife Melania Trump, Jared Kushner and Tiffany Trump look on after delivering his acceptance speech at the New York Hilton Midtown on 9 November 2016 Mark Wilson/Getty Images 37/42 President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump are greeted by President Barack Obama and his wife first lady Michelle Obama, upon arriving at the White House on 20 January 2017 Getty Images 38/42 U.S. President Donald Trump sings to the song "My Way" while dancing with first lady Melania Trump during the inaugural Liberty Ball on 20 January 2017 Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images 39/42 U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks from the Truman Balcony with first lady Melania Trump and their son Barron Trump during the 139th Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House ON 17 April 2017 Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images 40/42 Pope Francis walks along with US President Donald Trump and US First Lady Melania Trump during a private audience at the Vatican on 24 May 2017 AFP/Getty Images 41/42 U.S. President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, their son Barron, National Turkey Federation Chairman Carl Wittenburg and his family on 21 November 2017 Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images 42/42 President Donald Trump and the first lady Melania Trump attend the 95th annual National Christmas Tree Lighting held by the National Park Service at the White House Ellipse in Washington, D.C., on 30 November 2017 Astrid Riecken/Getty Images

Today, though, comedians Melissa McCarthy and Rosie O’Donnell have got under Trump’s skin by brilliantly impersonating his henchmen Sean Spicer and Steve Bannon on Saturday Night Live and on Twitter. “Very funny, wonderfully self-ironising and quite powerful,” says Beard. “They are getting to Trump because he said he didn’t like his aides looking weak. Which meant: I don’t like my aides being impersonated by a female. One of the ways of abusing men is to make them like women.”

Part of the problem with female power, and something she will suggest in her lecture, is that our definition of it is too narrow. “There is a tendency to think of CEOs of FTSE-listed companies or women in Parliament,” she says. Having women in such positions is, of course, important but not the be-all and end-all. The country with the highest proportion of female MPs is Rwanda, she tells me, closely followed by Bolivia, and neither is exactly a feminist paradise. And the experiences of Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg and her fellow female corporate high-flyers is probably as remote from most women’s lives as that of Athena. Part of the reason Hillary Clinton lost the election, Beard thinks, is that she was perceived to have already got through the glass ceiling (itself an unhelpful concept) and done little for women still trapped beneath.

There must be some powerful women outside business, I insist. What about Caitlin Moran, JK Rowling, Helena Kennedy QC or Baroness Susan Greenfield? Even as the names leave my lips I realise they all operate in professions still dominated by men. “Maybe we need to think more widely about what power is, where it resides, what we mean by it,” Beard says. “My mother was a headmistress of a primary school. In a sense maybe we ought to be thinking of recognising that as power, as well as a woman being the boss of Santander. What about local councillors, local magistrates, women running offices? That’s power.”

Women's marches around the world 13 show all Women's marches around the world 1/13 Outside the U.S. Embassy on Pariser Platz beside Brandenburg Gate, Berlin REUTERS 2/13 Thousands rally in support of equal rights in Sydney EPA 3/13 Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March in Macau Getty Images 4/13 Protesters take part in the Women's March in Paris, France REUTERS 5/13 Protesters take part in the Women's March in Paris, France REUTERS 6/13 American citizens take part in the Women's March in front of the US Consulate in Florence, Italy EPA 7/13 Protesters pose for a photograph as they take part in the Women's March on Dublin REUTERS 8/13 A woman holds a cartoon depicting Donald Trump during the Women's March rally in Barcelona AP 9/13 Protesters gather for the Women's March on Philadelphia AP 10/13 Protesters gather during the Women's March on Washington Getty Images 11/13 Women shout slogans as they take part in the #IWillGoOut rally, to show solidarity with the Women's March in Washington, along a street in Bengaluru, India, REUTERS 12/13 A protester outside the American Embassy in London PA 13/13 Protesters carrying placards take part in a Women's March in Stockholm, Sweden AP 1/13 Outside the U.S. Embassy on Pariser Platz beside Brandenburg Gate, Berlin REUTERS 2/13 Thousands rally in support of equal rights in Sydney EPA 3/13 Protesters hold placards as they take part at the Women's March in Macau Getty Images 4/13 Protesters take part in the Women's March in Paris, France REUTERS 5/13 Protesters take part in the Women's March in Paris, France REUTERS 6/13 American citizens take part in the Women's March in front of the US Consulate in Florence, Italy EPA 7/13 Protesters pose for a photograph as they take part in the Women's March on Dublin REUTERS 8/13 A woman holds a cartoon depicting Donald Trump during the Women's March rally in Barcelona AP 9/13 Protesters gather for the Women's March on Philadelphia AP 10/13 Protesters gather during the Women's March on Washington Getty Images 11/13 Women shout slogans as they take part in the #IWillGoOut rally, to show solidarity with the Women's March in Washington, along a street in Bengaluru, India, REUTERS 12/13 A protester outside the American Embassy in London PA 13/13 Protesters carrying placards take part in a Women's March in Stockholm, Sweden AP

Beard defines power in two ways. One, it’s about being able to get things done. Two, it’s about being taken seriously, having one’s expertise respected. In that sense, she lives among powerful women in the Cambridge University community, although they are still paid less than male colleagues. And whenever she gets into a spat on Twitter, as she did recently with Ukip funder Arron Banks over the fall of the Roman Empire, her knowledge is immediately derided. “Someone called me ‘sweetie’ on Twitter the other day because I’d forgotten an apostrophe,” she says. “That’s not taking me seriously.” (Conversely, the late TV critic A A Gill respected her knowledge but complained that she didn’t make enough of an effort for the cameras: Beard has fascinating things to say about the link between cosmetics and the perception of women being “deceptive and dissembling”, dating back to the ancient world, but that’s another story.)

It all sounds a bit depressing but Beard is upbeat. “I don’t want to end this lecture by saying, oh God, girls have got to give up,” she beams. “If you say, over my lifetime, have I been the witness of women being taken more seriously, then the answer is yes. You don’t overturn x-thousand years of patriarchy in a generation. The point of looking at this stuff” — she whacks the volume of Aristophanes in front of her — “is that this stuff is embedded in the way we think.

“We are not constrained by classical antiquity, thank goodness. We can do better. But if we really want to get to a position where women are taken seriously, then we have to take our focus away from being exclusively on a particular form of elite woman. We have to retell stories of women’s power, re-evaluate what power is. It has to incorporate the head of a primary school.”

And it has to involve a corresponding readjustment for men. “All power given to women in our current culture has to be power that men lose.” She smiles: “I can name about 100 men in Parliament we could happily get rid of.”

Follow Nick Curtis on Twitter: @nickcurtis

Mary Beard’s lecture, Women in Power, at the British Museum on March 3, is sold out but will be broadcast on Radio 4 on March 6 and published in the London Review of Books.