Don't get me wrong. I like Michelle Obama. She seems a charming, fragrant human being who "does hugs", etc. If people want to festoon trophies upon her for being "caring", "motherly" or having attractively toned arms in designer dresses, be my guest. But powerful . . . why?

Does Forbes think Michelle is more powerful than Janet Napolitano, head of US homeland security, because she gets to go to bed with Barack, while poor Janet just gets to protect the entire country? Apparently, Michelle Obama is also more powerful than German chancellor Angela Merkel - but then, sad sap Angela is only lobbying for a non-permanent seat on the UN council, while Michelle . . . well, Michelle has the real power. The president plainly couldn't get up in the morning if he didn't have her sunshine smile and the promise of her unconditional love. Yes, I feel sick, too.

It is, of course, a backwards notion that being on the arm of a powerful man raises a woman's stock more than her own personal achievement ever could, but in Britain we're just as bad. We love a "wife and girlfriend", and no serious Woman of the Year awards - organised by women themselves, I might add - is complete without Coleen Rooney, Abigail Clancy or Danielle Lineker clomping up the red carpet to honour their nominations for most inspirational being. Oh pipe down, you female transorbital neuroendoscopy specialists at the back, Coleen has a children's book deal and will almost certainly help choose the colour of the cover.

And so, we give the message to young girls that it's better to be an accoutrement to a man with a skill, than actually to be skilful. I don't have a daughter, so I don't know how you tackle the question: "But Mummy, why hasn't Coleen split up with Wayne if the paper thinks he likes to go to bed with other girls?" But Aunty Grace's answer would be: "Well, Coleen's entire media value comes from being connected to him, so she probably knows that if she leaves him she'll be absolutely shafted."

I do, however, think there's a sneakier, misogynistic message at play by Forbes when it places Michelle Obama above Nancy Pelosi, the first female speaker of the US House of Representatives (making her, when elected in 2007, the highest-ranking woman in US political history). They're clearly implying that women with whom men are smitten can have a skulduggerous and manipulative influence.