most ardent defender or “right-hand woman,” trusted to use his
authority well and to guard his prerogatives.
Many dedicated executive secretaries who devote their lives to
their bosses are Athena women. Their loyalty to their chosen great
man is unwavering. When I think of Rosemary Woods, Richard
Nixon’s personal secretary, and that 18-minute erasure on the Wa-
tergate tapes, I wonder if Athena’s hand was present. I know it
would have been like Athena to have realized the “wisdom” of
getting rid of such evidence and like Athena to have erased it without
feeling guilt.
The father’s daughter quality may make an Athena woman a de-
fender of patriarchal right and values, which emphasize tradition
and the legitimacy of male power. Athena women usually support
the status quo and accept the established norms as guidelines of
behavior. Such women are usually politically conservative; they
resist change. Athena has little sympathy for the unsuccessful,
downtrodden, or rebellious.
For example, Phyllis Schlafly—a Phi Beta Kappa with a master’s
degree from Radcliffe, and an extraordinarily well-organized and
articulate woman—led the opposition to the Equal Rights Amend-
ment. Before her leadership of the opposition, ratification seemed
inevitable. In the first twelve months of its life, the year before
Phyllis Schlafly formed her organization, STOP ERA, in October
1972, the ERA rolled up thirty ratifications. But once she led her
troops into battle, the momentum stopped. In the next eight years,
only five more states ratified—and five of the thirty-five ratified
states voted to rescind their ratification. Schlafly, whose biographer
called her The Sweetheart of the Silent Majority,^3 is a contemporary
Athena in the role of an archetypal father’s daughter, defending
patriarchal values.
THE GOLDEN MEAN
When the Athena archetype is strong, the woman shows a natural
tendency to do everything in moderation, to live within “the Golden
Mean”—which was the Athenian ideal. Excesses are usually the
result of intense feelings or needs, or of a passionate, righteous,
fearful, or greedy nature—all of which are antithetical to rational
Athena. The Golden Mean is
Goddesses in Everywoman