Deborah Cameron suggests that our resistance to women in positions of authority, and the reason the double bind itself exists, is in part related to the messy clash of feelings we have about our own mothers. “Our main historical model for female authority is the maternal variety,” she explains, “and it’s a form of power most people are at least somewhat ambivalent about, because we’ve all experienced the powerlessness of the child and the rebellion against maternal power which is part of growing
