1 00:00:08,109 --> 00:00:12,150 OK, OK, everybody, I'm going to go round. 2 00:00:12,650 --> 00:00:16,670 Thatcher had her handbag, Elizabeth I has her globe. 3 00:00:16,829 --> 00:00:22,070 What signifier of power would you like to be represented with? 4 00:00:22,629 --> 00:00:23,109 Valerie? 5 00:00:23,730 --> 00:00:26,390 I think it would have to be a scarf, it would have to be a kente, 6 00:00:26,690 --> 00:00:29,769 because they signify, for me, 7 00:00:30,149 --> 00:00:32,369 something really important about my heritage. 8 00:00:32,770 --> 00:00:34,130 Zayda, your signifier? 9 00:00:34,590 --> 00:00:36,350 I think, for me, it's something quite unusual, 10 00:00:36,350 --> 00:00:39,149 because I run around the House of Lords with it now and it's a backpack. 11 00:00:39,869 --> 00:00:42,689 For me, I think it represents a sense of purpose 12 00:00:42,689 --> 00:00:46,689 and, yeah, it makes me feel a little bit like Dora the Explorer as well, I think. 13 00:00:48,929 --> 00:00:50,229 Julia, come on, what about you? 14 00:00:50,229 --> 00:00:53,689 I actually think at the, you know, the height of power, 15 00:00:54,329 --> 00:00:55,929 you know, Prime Minister and the like, 16 00:00:56,270 --> 00:00:58,549 the signifier of power is empty hands, 17 00:00:58,990 --> 00:01:02,109 that there are other people who carry things for you. 18 00:01:02,369 --> 00:01:04,290 I'm going to tell you what mine is 19 00:01:04,290 --> 00:01:11,909 and it is blue tights, because what I am trying to do is I am trying to reclaim 20 00:01:11,909 --> 00:01:23,079 the image of the blue stocking for female power. I want to welcome you to this episode of Inside 21 00:01:23,079 --> 00:01:30,180 Culture, where we're talking about the cultural stereotypes of women, particularly female 22 00:01:30,180 --> 00:01:37,939 politicians? Are they more complicated than we think? And how does that affect men as well? 23 00:01:38,299 --> 00:02:00,019 So gentlemen, please don't switch off. Off we go. I first learned to think about women on top 24 00:02:00,019 --> 00:02:09,080 in my day job in Cambridge. The images I saw around me here in Newnham College 25 00:02:09,080 --> 00:02:11,620 were of rather austere ladies. 26 00:02:12,259 --> 00:02:15,699 Not exactly how I thought I wanted to end up. 27 00:02:23,229 --> 00:02:24,849 One was different, though, 28 00:02:25,050 --> 00:02:29,569 and really seemed to defy the stereotypes of the female prof. 29 00:02:30,050 --> 00:02:33,090 It was a portrait of Jane Ellen Harrison, 30 00:02:33,650 --> 00:02:37,009 a celebrity classicist of the early 20th century. 31 00:02:37,770 --> 00:02:43,229 Even in her late 50s here, she still seems a bit of a diva. 32 00:02:43,229 --> 00:02:45,909 She's got a touch of glamour. 33 00:02:46,409 --> 00:02:50,250 And, so the story goes, a bottle of whisky 34 00:02:50,250 --> 00:02:53,689 hidden under the chaise longue that she's sprawling on. 35 00:02:55,150 --> 00:02:58,270 But over the decades, I've come to see 36 00:02:58,270 --> 00:03:00,830 that there's another star in this painting. 37 00:03:01,210 --> 00:03:03,889 That's Augustus John, who painted it. 38 00:03:04,370 --> 00:03:10,490 I suspect that what now appears as a depiction of female empowerment 39 00:03:10,490 --> 00:03:17,229 is just as much the glamorising fantasy of the man who painted it. 40 00:03:18,550 --> 00:03:22,009 Do representations like this actually matter? 41 00:03:22,669 --> 00:03:25,969 And how do they relate to the real-life experiences 42 00:03:25,969 --> 00:03:28,710 of women at the top all wanting to get there? 43 00:03:29,509 --> 00:03:33,750 Helping me to explore this are former MP Edwina Currie 44 00:03:33,750 --> 00:03:36,250 and actor Adjoa Andoh. 45 00:03:36,250 --> 00:03:44,689 And to thrash it all about a bit is an eye-wateringly high-flying group, Julia Gillard, former Prime 46 00:03:44,689 --> 00:03:51,770 Minister of Australia, and Baronesses Valerie Amos and Saeeda Vasi, who both served as Cabinet 47 00:03:51,770 --> 00:03:54,169 Ministers in the UK. 48 00:03:54,169 --> 00:03:59,189 And as if that's not enough, we'll also be hearing from the woman who's come closest 49 00:03:59,189 --> 00:04:02,490 of all to becoming President of the United States.