As far back as history records, women have been punished for having power, real or imagined. Four hundred years ago, that punishment came in the form of witch hunts and burning at the stake. Today, it’s a little more subtle: the gaslight instead of the pyre, the HR meeting instead of the mob. The smoke smells a little more like burnt coffee than brimstone and the stake is less pole in the ground and more pink slip.
The Pyre
In the 16th and 17th centuries, “corruption” was often how a witch was found. If food spoiled, it was cursed. If a wound festered, it was hexed. To be fair hygiene and science weren’t exactly trending yet so someone needed to take the blame. The “who” behind the blame? Usually a woman. Women’s work conveniently put her at the scene of the crime for all to see.
Women cooked, healed, birthed, brewed, and managed the invisible labor that kept everything alive. That was power, quiet, domestic, essential power, and it scared people senseless, literally. So when milk curdled or crops failed, someone had to pay. And since the village couldn’t burn humidity or bacteria, they burned her.
The Performance Review
Five centuries later, the dress code has changed, but the playbook hasn’t.
Corporate witch hunts look different, but the outcome is eerily familiar. Women who rise in power are often branded instead of burned. They get labeled difficult, unlikable, or too ambitious. Their wins are minimized (“she got lucky”), and their losses hang like an albatross. The fire is quieter, less public, now, but it still consumes.
In 2015, there were more Fortune 500 CEOs named John than there were women of any name. And while this has gotten better, it’s hard to claim workplace equality less than 10 years ago a single first name outpaced half the population.
And still, we see the same survival strategies. Women distance themselves from female colleagues to avoid guilt by association, mirroring the same fear that made 17th-century women point fingers instead of clasping hands. The boardroom might have ergonomic chairs instead of gallows, but the power dynamics are just as medieval.
The Good Girl Tax
Even now, women are expected to balance competence with charm, confidence with humility, ambition with likability. A corporate tightrope that men don’t have to walk. One step wrong, and you’re not “leadership material.” Step too confidently, and you’re a “threat.”
This is what sociologists call the good girl tax: the invisible toll of being expected to please everyone just to exist safely in a system built to distrust you. Centuries ago, the crime was speaking too loudly or having ideas. Today, it’s speaking up in a meeting, or disagreeing with the status quo.
The patriarchy has simply rebranded its persecution strategy. It no longer lights pyres to burn the witches; it lights performance reviews and wields corporate politics.
The Price of Power
We call it “corporate culture,” but it smells a lot like smoke and fire.
Four hundred years ago, the accused were told to confess, to repent, to prove their innocence. Today, women are told to lean in, smile more, take feedback better. The goal is the same: compliance disguised as empowerment.
But maybe we don’t need to burn the patriarchy; just outlast it. Keep the flame, lose the fear. Because after centuries of surviving the fire, maybe it’s time we start owning it.
