The New York Times ran an interesting interview last week with Paula Broadwell. Perhaps the name sounds familiar but you can’t quite place the face? She is the woman who had a romantic relationship with General David Petraeus. When the nature of the relationship was revealed, and the nature of the sensitive information he shared with her, he resigned his position as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Currently, he is a partner at Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts, & Co., serving as the chairman of the KKR Global Institute. He is a White House advisor and has affiliations with three universities, including Harvard.

But what of Ms. Broadwell?  She had her own stellar background, having graduated top in her class from West Point and holding two Masters Degrees, one of which was from Harvard. She was the deputy director of the Center for Counterterrorism at Tufts University and a research associate at Harvard.  But professionally, she appears to have stalled since news of the relationship broke. She lost her military security clearance and her promotion from major to lieutenant colonel was revoked.

In reading the interview, I could not help but think of Monica Lewinsky. She has graduated from the London School of Economics which is an incredible achievement. But in a recent Vanity Fair interview Ms. Lewinsky said that she still has had difficulty getting a job, with most possible employers citing her past as an impediment to possible employment. Obviously, the same could not be said of Bill Clinton’s employment prospects since the scandal.

Why is it that the women  involved in relationships with high profile men seem to suffer professionally much more  than the men? As a society, are we levying judgment against the women but not the men? And, if so, why?  If we have the right to judge-which I don’t believe that we do-aren’t both parties equally at fault? After all, doesn’t it take two to tango?