To take but one example, Bill Clinton is now a global statesman, and Monica Lewinsky was never able to find a career. I’m sure that a year from now, Petraeus will be on the lecture circuit, perhaps working for a university, appearing on television. What happened with Broadwell will be seen as a smudge on his record. For Broadwell—and Kelley—the road back is much steeper. And that’s a double standard perpetuated by the press.

It's an interesting theory, but I'm not buying it from that one data point.  In 1995 Clinton was president of the USA, and Lewinsky was nobody.  Regardless what they did, 18 years later, the most likely outcome is that he's doing the lecture circuit and she's still nobody.  Completely unamazingly, that's exactly what happened.

Can you think of an example where a powerful woman got into a scandal with an unremarkable man and her career ended and his was unaffected?  

There's doubtless a double standard, but Clinton's career trajectory is not evidence of it.  Even in Puritan America scandals fade pretty quickly.

Actually, powerful woman scandals with unremarkable men are quite rare.

I'm having trouble thinking of any.

Madonna and various other successful and therefore powerful singers, actresses and models have had affairs with bodyguards photographers and choreographers, but "scandal" would be a strong word as even gossip columns struggle to draw very sharp moral lines around entertainers.

Powerful women who need to be taken intellectually seriously to progress in their career are a different bag.

nikki haley? 

Nikki Haley won the election in spite of affair allegations so she's not a good double standard example either.

sure but I was trying to answer Adam's search for power woman with unknown dudes.  

Thanks Jared. It's still amazingly rare.