Women & Power: A Manifesto

Reviews

Michele Thomas

Beard’s arguments are very compelling. Short but to the point.

KL.Caley

Fantastic! ✍️ The book is based on two lectures previously given by Mary Beard.

📖 I picked this book up at the airport on the way to a holiday. It explores the male authority within the western culture from multiple historic viewpoints, Greek, Roman, it even has a quick look at Queen Elizabeth the first and her most famous words "I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too" or were they? Part of the joke was that women couldn’t speak properly in public – or rather, they couldn’t adapt their private speech (which in this case was largely fixated on sex) to the lofty idiom of male politics. The historical aspects of the book were most intriguing.

💥💥💥💥💥💥 Here is a brief extract so that you can see a sample of the writing yourself:In the early fourth century BC, for example, Aristophanes devoted a whole comedy to the ‘hilarious’ fantasy that women might take over running the state. 🗣 I often think it’s useful to see an extract of a book to get an idea of the writing style.

I had never heard of Mary Beard prior to it and it was just the concept and the initial pages which pulled me in but I must say it was an enjoyable read and I felt quite empowered after reading it. 👓 I wouldn’t say I agreed with every concept approached in this book, however, like all good books, it was certainly thought-provoking. It also stayed with me for quite some time after reading.