Women & Power: A Manifesto

First published in 2017, Women & Power: A Manifesto brings together two lectures by classicist Mary Beard to examine the long history of women’s exclusion from positions of authority. Moving between ancient Greece and Rome and the political landscape of the present, Beard explores how women have been silenced, dismissed and denied a public voice. From Penelope in Homer’s Odyssey to contemporary women in politics, she reveals how deeply rooted assumptions about gender continue to shape who is permitted to speak and be heard.

With characteristic wit, erudition and clarity, Beard challenges the familiar narratives surrounding power, authority and misogyny, asking not simply how women might gain access to existing structures, but whether those structures themselves need to change. Drawing on classical literature, history and contemporary culture, she exposes the persistence of ideas that have shaped Western attitudes towards women for centuries. Both a work of classical scholarship and a concise feminist intervention, Women & Power is an illuminating contribution to the ongoing debate about gender, public life and the meaning of authority.

From the book

“When it comes to silencing women, Western culture has had thousands of years of practice.”

— Mary Beard, Women & Power: A Manifesto

On Women & Power: A Manifesto

“A modern feminist classic.”

— Rachel Cooke, The Observer