WOMEN AND POWER BY MARY BEARD | DISCUSSION | JANUARY 2018

WOMEN AND POWER | BOOK REVIEW & DISCUSSION 

I've seen a lot about this book on social media, and since I am oncoming to becoming a sociology and English Literature student, this is the perfect book to understand the status of women and the power they have in society, as well as looking in to the relationships in literature. 'Women and Power' covers the historical and philosophical measures of how women were treated and seen in society. Beard shows the mythology of thousands of years ago and the relationship between men and women.

Beard the Classicist starts with the tales of women in fictional classic Western Literature Homer's 'Odyssey'. The recurrence of women being put out and silenced of men is remarkably a running theme in literature and ancient myth. Patriarchy is also a running theme throughout making sure that they know that women will never run the state of society, as Beard states 'Aristophanes devoted a whole comedy to the hilarious fantasy that women might take over running the state'. On the contrary we have come far from the stages of women being trapped in doors suffering in their invisible unpaid work duties, but there still is an engrained humour within men in society that women shouldn't be doing that job or 'you belong in the kitchen', which grants that we still have a lot to do. In Roman mythology Beard suggests of Ovid's Metamorphoses, the root of how women were silenced by being turned in to a different thing completely. I take from this that women have always seen as inferior to men; through the years women have often being trapped in their own homes looking after children, domestic work; not having the right to have their views heard. There's also some focus on America and the recent election of the balance of male and female power. However horrible it is that Donald Trump is now president of the most powerful country in the world; there is the question of whether it was gender debate as well as political. Even if people think that the position of women has improved, the backlash from the Trump supporters shows that it is still engrained in to society. 

The significant work of 'Herland' by Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman which is highlighted within the book shows how women living by themselves without men. They give birth to just girls during the 'perfection of parthenogenesis', but then a group of men arrive, disrupting their world and status quo. That says it all really, doesn't it. 

In 'Women and Power' focuses on the uses of literature and mythology that are the very roots of female inferiority and the basis of the uproar of patriarchal dominance in society. Even now, when there is a female Prime Minister, and an array of very powerful women in politics, business and other powerful roles, there's still sarcasm and 'male wit' that makes sure the women consciously will remain inferior because of their anatomy or status in terms of the male counterparts whether that be their brothers or classmates. Women have moved up in the world, but not too far that we are equal to the opposite sex. In many ways the domestic roles in the household has changed also; the 'modern man' and women with ravishing careers. This little book has made me think of how women have been undermined for thousands and thousands of years, and it's taken this long for women to be listened to. It's a powerful and short read that can be read in a matter of hours; for any person that is passionate about learning about the past and the ins and outs of society and its structure, most importantly the relationship between men and women and how it has shaped how we think about each other in the 21st century.