I read the 2018 updated version to Mary Beard's Women & Power which comes with a a second afterwards in light of the #MeToo era and more considerations on her initial thoughts.

The book itself is split into two core chapters and themes as it discusses the public voice of women and women in power. Both are compelling argued and raise many questions, which is the type of non-fiction I like.

Beard questions the institutes and structures of power and how from classical times society has been structured to silence women. She discusses the idea that for women to take power or to have a voice they have to become androgynous, dress in mail wear, lower their voices. She questions why women's voices do not have authority. This is not just about women in leadership roles, but how in all aspects of life the patriarchy seeks to silence women's voices.

However, the most compelling arguments for me were her questions about how we frame women's power, women's access to power and the language we use. The terms such as "breaking boundaries", "grabbing power" are actually more harmful when women are in these roles of power.

Beard supplements her studies with classical figures like Athena and Medusa, to Elizabeth I and Soujourner Truth, and finally more contemporary women like Angela Merkel, Diane Abbott and Hillary Clinton to show the ways in which women's power and voices are framed and attacked in the Western world.

In her afterwords Beard is incredibly self aware and reflective of the power of time on speeches and thoughts and I found this a short, but definitely worthwhile read.