First, women are allowed to speak out as victims and as martyrs, usually to preface their own deaths.
Hortensia ...is acting explicitly as the spokesperson for the women in Rome (and for women only), after they have been subject to a special wealth tax to fund a dubious war effort.
A woman speaking in public was, in most circumstances, by definition not a woman.
It is still the case that when listeners hear a female voice, they do not hear a voice that connotes authority.
How can we make ourselves more aware about the processes and prejudices that make us not listen to her.
...women simply don’t recognize their own achievements
... my basic premise is that our mental, cultural template for a powerful person remains resolutely male.
The greek imagination more generally, has offered our imaginations a series of unforgettable women: Medea, Clytemnestra and Antigone among many others.
... they are portrayed as abusers rather than users of power.
One thing that many of these women share is a capacity to turn the symbols that usually disempower women to their own advantage. ...
I don’t think patience is the answer either, even though gradual change will almost certainly take place. ...
... if women are not perceived to be fully within the structures of power, surely it is power that we need to redefine rather than women.
... the presence of large numbers of women in parliament means that parliament is where power is not. (Saudi Arabian National Council)
What I have in mind is the ability to be effective, to make a difference in the world, and the right to be taken seriously, together as much as individually.
