Structure

The book is divided into two nonfiction essays, “The Public Voice of Women,” and “Women in Power,” which stem from separate lectures Beard delivered in 2014 and 2017, respectively. There is also a Preface, in the front of the book, where Beard briefly relays to the reader that her mother is her source of inspiration for this book. The essays are written in loose, conversational prose that approximates the rhetorical style of public speech, yet Beard moves through her examples in an argumentative and organized fashion.

Each essay begins with a story or anecdote that frames the thesis of her essay: in “The Public Voice of Women,” she opens with an anecdote from Homer’s Odyssey, and in “Women in Power,” she begins with a discussion of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland. Then she moves to examples from ancient history and myth, interspersing each anecdote with connections to modern...