How deeply embedded are mechanisms in Western culture that deny women a voice in the public sphere, deny them serious consideration, and cut them off from opportunities for power? Looking back at the long history of Western women's exclusion from public and political life—from antiquity to the present day—renowned historian and Cambridge University professor Mary Beard asks a series of questions: What is the cultural underpinning of sexism in politics, and what forms does it take? How have Western societies come to view women who possess or aspire to power? Finding answers to these questions is intended to help finally overcome the centuries-old inequality that continues to plague women worldwide. According to the author, if women are excluded from existing institutions of power, perhaps we should reconsider our very understanding of power.