How deeply are mechanisms built into Western culture that deprive women of a voice in the public sphere, deny them serious consideration and cut them off from the opportunity to be in power? Looking back at the long history of the Western tradition of excluding women from public and political life - from Antiquity to the present day - the famous historian, Cambridge University professor Mary Beard asks a number of questions: what is the cultural background of sexism in politics, what forms does it take? How do Western societies tend to view women as having power or striving for it? Finding answers to these questions is intended to help finally overcome the centuries-old inequality from which women around the world continue to suffer. According to the author, if women are excluded from existing institutions of power, perhaps we need to reconsider our very understanding of power.