Book speaks for women

   English writer Mary Beard wrote one of the best books I have ever read—Women & Power: A Manifesto(《女性与权力：一份宣言》).
　The book only has 115 pages and is small enough to fit inside your coat pocket. But it holds great power within its pages. Beard presents the topic of “female silence” by looking back on European history. She makes it clear that gender inequality(性别不平等) has been a long-standing problem, even in societies that saw themselves as “superior”.
　For example, she talked about Homer’s book, The Odyssey, where Telemachus tells his mother to “be silent”, “You should go back upstairs and take care of your work, spinning and weaving. Speaking is for men...” Another example is the tragic story of Lucretia of Rome, who was assaulted(侵犯) by the son of the king of Rome and then took her own life.

　Beard gives a lot of examples to prove the way women have been told to be silent in history. For readers who know little about ancient European history, it is easy to understand the book because Beard explains each story very well. It is not just a book about classics. It is a book about women and power and how we should not be silenced anymore.