Kara Cooney: When Women Ruled the World Summary
Even though there are more women today in leadership roles, there is still some resistance against women having the most powerful positions within the country.
When Hillary Clinton was nominated by the Democratic Party to run for president, it seemed this tide was shifting.
However, when she lost the election, it was a painful reminder there are still some obstructions to having a female lead.
In looking at the past, though, archeologists are uncovering some evidence from thousands of years ago. This evidence points to the idea that women in Egypt used to lead the entire country.
- Audible Audiobook
- Kara Cooney (Author) – Kara Cooney (Narrator)
- English (Publication Language)
- 11/30/2018 (Publication Date) – Blackstone Audio, Inc. (Publisher)
How did this happen?
Within Cooney’s book, “When Women Ruled the World,” she lays out three main lessons we can take from Egypt, which include:
- In the time of Crisis, Egypt called upon women to lead the country
- One Female King was the most influential of all
- Similarly embracing female leadership today to Egyptians from the past
Lesson 1: In the time of Crisis, Egypt called upon women to lead the country
Over 5,000 years ago, Egypt as a nation was created, and it was one of the fastest rising and prosperous nations on the planet. When this occurred, they established a hierarchy of kingship, which was pretty straight forward.
A king was named, and his family would rule as long as there were sons to take his place. To help ensure this would always be the case, a King would often have multiple wives.
However, despite this practice, there were numerous times in their history where a family would cease to have many sons, which would lead to a crisis. It was during these times when the Queen would act as a Regent and rule the country until they could find a suitable replacement.
These particular reigns usually did not last very long, and most had been thought to have been erased from history. Still, as archeologists continue to discover, it seems some of these women accomplished just as much, if not more than any Male King ever did.
Lesson 2: One Female King was most influential of all
Many women were very prominent during their times of leadership in Egypt, but none so more than Hatshepsut.
She was made a High Priestess early in her life, and she was blessed to have the same leadership ability and tenacity as her father. When he passed away, her brother was named King, but he died soon afterward, and one of his sons was named King. However, he was very young, so she was chosen to rule in his stead until he became of age.
And rule she did! During her time, she made Egypt even more prosperous, with a variety of trade classes booming during her reign.
Due to this, she was named Co-King when the young boy who was appointed King turned nine, meaning she would have a place at the table until her death.
However, after she passed away, her “Co-King” started taking ownership of all of her work. He even attempted to erase her and her name from history.
If you ever visit Egypt, though, you might see the Great Temple of Millions of Years, and you should know that it was Hatshepsut who helped erect this monument, and not anyone else.
Lesson 3: Similarly embracing female leadership today to Egyptians from the past
Egypt openly promoted women to lead during some uncertain times. But once things were stabilized, they would often turn the lead back over to men.
What the Egyptians did show is that women can be successful leaders, especially during times when someone with a higher emotional tank needs to be in charge.
Often today, women are still ridiculed for showing ambition, even when we reward men for showing the same traits. Instead of glossing over what Egypt did, today’s society would benefit from their style. Seeing the wisdom of how Egypt handled its crisis, often turning to women to help lead when the country was in turmoil.
Women can handle leadership just as well as men can, and in certain instances, could even flourish and be the better choice.
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a Swedish university student, marketing professional, and life-long learner. Here at BookSummaryClub I summarize my favorite non-fiction books into easily digested posts. Hope you like what you’re reading!
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