Simone de Beauvoir. The second floor (№ 441737)

Men willingly exaggerate this influence when they want to convince a woman of her superiority; but in fact, women's voices are silent as soon as a specific action begins; women could provoke the outbreak of war, but could not suggest tactics for conducting a battle; they influenced politics only insofar as politics was reduced to intrigues - the true reins of government in the world were never in women's hands; women did not have any impact on technology and the economy, did not create or destroy states, did not open states, did not open new worlds. Many events happened because of them, but they were primarily a pretext, not actors.