Quote: Women have no parallel rhetorical history. Indeed, for much of their history women have been prohibited from speaking, a prohibition reinforced by such powerful cultural authorities as Homer, Aristotle, and Scripture.
Question: Because Aristotle was such a well respected philosopher, were women's credentials on rhetoric down played more because of his views reputation or just generally because of their gender?
I personally believe that women's credentials in rhetoric were downplayed because of their gender, and because of the views held by a highly regarded rhetorician such as Aristotle. Prior to Aristotle becoming highly prominent during that time period, the idea that public debate and academia were solely for men was already well established. Women were viewed as delicate, and if they did receive education, it focused more on the arts and anything that would improve their "homemaking" skills. I believe that the inclusion of Aristotle's point of view regarding women in the rhetorical realm helped in solidifying the idea that women were not to dabble in any aspects of expressing their own public opinion to the masses.
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