  Many readers have seen in Plato’s Republic a rare exception  in western philosophy’s long history of sexist denigration of women,  and some have even decided that Plato’s willingness to open up the  best education and the highest jobs to women shows a kind of  feminism (Wender 1973). Other readers disagree (Annas 1976, Buchan 1999). They point to Plato’s indifference  to the needs of actual women in his own city, to Socrates’ frequent,  disparaging remarks about women and “womanish” attitudes, and to the  illiberal reasons Socrates offers for educating and empowering women.