Patriarchy has been a significant issue that remains persistent over time. While Bennett’s book , Ale, Beer, and Brewsters in England: Women’s Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600, shows the role of medieval woman through their ale brewing, it also shows that female agency had its limits with the appearance of beer. I had assumed that those limits were religious and political, but Bennett shows how a patriarchal equilibrium shut women out of economic life as well. Her analysis of women’s wages in ale and beer production proves that a change in women’s work does not equate to a change in working women’s status. I enjoyed how the book showed ale and beer brewing as an economic activity, but the reader gets lost and somewhat confused in the tiresome