Or perhaps you'll take a more independent route, like Ros? She's got a head for business, which means, naturally, she's got to put her body to work, too; it's a glamorous existence doing the bidding of Littlefinger and just plain doing little people like Tyrion. Whoring is an opportunity to get a leg up in the man's world of Game of Thrones — and very often two. So what if it's less Lean In and more Lie Back? At least your average wine-drunk lord comes faster than winter.

"Doing the bidding of Littlefinger and just plain doing little people like Tyrion" -- LOL

"Less Lean In and more Lie Back" -- way to keep it contemporary on the theme of empowering women:

http://pandawhale.com/post/18893/game-of-thrones-recap-ladies-night-movies-news-rolling-stone

I wonder if Sheryl Sandberg watches Game of Thrones.

I'm happy to see newly courageous Sansa Stark start to grow thanks to Margaery's grandmother:

One of the advantages of Game of Thrones’s massive story is the ability to offer these multiple variations on a single theme. As written by Vanessa Taylor, "Dark Wings, Dark Words" provided a survey of the state of feminism in Westeros, and what it found wasn't very pretty. The women on display either knew dangerously little about their lot — Sansa's innocent confusion over the true intentions of a skeazeball like Baelish, or Talisa's love-struck joking about "grim, bearded, stinking barbarians" without noticing exactly who it is that surrounds her — or far too much. I enjoyed the introduction of Lady Olenna Tyrell, played with Dowager Countessian glee by Diana Rigg.

Go Sansa go!

Just because she uses lemon cake and flowers instead of a bow and arrow doesn't make her any less dangerous. "We're only women here," she coos to Sansa. "Tell us the truth." Sansa, of course, is a Stark through and through: She knows that truth is a weapon but always forgets the direction it tends to point. Even Margaery, who seems to be something close to expert at playing both men and her part, may be in over her head. It can't be a coincidence that her little game of sex cupid with Joffrey ended with her finger on the trigger but her own reflection looking an awful lot like the target.

Go Lady Olenna Tyrell go!

Brienne and Arya are two of my favorite characters, and both of them are powerless...

Brienne's brute force is enough to impress even Jaime Lannister, but not even her considerable body armor can be expected to deflect the nonstop barrage of barbs directed her way. Of course she loved Renly. He was the only one in the Seven Kingdoms willing to see things in people that the rest of society wouldn't — of course, one of those people was Ser Loras, and one of those things was himself.

Until a new arrival last night, Arya Stark seemed to be the only other character inclined to hack and slash her way to gender parity. The only problem is that her lack of bulk leaves her bark considerably more fearsome than her bite. Which isn't saying much. Without the power of her name — or the list of them that Jaqen maintained for her last season — she hasn't any power at all.

...and now I'm really nervous for Arya:

It didn't help that while familiar characters were shuffling aimlessly around the game board, new pawns were being added to it. I liked Arya's chance encounter with the Brotherhood Without Banners mainly because I'm a fan of merry people in general, especially those whose chosen name sounds like a cult mixed with an NGO. The arrival of the Hound, however, puts an end to Arya's strong streak of dealing only with those who are bemused by her.

...and my other favorite character Danaerys Targaryen has spent the whole series getting to the point where she could buy an army to take back the throne that is rightfully hers:

I'd like to think that Daenerys offers the only potential way out from this depressing cycle of sex and sexism. Though a continent away, her fiery warrior heart — not to mention her fire-breathing security system — makes her the only woman capable of making men kneel in front of her instead of having them perpetually expecting the opposite. But Daenerys didn't appear in last night's episode. And therein lies the downside of Game of Thrones’s wide-ranging digressions. There's simply too much plot to allow the luxury of zeroing in on an idea or two.

Perhaps all of the television Game of Thrones -- but particularly the TV season 3 -- is about female empowerment and specifically how the women learn to empower themselves?

In that sense it seems to have a lot in common with Mad Men, particularly Mad Men season 6.

I love the interplay between Sansa Stark and Lady Olenna Tyrell.