These words are attributed to the vizier of the Saljuq dynasty in Iran, Nizam al-Mulk (d. 485/1092), who painted this portrait of female rule in his work, the Siyasatnamah or Siyar al-muluk, almost 250 years before the arrival of the Mongols. Apart from any personal convictions about the matter, Nizam al-Mulk had political reasons for justifying the exclusion of women from politics: the influential role played by Terken Khatun, consort of Sultan Malik Shah (d. 1092), in the court of the Great Saljuqs was a challenge to his hegemony over state affairs. However, the Mongols’ perception of women's political involvement appears to have been very different when we consider the accounts contained in The Secret History of the Mongols. For example, the survival of Chinggis Khan and his subsequent political success was, according to this source, determined by the actions of the women in his family. Consequently, rather opposing views on the role of women in politics are presented here: the more restricted approach expressed by the Persian vizier and the more receptive one contained in the Mongol sources. In turn, when the Mongols expanded throughout Eurasia and conquered Khurasan in the first half of the thirteenth century, these two contrasting conceptions of women's involvement in politics came up against each other. It is in this context that this chapter explores the evolution of female rule in Eurasia before the establishment of the Mongol Empire. The first section examines women's participation in political affairs before the appearance of Chinggis Khan in the political arena of the Mongolian steppes. Based mostly on The Secret History of the Mongols, we explore the way in which pre-imperial nomads explained their mythological origin and early history.