A course on women in public speaking, developed at the University of Cincinnati, focuses on the rhetoric of selected women who have been involved in various movements and causes in the United States in the twentieth century. Women studied include educator Mary McLeod Bethune, Congresswoman Jeannette Rankin, suffragette Carrie Chapman Catt, Helen Keller, Eleanor Roosevelt, actress Olivia deHavilland, United Nations delegate and actress Irene Dunn, diplomats Clare Boothe Luce and Shirley Black, feminist Betty Friedan, anthropologist Margaret Mead, black politicians Shirley Chisolm and Barbara Jordan, and Princess Grace of Monaco. Units in the course include (1) introduction to rhetorical criticism; (2) factors contributing to the role of each of the speakers; (3) specific rhetorical acts; and (4) oral reports of written rhetorical criticism, discussion, and synthesis. The course has been successful in teaching rhetorical criticism and in enhancing students' appreciation for women orators. (DF)