Really interesting, Winona - though if I took my history lessons from Howard Zinn, I would keep it a secret. Not sure where you get the gender message, but I understand the meta narratives that lead you to that observation. Men are often foolishly discounted as agents for good too. Wasn't Esther actually taken pretty seriously by a very sexist, nasty king? 

The story of Esther reminds us that we worship an amazing God who confounds our understandings, and forces us to sometimes just sit back - slack-jawed at the ways in which He uses human courage and faithfulness in amazing ways to overcome evil. 

Our technological, pragmatic values, along with moral presentism, blind us to the layers of depth and meaning that can be found in the labyrinthine ironies and paradoxes of the Bible.