The play begins with Praxagora entering swinging a lantern. She does so in order that the Chorus of women will be signaled and they will come to her. They have gathered in order to disguise themselves as men prior to entering the Assembly in the desire to overtake power in Athens.
Praxagora becomes the spokeswoman for them as she has oratory skills gained from listening to orators while she lived in Pnxy with her husband. She has asked that all the women change their appearance in order to look more like men. They have grown out their armpit hair and made beards for themselves that cover them down to their bosom. But, Praxagora isn't convinced they won't be found out as the women continue to praise the gods Demeter and Persephone instead of Apollo as the men do. As Praxagora speaks the women begin to bring up the possibility and types of objections that could occur. With this, Praxagora shows them how she will handle the objections and if the Scythians attempt to carry her away she won't allow them to take her around the middle, and the other women will object and bid them to let go. The women also prepare themselves for voting, they remind one another to raise their hands as they are only used to lifting their legs.
Then Praxagora's husband enters. He needs to go to the bathroom, but he only has his wife's clothes as he couldn't find his own. He is greeted by his neighbor who also is wearing his wife's clothes, and this happens before Chremes enters. He tells the two men that, "There was a crowd, such has never been seen at the Pnyx, and the folk looked pale and wan, like so many shoemakers,". These "shoemakers" were of course the women disguised as men.
We learn of what Chremes heard at Pnxy, of a "handsome young man" who said that matters should be entrusted to the women, and the shoemakers began to applaud. Chremes tells Blepyrus (Praxagora's husband) all that the "handsome young man" said and he agrees that the young man's points are well-founded.
Praxagora returns home to Blepyrus and he believes she's just come from being with a lover as she returns his clothes. But, she tells him she was only helping a friend who was in labor and she took his cloak to keep her warm, that he was left thoroughly warm beneath his coverlets. But he persists to know why she took his shoes and staff as well. Her reason being she was afraid she might get robbed for the cloak she wore so in order to look like a man she put on his shoes and used the staff to strike the stones. This satisfies him and he begins to tell her of the decision at the Assembly that morning.
She then goes on to explain to her husband exactly what the new leadership will do, including establishing a common fund and doing away with the need for private wealth; also that people are free to be with anyone they please so long as they sleep with uglier members of the opposite sex first, and that responsibilities to raise children will now be shared by the community and children won't know who their fathers are. Furthermore, there will be no more lawsuits in addition to multiple other new regulations.
Everyone begins to act in accordance with the new regulations except for one citizen who claims that the Assembly has had regulations fall through before and he will wait to see how this fares before giving away anything of his own. We then see a young man, Epigenes who desires to be with a young woman. But, they are interrupted by an elderly woman who demands for Epigenes to sleep with her first before he can be with the younger better looking girl. And thus begins the living out of the new regulations put in place by the Assembly.
