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Virginia Woolf Professions For Women

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Professions for Women Analysis In Virginia Woolf’s “Profession for Women,” she emphasizes the difficulties women have in the workplace and in daily life in the Victorian Age in which she also grew up in. Growing up Woolf was not given a fair opportunity with her education. While her brothers were sent away to school, she was privately tutored in the comfort of her home. “She later resented the degradation of women in patriarchal society” (Svendson 1); since then, equality between men and women has long been debated. From the convention in Seneca Falls, New York, to the “Take Back the Night” marches across America, this topic is controversial. Historically, the Victorian Age was during the reign of Queen Victoria, and also a time of very high moral and values. During that time, women were encouraged to stay home and raise children instead of being in the …show more content…

As a young girl she was not given the same privilege to go a way to school. This made her mad, and she had to do something to change that. In her essay “Professions for Women”, Virginia Woolf states that “writing is a reputable and harmless occupation,” how it does not “hurt the family purse” (Woolf 319). Rebecca Giggs states that “ in her lecture ‘Professions for Women’, Virginia Woolf pointed out that, at first glance, there seemed very few material obstacles in the way of becoming a novelist, and that this could explain why it was acceptable for women to become writers even before other creative professions opened up to them” (Giggs 5-7). Women back then were expected to act a certain way and take care of the home, so if an occupation starts to harm the family in any way, she must stop. Woolf argues women were more successful writers than anyone else because it was something that would not offend the household. In order for women to succeed in their professions, they must be presented with the same opportunities as

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