A Room of One’s Own, Essay Example

The main problem or issue addressed by the author

The main issue raised or addressed by the author is women’s lack of access to education. The author out of fiction essay raises why women fail to access education to money and be empowered like men. The author raises these issues concerning women, especially the artists. The author highlights that women lack power, and, for a long time, their creativity has been stifled through many years (Woolf, 1967). Because of limited knowledge and financial resource, women lack behind because they cannot publish their work even though they have them written. They lack support from society, especially their family members, who may be among those who discourage them in their work.

Author’s central claim or argument

The author says, “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction, and that, as you will see, leaves the great problem of the true nature of woman and the true nature of fiction unsolved” (p.4). What the author means is that women need to be empowered. Empowerment should not be tailored to artists alone but to women within society to ensure that they contribute to their community’s growth and development (Woolf, 1967).  In this case, according to Woolf, the past life was characterized by prejudice and financial constraints alongside educational constraints. These were the significant disadvantages towards women, which society ignored for a long because of stereotypes developed along with feminism and gender orientation. She argues that women need financial freedom alongside educational empowerment for them to control their space. Space, in this case, is symbolized to mean opportunities that women need to be given to access equal education like men. Without sufficient knowledge and financial empowerment, women cannot exploit available opportunities like men. Woolf reiterates that women should not be hindered by duties they undertake in their families to get their intellectual freedom when they can write as artists like men.

Assumptions that the author makes

Woolf builds her argument that many educational experiences available are all for men. She believed that women had remained inferior writers because they lack the support and financial power that male writers have. That is why more many have concentrated on research and artistic work alongside other developments. For example, according to Woolf’s research in Oxbridge College and British Library, large volumes of work are from men (Woolf, 1967). She also reiterates that women have been deprived of their educational power and accessibility to financial support to write their art. Still, instead, they have been sidelined and men allowed to explore their talents, leaving women behind. The existence of gender inequalities, as mentioned by the author, implies that traditions and withheld stereotypes have made women lack artistic work. They do not get educational assistance and experience alongside financial empowerment, which are the main facets for writing up fictions of artwork. Due to role stereotypes, women are regarded as housekeepers and should sire and take care of them as they do home or house chores. The essay highlights that in most cases, women are excluded by law for inheritance. It is because they are supposed to be marriage partners in society. That is why women have remained silent in their material and social circumstances.

Evidence that the author present

Woolf builds her argument based on literature and history. She argues that research has been a male construct or dominated field because of established traditions that have marginalized women in societies. The author provides evidence from Oxbridge College and British Library to show how women lacked artistic creation (Woolf, 1967). She finds out that most of the work in the library was written by men and reiterates that there are little data related to women writers in the library. She goes further to build her argument by referring to other evidence. For example, she refers to Judith Shakespeare, a brilliant and talented sister to William Shakespeare, who was frustrated and thwarted by others. Woolf captures that she was tortured and pulled asunder, which made her lost her health and sanity like many women in society.

The strengths and weaknesses of the text

The strength of the author is that she stated her position or argument clearly.  She also provides critical pieces of evidence to build her opinion. In every chapter, the author presents her claim and provides her audience with sufficient evidence to develop her view (Woolf, 1967).  For example, the author argues that women need empowerment and states how they should be empowered. She articulates that empowerment comes from allowing them to access education in colleges and universities like men. She says women will gain the financial empowerment they need if they get the education and join various labor forces. On the same note, Woolf reiterates a need to eliminate stereotypes that have made literature and education a dominant field by changing traditions that have marginalized women in communities. She provides evidence from the history and current evidence from her research. Thus, this is the strength I found within this text.

Many women have contributed to arts and literature in the past, and the author mentioned a few of them, like Jane Austen, Anne Charlotte, and George Elliot (Woolf, 1967).  The weakness in this essay is that the author does not provide more light on why such women writers succeeded in their literature writing. As much as men may have dominated literature and history, it would be prudent for her to build her assumption on how women have succeeded in their writing and encourage their audience to achieve such success.

Possible counterarguments to the text’s claims

Woolf argues that women need to have or own their money and a house of their own to write fiction. What about women who do not have money and houses and succeeded in writing their fiction work? (Woolf, 1967, p. 4). However, few women got opportunities to access education and participate in artistic work, which could be why few women took part in research and artwork in the past. On the same note, concentration on family chores and children did not allow them to participate in artistic work or go to learning institutions to get knowledge.

Why the argument is important

Woolf argues that women have a role in contributing to society’s growth and development, which can be achieved if empowered. Failure to empower women due to stereotypes undermined them and empowered men (Woolf, 1967).  To a greater extent, education accessibility played a significant role in literature writing. If women failed to attend colleges and universities, there is no way they could have participated in the literature of fiction writing.

Reference

Woolf, V. (1967). A room of one’s own (Vol. 481). Prabhat Prakashan.