Response to Virgina Woolf Question

Virginia Woolf believed that “women must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” What she means by that is that only affluent women or women of high importance were able to accomplish things within her society. Typically women were looked down upon and seen as inferior to men. Therefore, any ordinary woman without any class would never be able to succeed in society. When she says fiction, what she means is that even if women were to write a fictional book, it wouldn’t even be recognized as a significant piece of literature because it came from the mind of a female. Within Woolf’s society women were denied the most basic rights and were even denied access to many places that were exclusive to men. For instance, as she pondered about the essay question, she wondered on the grounds of a university. The beadle quickly told her to remove herself from the grass as it wasn’t meant to be walked upon by women. She was also denied access to the library as she needed to have a letter of introduction or be accompanied by a current student. This goes to show the severe class gap that exists in her society. Although women during her time time period were able to carry their own money, she considers the women of the past to be at fault for the lack of all- women colleges. Many women of past were poor because often times they had to relinquish any money they earned to their husbands. Thus, they were never able to donate money in order to start up universities for women.