HW 24: A Room of My Own

My grandmother is a fun loving and vibrant woman. When Virginia Woolf was writing her book, "A Room Of One's Own," my grandmother was a little girl that was growing up in the same society that Woolf depicts. As her mother was raised to be second to men, so was she. My grandmother married when she was 20, raised seven children and she was the homemaker of the family. As Woolf put it, "For all the dinners are cooked; the plates and cups washed; the children set to school and gone out into the world. Nothing remains of it at all. All has vanished. No biography or history has a word to say about it" (Woolf 89). In other words, women for centuries have played the role of the typical housewife and nothing has been written about it. Because of the way history shaped the position of men and women in the world, men were unfairly favored and given the upper hand in life. For this reason, men's writing, "Indicated such freedom of mind, such liberty of person, such confidence in himself. One had a sense of physical well-being in the presence of this well-nourished, well-educated, free mind, which had never been thwarted or opposed…" (Woolf 99). Men were the superior sex and because of that they were able to write and express themselves freely without question. In today’s time, however, women have gradually overcome suppression and the lack of rights. Starting back in Woolf’s time, “there have been at least two colleges for women in existence in England since the year 1866; that after the year 1880 a married woman was allowed by law to possess her own property; and that in 1919…she was given a vote” (Woolf 112). Steadily over time, women have gained rights and access to a higher quality of life. Thankfully, I was born in a time that I have a room of my own. I view this room of my own not as a physical room but as a place in humanity that I am allowed the same opportunities and education as men. I am able to go to school, have a profession and have a voice. These are all qualities that make up my own room. Although there are still aspects of our society that are male dominated, we as women have certainly come a long way from past centuries.