Virginia Woolf’s Book “A Room of Ones Own”

Virginia Woolf’s book A Room of Ones Own is still quite relevant today in many ways. One might assume that it has been 91 years, almost a whole century when Virginia wrote this book are far behind us. The book has totally managed to retain its relevance, especially in a modern world where we feel like we have defeated the demons we were fighting back then. It was a time when women were desperate for recognition against their male counterparts. Today, since women are able to work in those offices that were only considered a man’s place back then, we might assume that women have managed to gain the equality they were very desperate fighting for back then.

However, we fail to realize that for a woman to gain the same status as a man professionally, she must work twice as hard, and even then, she may not receive the same recognition as the man. For example, a female CEO at a company may earn much lower payment compared to a male CEO at the same company. This is not the equality that Woolf discusses in her book. The fight has come a long way in the last two to three decades, but it is clear that women are still fighting for equality. In this book, Woolf used the word Room symbolically to show the room women create for themselves in a world that is entirely male adjusted. It is still the same today; women have to create some room for themselves in a male-controlled world, a fact that highlights the relevance of Woolf’s book today.

When reviewing the theme of equality in this book, it is notable that Miss Woolf emphasizes on equal opportunities for both men and women. However, it is not the case of the 21st-century world. Women are working harder than ever to keep their households afloat. Beyond being wives, mothers, and the housekeepers, some are forced to work hard, and sometimes working multiple jobs. Despite all their hard work, they are still underpaid making clear the point of unfair treatment and disrespect to women that are present in today’s era. Women continue to be dispossessed of the personal space they are entitled to, that men still hold in an attempt to provide their children with enough economic and cultural freedom as they mature and during their learning. Nonetheless, women lack the freedom to pursue what they want and sometimes they lose these opportunities to men who are sometimes less qualified for the positions. Gender discrimination against women is a big problem at the workplace (Amnesty International, 2019). Computer Sciences Corporation is one of the many companies in the United States that have been sued for discriminating against women. Back in 2012, a high-level female executive was fired by the company after reporting a pattern of gender discrimination.

Woolf argues on the subjectivity of history in relation to truth (Piaget, 2012). Truth is quite difficult to find, especially in the world we live in today. One can easily come to the conclusion that there is barely any truth, only opinion. It is the same thing that Woolf points out in her book. Today, you will hear many political figures, leaders, and even celebrities saying that they have to tell their story before the media. The purpose of this is so that they can shape the opinion of the public to their favor. In addition, in most cases, people will only tell half-truths and use so many words to influence the positive response of their audience. When you consider these facts, you realize that truth is not absolute, and people mainly provide their opinions and do the best at supporting them. The main problem with this reality is that there are so many misconceptions created by these opinions, and when you look at it from a political angle then you realize that people barely have any real information. We can argue that we have the right to know the truth, but then again, how do we know whether the information being given to us is true or the opinions of the person. It can be quite scary thinking about it from this angle, as then we will wonder how we can protect ourselves when we barely have any facts about the things that are actually going on around us.

Finally, people with real information, facts, money, better opportunities are more privileged. They have the power to make real change, but in most cases, it is not in their interest to make these changes because then they would change ideas that work perfectly for them. This way of thinking drives us to think that these people are entitled to better things in life. These people, the majority of whom are men are entitled to the best things in life. Their money, better opportunities, and knowledge afford them the privilege. In light of this, it is clear that the fight against inequality is still active today, and Woolf’s book highlights the significance of creating room for women in a male-dominated world.

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