of One’s Own.

“A woman must have money – and a room of her own – if she is to write fiction.”

That famous line, written by the British novelist Virginia Woolf, tackled head on the question

of why men, rather than women, had authored a large proportion of the greatest works of

literature. Writing in 1929, Woolf argued that the future of women’s participation

in art and literature depended on altering deeply entrenched ideas about their capabilities

and ‘suitable’ aspirations. Her essay A Room of One’s Own spoke of education

as the key to women’s emancipation. Woolf thought education could provide women with

a voice they could use to contribute to culture, and sought to highlight the discrepancies

between what men and women can hope to achieve in a patriarchal society.

The central idea of her essay was that women have not been given the space in which to

think, read and develop as intellectuals. Excluded for centuries from participation

in public life, and rendered dependent on men for financial security – she noted – women

have historically lacked both the material means and the legal freedom to voice their

own ideas. Woolf illustrates her point by inventing a

fictional female character: Shakespeare’s sister, Judith.

In contrast to her brother, William, Judith does not have the opportunity to go to school,

nor is she encouraged in her efforts to read or write.

Instead, she finds herself trapped in the home, where she is actively discouraged from

pursuing creative goals. Predictably, Judith never writes down her

thoughts – so her ideas go unexpressed, to be lost in history.

Woolf’s essay suggests that William Shakespeare’s success was not solely the product of his

talent. He was offered opportunities to explore and expand his creative calling – by participating

in education and public life – and the chance of earning a living as a professional writer.

Woolf saw all of these factors vital to Shakespeare’s success.

Had he been born a woman, he would not have had the opportunity to write, and we as a

culture would have missed out on a great deal of poetry, plays and influence.

Judith Shakespeare was created by Woolf as a metaphor – she shows the displacement

of women from literature and the arts, from public life and culture. The silencing of

her character serves to remind readers of the limitations that society has historically

placed on women. But, we are invited to wonder, how many literary

greats might have been – if only aspiring women writers had been granted the same chances

as their male counterparts? Today, Woolf’s essay is still studied as

a foundational contribution to modern feminist thought.

A more detailed examination of her ideas can be found in the Macat Analysis.