In ‘Professions for Women,’ originally a speech given to a women’s group in 1930, Woolf argues that women must overcome special obstacles to become successful in their careers. She describes two hazards she thinks all women who aspire to professional life must overcome their tendency to sacrifice their own interests to those of others and their reluctance to challenge conservative male attitudes.
About the writer Virginia Woolf
Virginia
Woolf (1882-1941) Virginia Woolf was born in London, England, the daughter of
Victorian critic and philosopher Leslie Stephen She educated herself in her father's
magnificent library and, after his death, lived with her sister and two
brothers in Bloomsbury, a district of London that later became identified with
her and the group of writers and artists she entertained.
In 1912 she
married journalist Leonard Woolf and together they founded the Hogarth Press,
which published the work of the Bloomsbury group, including Woolf's own novels.
Woolf's adult life was tormented by intermittent periods of nervous depression;
finally she drowned herself in the river near her home. Her novels include
Jacob's Room (1922), Mrs. Dalloway (1925), To the Lighthouse (1927), Orlando
(1928), The Waves (1931), and Between the Acts (1941). Woolf's essays and
reviews are collected in books such as The Common Reader (1925, 1932) and
Collected Essays (4 volumes, 1967). One of Woolf's most popular works is A Room
of One's Own (1929), an extended analysis of the subject of women and
creativity
Summary of the essay Profession for Women by Virginia Woolf
Virginia
Woolf in the essay Profession for Women is addressing a group of women seeking
employment predominantly for men. Woolf claims that to be a successful writer,
the female writer must defeat “The Angel in the House.” This angel represents
the ideal woman. Woolf describes the angel as sympathetic, charming unselfish,
pure, beautiful, and graceful.
In the
essay, she recalls that once she had to write a review about a novel written by
a famous man. She says that while writing a novel or writing a review of the
novel, she had killed an angel in the house.
According to
her, three are two major obstacles for women, including women authors: are the
conventional notion of the role and the taboo regarding the expression of their
sexuality.
She finds
writing is an easier job for females than others. She adds that writing is a
reputable and harmless occupation. It is a very cheap job because a pen and
paper are only needed to write. Parents do not have the burden of the economy
while investing in the field of writing. Sitting at home, she can write. So,
family peace is not broken. If they choose the field of doctors and astronauts,
they should have a problem of economy and should go outside to fulfill their
tasks and they might be viewed negatively by the society.
In the
essay, she wants all females to be bold and educated. She is trying to say that
they are as equal to males so that they should not be an angel in the house but
to make the future, they should involve in productive work. She wants women's
freedom from economic slavery. She makes a strong appeal for women's liberation
from conventional shackles. In the late Victorian and early twentieth centuries,
women had no economic independence. They were not still free to speak, write,
and think in the way they liked. They were impeded by man-made standards.
Woolf shares
a strange experience in writing novels. She feels that a novelist's chief
desire is to be as unconscious as possible. In other words, while writing, she
should not think about the conventional notion of patriarchy that is imposed on
females. If she thinks so, she is not able to give innovative ideas in the
novel and cannot kill the phantom (Angel in the house).
Frequently asked questions from the essay Profession for Women by Virginia Woolf
1. How could Woolf's warnings about
the danger of the Angel in the House be useful to modem women who are in
careers other than writing, such as law or publishing or engineering?
Ans: Woolf's warnings about the danger of the Angel in the
House be useful to modem women who are in careers other than writing, such as
lawyer or engineering. The phantom is a woman whom she calls ‘The Angel in The
House’ that stands for womanly perfection of the so-called good nurtured social
identity.
Whenever she
begins to write ‘The Angel in The House’ comes between her and her paper. Women
who are lawyers or engineers have to go out of their homes to enhance their
job. Such courses are very expensive. In patriarchy, people may think that they
just become showy and cross the norms and values of society. They would also
feel insulted by society.
2. Woolf says women writers ‘are
impeded by the extreme conventionality of the other sex’ and suggests that any
woman trying to enter a new profession might have similar troubles. What kinds
of obstacles might she have expected women to encounter who want to be doctors
or astronauts?
Ans: Woolf says women writers ‘are impeded by the extreme
conventionality of the other sex’ suggests that any women who try to enter new
professions might have similar troubles. For females, writing is an honest and
harmless profession. The family harmony is not broken by scratching the paper
with a pen. They can write sitting at home.
No demand is
made upon the family purse. If they choose the field of doctors and astronauts,
they should have a problem with the economy and should go outside to fulfill
their takes and they might be viewed negatively.
3. What action or changes in attitude
do you think Woolf hopes to bring about in her listeners?
Ans: She wants all females to be bold and educated. She
is trying to say that they are as equal to males so that they should not be an
angel in the house but to make the future, they should involve in creative
works. She wants women's freedom from economic slavery. She makes a strong
appeal for women's liberation from conventional shackles. In the late Victorian
and early twentieth-century women had no economic independence.
4. When Woolf gave this talk to women
in England in the 1920s, what kinds of professional limitations might her
audience have been concerned about? Would women readers in Nepal today have the
same kinds of concerns? Why or why not?
Ans: Virginia Woolf is addressing a group of women
seeking employment in a workforce predominantly by men. When Woolf gave this
talk to women in England in the 1920s, Virginia Woolf finds the professional
limitations of the phantom, the Angel in the House, and the economy.
Today, in
town, the status of Nepalese women is quite changed but in the village, the
status of women in Nepal remains very poor in terms of health, education,
income, decision-making, and access to policymaking. Patriarchal practices
control these women's lives.
Women face
systematic discrimination, particularly in rural areas. Literacy rates are
substantially lower than men's, and women work longer hours. Violence against
women is still common, and there are not enough women in professions. Women's
representation has been ensured in the constituent assembly, but women's equal
participation in all state mechanisms is far from ideal.
5. To what extent might young women
today feel that the Angel in the House problem still handicaps them in the
professional world?
Ans: Young women might today feel that the Angel in the
House problem still handicaps them in the professional world before they can
accept themselves as a professional woman. They must first confront her demon,
the angel in the house. They must believe in the necessity of destroying what
she calls, ‘The Angel in the House’.
6. If you are a male reader, how do
you think men feel today about women entering what used to be primarily male
professions? Does your experience contradict what Woolf says about men's
attitudes? If so, how?
Ans: In developed countries, males and females are equal.
Females are also holding the job of male professions actively and
energetically. Today, men take female employers as their friends or colleagues.
In Nepal, in town, many females are enrolling in different fields: Nepal
police, pilot, doctors, and so on. Today our society has changed a lot. So,
they are not only the angel in the house but they have involved in a productive
and creative tasks.
7. How does Woolf use her talents as
a storyteller to make her essay lively and interesting? In what sections is
that talent especially evident?
Ans: Woolf uses her talents as a storyteller to make her
essay lively and interesting by illustrating language through conflict,
metaphor, and parallelism. In other words, Woolf's diction highlighting women's
struggle, metaphor, and parallelism contribute to her purpose of encouraging
women to enter professions and make decisions that will characterize who women
are. Her talent appears as she says that writing is an easy job for a female
but to a successful writer, one has to kill the phantom.
8. Analyze and discuss Woolf's ‘Angel
in the House’ metaphor. How does it enhance her essay?
Ans: Her first metaphor ‘The Angel in the House’, is
described as her phantom. The Angel had prevented Woolf from expressing her true
thoughts to conform with society's expectations of women.
She
symbolically kills this phantom to completely immerse herself in her writing.
Some women succeeded as writers among other professions due to the relative
cheapness associated with the work. In the essay, ‘Professions for women’, she
realizes that before she can accept herself as a professional woman, she must
first confront her demons. She believes in the necessity of destroying what she
calls ‘The Angel in the House’.
9. What is the complex issue of
conflicting loyalties and priorities that Woolf raises by her ‘Angel in the
House’ metaphor?
Ans: ‘Angel in the House ‘metaphorically stands for
submissive, kind, and nursing woman for family. In "Professions for
Women," Virginia Woolf carries the image of the Angel in the House from
the beginning to the end.
The Angel is
the phantom that represses her and attempts to force out imagination and
creativity. Woolf describes the Angel as being pure, selfless, and sympathetic,
but is ultimately forced to kill her to preserve her writing career. In her
contemporary time, in addition to the expectation of living a pure, modest,
angelic lifestyle, women were also viewed as being inferior to men.
Men had so
much more freedom in their life and especially in their writing than the woman
had. They could speak or write freely without having to worry about what
society would say.
On the other
hand, some topics were simply off-limits for women to speak and write about.
Woolf once again hints at her desire to write about human sexuality, a topic
that seems to get squashed by fear of what society, or men, in particular,
would think reading such work written by a woman.
10. Of the two major problems Woolf
names -- the Angel in the House and the extreme conventionality of men- which,
in your opinion, continues to cause professional women the most difficulty?
Ans: Virginia Woolf acquired two experiences and problems
in her professional life: the first, killing the Angel in the House, and the
second, the extreme conventionality of men. She had been successful in solving
the first problem by killing the Angel in the House. But she does not think
that he had solved the second one. She also doubts that any woman has solved it
yet.
The
obstacles against her are still very formidable and yet they are very difficult
to define outwardly, what is simpler than to, write stories, and what obstacles
are there for a woman rather than for a man? Inwardly the case is different.
She has still many ghosts to fight and many obstacles to overcome.
11. Can you think of ways in which
this kind of problem that is, being constrained by cultural stereotypes and
expectations also can be a problem for men?
Ans: I think that cultural stereotypes and expectations
because of being constrained by cultural stereotypes and expectations also can
be a problem for men. In patriarchy, the belief that men are superior to women
has been used to justify and maintain the male monopoly of positions of
economic, political, and social power. In other words, to keep women powerless
by denying them from the educational and occupational means of acquiring
economic, political, and inferior positions long occupied, it is a patriarchal
assumption, rather than a fact.
It's clear, from the very start of human civilization women were considered inferior, second class, and still women are thought to be an object to fulfill men's aspirations and anticipations, to serve them physically, sexually, and mentally. When cultural stereotypes and expectations are gone, it is easier for individuals to express and develop themselves without the pressure to conform to the expectations of their society. Only in that situation, the male also gets the support of the female in productive work. If females get barriers in such fields, the males will get the burden to accomplish them alone.