Virginia Woolf's Professions For Women

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Over the past two centuries, the presumed gender and racial inequality in accessing economic mobility and in attaining a sustainable profession has become a frequent target of debate, especially in the work market. Perhaps in some places more than others. Nonetheless, as outlined in chapter eight of our textbook – unquestionably, work is a central activity to human experience, and throughout this chapter, remarkable authors such as Virginia Woolf, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and Junot Diaz examine race and gender differences as being important factors in determining one’s income and authority. After a careful evaluation of these authors’ work supplemented by a few outside sources, it became evident that race and gender remain as powerful impediments …show more content…
Woolf throughout the initial paragraphs makes the argument that women in the twentieth century succeeded as writers because it did not present any sort of a financial burden, and it was appropriate for the “mental and physical” attributions of a woman. She believes that in order for her, and for all women, to succeed in any professional career, they must first destroy the “Angel in the House”. She describes the ‘Angel’ as the …show more content…
That being said, Henry Louis Gates Jr. – an educator and a celebrated writer, outlines the limited career choices available to African Americans and the stereotypical notion about blacks in sports throughout his essay, “Delusions of Grandeur”, published in 1991. Moreover, Mr. Gates points out that there were 35 million African Americans by the time he wrote the essay, but only 1,200 were black professional athletes in the US. He extends to criticize the mass media, television advertisement, and the public schools’ system for establishing a common misconception amongst the black youth that sports and music are the only way to attain a stable life for themselves and their families. He debunks such misconceptions and adds that in fact, there are “twelve times more black lawyers, 2.5 more black dentists and 15 times more black doctors than they are black athletes in America” (382). Gates concludes that “society as a whole bears responsibility” for the ills tormenting the black community and “until colleges stop using young blacks as cannon fodder in the big-business of so-called nonprofessional sports”, we will continue to see black Americans being exploited for the pure sake of
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