Woolf , De Beauvoir

I see that the two short stories, interpretations by both authors present to us the idea of feminism and how throughout history women have been a subordinate minority in society while being overpowered by men. Simon de Beauvoir states; Division of humanity into two classes of individuals (pg41) where men are at the top and women are at the bottom. This idea has been adopted till today since the ancient times, where for example in the Middle East women are still a subordinate society as passed down through the ages and on the influence on religion. These women are kept in households as wives to take care of children and wear long gowns to cover their bodies, which is part of a religious law. But in the terms of the authors who are of European descent, they still argue that women without the basis of strict religious laws are suffering from their inferior position and their burdened occupation politically and sociologically ; “Paternalism claims woman for hearth and home defines her as sentiment, inwardness, immanence” (pg 41) Their occupation, as to being wives to their husbands and doing chores at home. “Men use them . . . by making her work like a beast of burden”; (pg 42) Also of their characteristics as being within a family, calm, emotional, and romantic. These interpretations have a cultural perspective when it comes to family, but when women want to be on the same line as men, they struggle and suffer when it comes to education. Virginia Woolf in Room of one’s own : argues that “women in particular with their illusions about education and so on”. The problem that these authors describe for women during that period is that women did not have an opportunity to chief jobs like men who made a good living when they finished their education and began their careers. Women feel overpowered by men. They see their educational future as an illusion in a male dominant society because of their duty to be housewives making themselves subordinate. The solutions that these authors offer are that women should give up their overburdened occupations and gradually strive for achievement. I think whether they are plausible solutions depends on which cultural society the solution is placed on, if it would be in a modern European society then yes. If it were to be in the Middle East as mentioned earlier then it would be very difficult. In non-fictional literature this has to do with women and their struggle for equality in early modern twentieth century.