Wonder Woman And Virginia Woolf's Professions For Women

Embrace That Woman

As young girls grow up, they tend to have a role model that inspires them to be great, in their own way. However, some of them move towards becoming just like the role model. There is nothing wrong with either of those choices, although every young girl needs to grow into the woman they were meant to be. Once they have come to be that woman, they need to remember that they have the ability to overcome any obstacle that comes their way. Also, every woman needs to know that there is something within that makes them all special. While both narrators Gloria Steinem’s “Wonder Woman” and Virginia Woolf’s “Professions for Women” are viewed by society’s way that women should be, they differ in encouraging women to embrace their uniqueness.

Steinem states in her essay, “A female child is left to believe that, even when her body is as big as her spirit, she will still be helping with minor task, appreciating the accomplishments of others, and waiting to be saved” (Steinem 250). From the time that Wonder Woman was in the public eye, society drilled into the minds of young girls that this was the way women were and how they see female super heroes. Steinem feels as though a young girl now has a perception of what a woman is supposed to be like. At the same time, those young girls will grow up thinking that’s the way a woman needs to be. Similarly, Woolf feels the same way stating in her essay, “She was intensely sympathetic. She was immensely charming. She was utterly unselfish. She excelled in the difficult arts of family life. She sacrificed herself daily” (Woolf 308). Woolf was describing the “Angel in the House” (Woolf 308). The characteristics that Woolf just mentioned represent how woman actuate in every home, and society wants women to become accustom to that while being in the work force. Woolf feels that she is being haunted by the Angel, and that the Angel wants her to conform to the ways of a female. In other words the Angel was the enemy, and Woolf could not allow her to take