Critical Review: Suffrage and Virginia Woolf: 'The Mass Behind the Single Voice'

Suffrage and Virginia Woolf: ‘The Mass Behind the Single Voice’

Sowon S. Park

Sowon S. Park begins this article by explaining that Virginia Woolf is viewed as the ‘mother’ of feminism for the 21^st century. Park focuses on Woolf’s lack of action toward the suffrage movement. It is argued that A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas have strong ties to the suffrage movement. They were reviewed as “ahead of their time.” It is brought to light that Woolf worked in a suffrage office, but privately expressed concerns about the movement. Woolf did not work there for very long, and was believed to be of higher class than the women who were typical activists. Woolf chose to put her energy towards the Women’s Co-operative Guild which was a way to show her feminist views. She viewed the suffrage movement as limiting. In A Room of One’s Own, Woolf invents Shakespeare’s sister who is equal to him in intellect. In Three Guineas, Woolf proves the power of women through the narrator. This article explains Woolf’s participation in the suffrage movement as compared to her activism as a Feminist as a whole.