Ideological Criticism of Virginia Woolf's "Professions for Women"

Introduction: Woolf, Ideology, and Rhetorical Criticism

Virginia Woolf's essay Professions for Women, in which she talks about "killing the Angel in the House," is an ideal artifact for ideological criticism, because Woolf is interested in simultaneously destroying a specific ideological product while creating one of her own. As Sandra Foss discusses in her book Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice, the goal of any ideological critique is to identify those traces of ideology that make themselves known in a rhetorical artifact, and to determine not only how the particular rhetoric supports this ideology, but also who this ideology affects and why (Foss 248). In the case of Woolf's "Professions for Women," it will become clear that Woolf is advocating an ideology of gender equality that takes as its target both the linguistic embodiments of repressive gender ideologies — in the form of specific "ideographs" such as the Angel in the House — as well as the physical realities those ideographs perpetuate and advocate.

This critique will provide valuable insights into both the way ideology presents itself in rhetoric and how rhetorical criticism in general can benefit from a more precise accounting of the methods and functions of ideology, above and beyond traditional divisions and genres of rhetorical device.

Historical and Biographical Context

Woolf's essay "Professions for Women" is adapted from a 1931 speech she gave to the London and National Women's Service (now named the Fawcett Society after its founder, Millicent Fawcett). Although the actual text of the speech is somewhat longer than the eventual essay, it seems fair, at least in the context of ideological criticism, to discuss the essay rather than the speech. As would be expected, the essay represents a refinement of Woolf's overall argument and rhetoric that retains the ideologically important aspects of the original speech without the unnecessary inclusion of "canceled passages and alternative wordings" (Woolf, Women and Writing 57). The London and National Women's Service began as a suffragist movement but expanded to include issues of equal pay, political representation, and other aspects of the public life of women.

By 1931, Woolf had already published many of her most famous works, including the novels Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse, as well as her long essay A Room of One's Own, establishing herself as an outspoken voice for gender equality, especially relating to professional and economic opportunities. One of her most famous lines regarding economic and professional equality can be found in A Room of One's Own and helps to illuminate her well-established ideological background prior to her 1931 speech: "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction" (Woolf, A Room of One's Own 4).

That Woolf was ideologically and politically active prior to her speech is evidenced not only by her written works but also by her biography. In 1910 she became a vocal supporter of women's suffrage, and as a result of her efforts — along with countless others — a variety of reforms made their way through the British Parliament (Woolf, A Room of One's Own xxvii). First came the Representation of the People Act of 1918, which granted the right to vote to women over thirty; then the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act "opened many professions and public offices to women;" and finally, in 1928, the Equal Franchise Act gave the right to vote to women over twenty-one, giving them the same voting rights as men (Woolf, A Room of One's Own xxviii, xxxi). Having occasionally lectured at Cambridge previously, it is in this context of dramatic social reform that Woolf was asked to speak at the London and National Women's Service, specifically about her "own professional experiences" (Woolf, Women and Writing 57).

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