A room of one's own

In A room of one's own (1929) and Three guineas (1938) Woolf considers with energy and wit the implications of the historical exclusion of women from education and from economic independence. In the first selection she examines the work of past women writers, and looks ahead to a time when women's creativity will not be hampered by poverty, or by oppression. In the second selection, however, Woolf argues that women's historical exclusion offers them the chance to form a political and cultural identity which could challenge the drive towards fascism and war.