IsEconomicStatusReallyImportantforaWoman

諶嘉琳

Simone de Beauvoir said，“A woman is not born but made.” Then，what makes women？ Culture？ Parental teaching？ Social environments？ ...When women are born，they are told they are a girl and brought up in the way that girls grow up.Gradually，an invisible and powerful voice is rooted in their mind，“Im a girl and that Ill be a woman or housewife.” They are forced to be labeled “female”.Besides gender ideologies，economic status also makes woman.During the Victorian period，daughters had no rights to inherit their parents property，accurately speaking，fathers possessions.Thats cruel for a woman！ What if women had rights or solid economic status？ They wont depend on men and they will be the same as men.The economic status really means a lot to a woman.Being labeled “female” is not their fault but the class system of private propertys.

Ideologies and economic status both make a woman，but economic status matters.Marxists affirms that economic base determines superstructure and that superstructure reflects economic base.“According to Frederich Engels，ideology functions as an illusion； ideologies give people ideas about how to understand themselves and their lives，and these ideas disguise or mask whats going on” （Klages 129）.The point is still the economic base because ideologies prevent people from realizing the truth behind colorful things and “create false consciousness in people，who believe the ideological representations of how the world works and thus misperceive，or dont see at all，how the world objectively works in terms of the mode of production and the class divisions that mode of production creates” （Klages 130）.For feminism，all feminist movements and theories are just superficial phenomena，which give people “illusion” and “false consciousness”.The final and real aim is something economic of women，namely the improvement of womens status in the society.

Influenced by Marxism，some feminists explore how economic status influences the social status of women.Virginia Woolf，mother of contemporary feminist，wrote，in A Room of Ones Own，“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction”（Woolf 26）.In Woolfs opinion，such materials，money and room，are the primary element of womens empowerment.When they have such things they can build their own room and become as successful as men.“Women have always been poor，not for two hundred years merely，but from the beginning of time” （Woolf 23），so few women have had their own room of reality as well as spirit； only women who have their own room have the chance to create the room of spirit and to improve their situation.Money and room are both material，which are also the presupposition of writing fiction.That is to say，the base is still something material that paves the way for the success of a female writer.Therefore，the economic status is the core of empowerment and success，especially for a woman.

Whats more，Virginia Woolf was never worried about livelihood in her youth.She herself said that her parents were not affluent but that her family were well-to-do enough （Woolf 65）.Born in a middle-class family，she not only read her fathers collections of books but also gained plenty of support from her family.To a large extent，such a well-to-do family offered the opportunity and access for her literary creation.The translator of The Voyage Out thought that there was natural relationship between Woolfs literary creation and her rich life （Woolf preface）.As a writer，she could focus on writing，not worrying about earning a living.She herself is a typical example for feminists，calling for them to struggle for economic status of women.

Engels and Woolf，they are vivid examples，both telling us how important the economic status is for women.Women，do not hesitate to stand up together，struggling for yourselves and fighting for your economic status.

References：

[1]Klages Mary.Literary Theory：A Guide for the Perplexed.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2010.Print.

[2]Virginia Woolf.Moments of Being.ED.Jeanne Schulkind.London：Hogarth Press，1985.Print.

[3]A Room of Ones Own.London： Penguin Books，2004.Print.

[4]The Voyage Out.Trans.Huang Yisi.Beijing： People's Literature Publishing House，2003.Print.