Comparing Quotes and Literature

1200 B.C.  "No trust is to be placed in women." - Homer

1694-1773 "Women are to be talked to as below men and above children." - Lord Chesterfield

1769-1821 "Women are nothing but machines for producing children."  "Nature intended women to be our                     slaves... What a mad idea to demand equality for women!"  - Napoleon I


It is evident that throughout the course of time women have been treated as inferiors to men.  The three quotes listed above are examples of how women were not to be "trusted," treated equal to men, or considered anything more than "machines for producing children."  These quotes pertain to certain male opinions and all men should not be criticized as being male chauvinists.  I believe that women deserve equal opportunity as men in every aspect of life.  I also feel that respect for women has gradually gotten better over the years and women now have every chance to do anything in their lives that men do.  When these quotes were said, many women did not have the opportunities they have today, and were stuck following the rules of their society; women must be mothers only.  In today's world, opportunities are everywhere and women are no longer "talked to as below men," but talked to and treated as equals.

In Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own, the issue of women not having equal opportunity as men is presented.  In Woolf's time, the women were not treated equal and she uses the example of William Shakespeare's fictional sister to prove it.  Woolf creates Judith, basically a female version of William.  She is intellectually capable of performing any of the tasks her brother is able to achieve, but she is not provided with the same opportunity.  Judith's abilities are not recognized, and she is pushed aside by her family while William is praised.  Although Judith is fictional, Woolf is able to make her point that even if women during that time had possessed "genius," they would not have been taken seriously like the men during that time were.

The quotes that are stated at the top of the page are examples of how women were thought of many years ago.  A Room of One's Own tries to prove how quotes like these were not just words, but actions, and women did not have much of a chance to be independent and successful because men set the standards.  Women were always compared to men and were not able to be superior to men in anyway possible.  Times have changed and women are on the rise.  Eventually, women will have just as many leadership positions as men do, maybe even exceed them.