Women as Mirrors

On page 35 of A Room of One's Own Woolf says, "Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size". To sum up her point, women encourage men. Let's think about this for a minute. Woolf is relating the role of women to that of a cheerleader. She states that our goal is to lift the spirits of men and be his driving force. I'm a little confused. By including this, one may argue that women are good at their job and should stick with it. Hasn't Woolf been arguing that women deserve equality? Why would she insist the importance of women nothing more than cheerleaders when her main and original argument is that we need to be in the game? I do understand the validity of her point: Woman is man's motivation. However, most women want to be more. They want to not only motivate themselves but also succeed themselves. If I were Woolf I would have left out this point. I feel that it does not contribute to her argument.