The Power of Three Guineas and the Feasibility of Women Leaning In
Yi-Chuang E. Lin

Abstract
It seems preposterous that all the socio-political problems which Virginia Woolf brought into attention almost a century ago continue to be. Her Three Guineas along with her Essay-Novel, The Years, together form a powerful attest against a general fascist tendency of her contemporary British society to completely overlook female subjectivity as well as sexuality. Votes and the civic and political rights to join campaign are never as important as five hundred pounds a year with some spare guineas to give. By procuring independent wealth, power of speech is obtained and rightful claims follow. But, is gender issue, especially that of social equality, largely an economic issue? While Woolf wonders around 1930s why women remain poor decades after university education and numerous professional opportunities are granted to them, Sheryl Sandberg, a successful American business woman, published a book, Lean In, in 2013 and raises once again the dilemmas of female professionals and the general gender injustice of any professional workplace. By cross-examining these two powerful, nonetheless controversial, arguments of Woolf and Sandberg, the present study seeks through them possible implementations of gender justice that can be achieved in current society.

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