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Subjection Of Women

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Mill states here that he still believes traditional gender roles (as we now call them) are desirable, but, being John Mill, he passionatly believes in the freedom of lifestyle choice for the individual. Hard to argue with that.

The Subjection of Women is an often overlooked classic by one of history's greatest minds. Published at the end of Mill's life, The Subjection brings together all of Mill's most important views on liberty, utility, human nature, and society. It paints a far more accessable ethic than more famous works, such as On Liberty. Mill uses his philosophical views to reach conclusions that were long ahead of his time, and in many ways continue to outpace our understanding of gender and society. This work is arguably the best feminist writing ever, and the best commentary on morality and social evolution.

Today, Mill's work continues to provide us with a framework for understanding social movements such as the gay rights and animal rights movements. Mill shows us how just institutions are vital to the happiness of both society and the individual, as these institutions are central to the formation of our characters. He shows us how both the oppressor and the oppressed are harmed by unjust institutional arrangements, such as gender inequalities in the family. In sum, Mill's The Subjection of Women is perhaps the finest piece of social and political philosophy produced in the modern era, and should be read by all interested in social justice, feminism, or ethics.

A founding document of modern feminism by the granddaddy of libertarian thought. If you have any interest in feminism and/or classical liberalism (a.k.a. libertarianism), you must read this short, brilliant book.

I read the subjection of women as a freshman in college. I believe that the subjection of women is one of the best arguments for equality of genders that has ever been written. beyond the usual cited feminist arguments that pervade pop culture, this book using reason argues that not only are women disadvantage by society unequal treatment, but MEN are too. Society is deprived of what they might have achieved, and we are all the lesser for it. Although written a hundred years ago, the ideas still have not been taken to heart by society. If more people read this book, the culture would be better off.

The Subjection of Women deals exclusively with a subject John Stuart Mill had often touched on previously - female oppression. This classic essay is the culmination of an issue Mill had been passionately involved in since youth, when he was arrested for distributing literature about contraception. It is the most important, famous, and influential feminist text between Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, coming about halfway between them. That it was written by a man, one born to a substantial amount of privilege and who was around very few women until adulthood at that, is of course all the more incredible. Going well beyond his prior suffrage call, it pushes for nothing less than full equality, not even stopping at legal equality but valiantly trying to change thought and custom. Mill's suffrage arguments are numerous and near-irrefutable. He has the noble distinction of being the first MP to propose female suffrage - in the 1860s! He would surely be glad to know the substantial progress since made, however disappointed - if not surprised - he may have been to know it would take sixty years to be realized.

However, the vast majority of the essay deals with the rest of female oppression, a far more formidable barrier - one that, indeed, has sadly still not been fully crossed. The arguments are again very strong. Following a short historical overview of female oppression and a blunt survey of its then current forms, Mill proceeds to demolish its basis. In perhaps the most brilliant and admirable application of utilitarianism ever, he convincingly shows that female oppression is not only a great evil to women but also to men and all of society. He uses many examples and arguments to show that ending it is both a moral necessity and a prescription for many social ills. The many later advances have proven much of what he said, even if he was perhaps too optimistic in some respects. It is a sad comment on human progress that several of the ideals he passionately and articulately argued for, such as equality of intellect in marriage, are still uncommon and even scorned.

Though Subjection is admitted even by Mill's many detractors to be his argumentative tour de force, it has a few limitations. First, one of his main arguments is that Victorian - nay, all historical - assumptions about inherent differences between men and women, as well as the latter's inferiority, are premature because women had never existed in a state of social equality with men. This is certainly true as far as it goes - indeed, irrefutable at the time. Though he argues forcefully for equality in any situation, he does not even address the substantial question of what, if anything, should or must be done if inherent differences are found. This defect was then nothing more than abstract and, in fact, very subservient to the cause of advancing female rights. However, the near-equality women now have in developed countries means we must look at the issue somewhat differently. The question of inherent differences, much less relative superiority, is still far from answered - may indeed be even less clear. Even so, many of the issues Mill left unaddressed because moot are now very real, even pressing. They may leave his central arguments untouched - one would in fact be very hard-pressed to find a better argument for female equality anywhere -, but the essay is certainly more incomplete now, though still substantially valuable. Finally, though Mill's liberalism on the question is almost unbelievable for a man of his time and place, some of his statements and suggestions, not least his claim that the arrangement of man as breadwinner/woman as domestic engineer - to use the (I believe) currently politically correct term - probably is best after all, will rankle current feminists. To be fair, he does not say it prescriptively - indeed refrains from ruling anything out for women in any respect -, but Victorianism's ugly specter sneaking in even here is bound to disturb some. This of course hardly negates the rest, and The Subjection is still - and surely always will be - essential for anyone even remotely interested in women's struggle.

I read this book for a graduate Mill seminar in Philosophy. Recommended reading for anyone interested in philosophy, political science, feminism and history.

John Stuart Mill, 1806-73, worked for the East India Co. helped run Colonial India from England. Minister of Parliament 1865-68 he served one term.

In The Subjection of Women Mill first and foremost advocated the need for all humans to improve their characters. He was a firm believer, that all people regardless of their race or sex, had the capacity to learn and improve their characters. In light of this belief, Mill sets the tone for his argument in his opening paragraph of his essay wherein he wrote that the legal means by which the female sex was subordinated to the male sex hindered the character development of all members of society. He was the first male in Britain to champion the cause of women to the extent that he did, and he suffered plenty of criticism and insults for doing so. He was also the first Member of Parliament to introduce a bill in the Commons to enfranchise women. He worked tirelessly throughout his life supporting women's rights with both his pen and his purse.

I find that his essay really turned a spotlight on the many horrors that women endured throughout the history of mankind at the hands of their brutish husbands. No other person's writings illuminated the deprivations that women had endured the way Mill's essay did. No doubt, Victorian sensibilities were shocked when he wrote about the brutality that many women in marriage suffered at the whim of their tyrannical husbands--rape and beatings were at the top of his list.

One of the ideas that Mill gave his fervent support to, and that I greatly admire him for, is the concept that freedom of choice for people is a crucial ingredient in character formation and in improving society and civilization for everyone. This belief led him to argue that marriage as it existed in his time was nothing better than legal and state sponsored slavery. Women had few options in life. If they were married to a tyrant who beat them it was almost impossible to obtain a divorce. Divorce was rare in his day and actually had to be approved by an act of parliament. In addition, if a wife did obtain a divorce, not only would she most likely lose custody of her children, she would also be denied any visitation privileges as well. Mill correctly complained that outside of the home women were left with few options in life. Professional education and career paths were closed to them. Men were fearful of the competition in the workplace women would present if they were allowed employment in professions or trade guilds. Therefore, when it came to workplace opportunities, society left women with few options-- prostitution, or menial domestic work. Thus, Mill saw that the lesser of all evils that women could choose was marriage. Their life in the home was reduced to serving as scullery maids and raising children. Thus, he wrote women treated this way were turned into shrews, which not only made their lives miserable, but also the lives of those around them. For all these reasons Mill believed that the institution of marriage was an impediment; not just to women, but to the progress of civilization as well. Considering that marriage laws had the force of several millennia of religious and societal mores behind it, one can certainly understand why his description of its depravity on humankind won him few friends in "polite" Victorian society.

During his time, a married woman's property automatically devolved to her husband, and Mill correctly saw this as one more inequity against women placed on them by society. Therefore, when he married Harriett Taylor in 1851, a financially secure widow, he remained true to his convictions and wrote a formal renunciation to all of her property in protest against the current law. In addition, while a Member of Parliament he cosponsored the Married Women's Property bill in 1868 to try to change the law. Finally, he sternly rebuked this abomination in his essay by rightly concluding that marriage left the vast majority of women in the unenviable position of "the personal body-servant of a despot" (CW XXI: 285).

Interesting little book. I understand maybe that his wife helped him write it, or they collaborated. It ranges through history, politics and economics and although I enjoyed the book, I cannot help but feel his view of history is weak and his economics dreadful.

These weaknesses aside, he makes a compelling case for the equality of women and his discussion of contemporary (to him) life issues of women is fascinating.

He ends the book with a section on the difficulty of relationships between men and women when the women are not liberated. I think it is the high point of the book.

Mill argues his position in a compelling and heartfelt manner. He was a true progressive. Much of his argument is still applicable today.

I have to say that I found The Subjection of Women to be surprisingly accessible and very interesting. As the book was written in 1869, and as I tend to have difficulty reading classics, I imagined that this would be a trying read for me. While it wasnft the most fun book Ifve ever read, it was a much more enjoyable experience than I was expecting! I was pleasantly surprised by how progressive Millfs opinions were on the subject of womenfs rights and equality. Of particular interest to me was the fact that he mentioned the social construction of gender multiple times throughout the book. While he didnft use the phrase gsocial construction of genderh (of course) he blatantly stated that men gareh a certain way and women gareh another way because society tells men and women how to behave and think, and people tend to act accordingly. While anyone who has taken Womenfs Studies 101 or even read a basic feminist text will be able to explain this nowadays, I didnft expect to read about someone having a solid understanding of that concept in the mid-1800s. Overall, this was a pleasant reading experience and I would definitely recommend The Subjection of Women as an important feminist classic.

The cruel past of mankind is the framework for all existing inequalities past and present, proclaims John Stuart Mill in his passionate defense of the equality between men and women.

Natural condition
The only natural condition of the human race was the law of the strongest. A physical fact (strength) became a legal right. Inequality of rights was the publicly and openly avowed rule of life.
Mankind was divided in two classes: a small one of masters and a numerous one of slaves.
Human society was based on the principle of a fixed place (where one was born) and a fixed social position. The least possible was left to the choice of the individual. All those who resisted the authorities had all laws and all notions of social obligation against them.

Family
After the abolition of slavery, no official slaves remained, except the mistress in every house. The family still reflects the initial `natural' state of inequality. It is a school for despotism with unrestrained power at home for the head of the family in his role of absolute sovereign.

New laws
The legal subordination of one sex to the other must be replaced by a principle of perfect equality. The most universal and pervading of all human relations (marriage) should be regulated by justice. The laws (and institutions) should be adapted to `bad' men, not to `good' ones.
Merit, not birth, is the rightful claim to power and authority.
The free use of women's faculties would double the mass of mental faculties available for the service of mankind.

In this forceful diatribe, which is still highly topical in major parts of our `modern' world, John Stuart Mill extended the goal of his brilliant essay "On Liberty' to the concrete position of one half of the world's population.

It is a must read for all those interested in mankind and its history.