John Mills The Subjection Of Women Analysis

In John Mill 's’ essay, “The Subjection of Women”, Mill evaluates and analyses, the social differences between the sexes of the Victorian era. Mills raises some valid points about the subjection of women pertaining to the 19th century. Mills argues that during this time women are treated by their husbands as slaves to a master, not offered an equal opportunity in terms of employment, and their educational achievements aren’t recognized nearly as much as their male counterpart.

In my opinion women’s welfare today has improved significantly in regards to the three points raised by Mill mentioned previously. Although I admit more could be done ultimately to improve women’s rights, I believe through feminist essays such as Mills, we as a society

Woman were simply unable to educate themselves due to the men controlling them. Mills suggests that if women were allowed to educate themselves it would also improve and train the capacities of men,”Women in general would be brought up equally capable of understanding business,public affairs, and the higher matters of speculation, with men in the same class of society; and the select few of the one as well of the other sex, who were qualified not only to comprehend what is done or thought by others, but to think or do something considerable themselves, would meet with the same facilities for improving and training their capacities in the one sex as in the other”(676-677). Mills is corroborating the age-old adage that, ‘you can’t live with em and you can’t live without em’, em being men and women. By educating women it allows them to higher the education of men because they can comprehend and respond to what the man is saying. Educating females during this time would also teach them to be self dependent; a trait which a lot of them lacked. Self-Dependence, along with intelligence for the women of the Victorian age was non existent. Even if a Woman wanted to be self-dependent, they couldn’t, either they weren’t allowed, or they simply didn 't know how. Mills suggests that during this time women knew nothing else, they were born into this thinking, “A woman born to the present lot of women, and content with it, how should she appreciate the value of self-dependence; her destiny is to receive everything from others”(681). Mill 's point is that with the inequality of women during this era, they were unable to know anything else than co-dependency. Mills wants to point out that without giving the women equal rights of men, they can never improve. They will be stuck in the same social class, as second class citizens;