John Stuart Mill's The Subjection Of Women

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Recommended: Introduction to gender inequality in modern society

The argument about the women’s morality continued into the nineteenth-century with John Stuart Mill’s, “The Subjection of Women”. Published in 1869, Mill’s “The Subjection of Women” argued for female equality in a society that denied women various social and political rights. Mill argued that women were still disenfranchised in terms of educational opportunities, political rights, and social status in contrast to men. Mill claims that women are treated as subordinates because female gender roles support societal disempowerment. Particularly, by insisting that women should please and serve others first. As a result of these gender norms, women were regarded as more moral and virtuous than men in Mill’s time (“Feminist Ethics”). However, this …show more content…

3). Mill argues that the greatest hindrance to human improvement is the subordination of person to another. In Mill’s opinion, by denying women the same opportunities awarded to men and controlling their individual liberties, it impedes the development of society and denies that society the benefit of women's talents. For Mill as a utilitarian speculator, “The Subjection of Women” was “possessed of a rather larger ambition; to improve society as a whole” (Ward and McGlynn, p. 246). To overcome subordination, there must be equality between one another. However, gender inequalities created social norms in which women’s and men’s morality is assessed differently (“Feminist Ethics”). For Mill, the gender inequalities are grounded in societal customs that are supported by the “law of the strongest” (Mill, p.7). The law dictates while men are typically superior to women in physical strength, the presumption is that that men are superior to women in all areas. However, as Mill argues, there is no proof to support the claim and encourages the subordination of women. So, how does …show more content…

Women’s morality, Mill states, is “an eminently artificial thing” (Mill, p. 22). Mill argues that the only way to know the natural differences between men and women regarding morality is to allow women’s nature to develop organically without societal mandates and extend individual liberties so that they may choose what to think and do (“The Subjection of Women by J.S. Mill”). The continued progress of society requires that all humans are allowed to pursue and develop their talents. Not only will this benefit women by granting them autonomy over their own lives, the society will benefit. Overall, Mill argues that there is one, true human morality that men and women should aim to achieve. Neither, men or women is more or less moral than the other. However, societal barriers for women impede women from reaching their full potential. In the following section, Charlotte Perkins Stetson Gilman examines women’s morality in a fictional world without

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