The Subjection Of Women By John Stuart Mill

The source tells young women that they must ‘be content to be inferior to men’ , a statement that corroborates with the contemporary laws of England. Society was deeply patriarchal, with men legally authorised to use physical violence to chastise his wife as she ‘belonged to him. Women who wanted to separate

During the Age of Enlightenment in the late eighteenth century, Mary Wollstonecraft presented a radical essay, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, that shed light on the largest, underrepresented groups of the time, women. The essay voiced the inequalities women at the time faced and called upon Wollstonecraft’s audience to invoke a revolution for the rights of women. Through her writing, she presented a compelling argument that slowly allowed women to question their “place” in society and demand change to the British social order. While these changes did not happen quickly, her work sparked the feminist movements through its unique message and called upon women to demand equality through the Match Girls Strike and Women’s Suffrage

On the Equality of the Sexes Murray expresses her distaste in the way that women are looked at as incapable of doing basically anything. She was an advocate for woman’s equality, education, and also economic independence. She believed that women can be independent, women can be educated, and women can make their own decisions. Women aren’t as intellectually lacking as men would make them out to be in the 17 -1800’s. Which she proves by writing under the pen name Mr. Vigilius to get her readers to consider her ideals without dismissing them based off of her gender. Since women were not allowed a higher education they took on unappealing domestic roles. Which gave them no choice but to stick with the ‘needle and kitchen’. Since all weak, unscholarly women do what they do best, knit and cook.

Mary Wollstonecraft’s famous book, Vindication of the Rights of Women, is “one of the earliest expressions of a feminist consciousness.” Wollstonecraft claims that women are upset mainly due to the fact that they are not receiving the education they deserve, and goes on to explain how women are notorious for being weak, and mentally unstable. She blames the education system for this since all the books are written by men, and they claim that women are barley humans and are treated as another species. She questions the eligibility of men to claim they are better than women. A useful education, in her opinion, is one that teaches students how to be strong and independent. Her directed audience is anyone who is unsure of the true definition and meaning of feminism. Wollstonecraft believes that all humans are capable of the same intelligence, no matter the gender. Her overall idea is that every individual, both male and female, deserve equality.

Many people believe that marriage is important in this day and age, but it holds little significance compared to the importance of marriage in the Victorian era. In the Victorian era women were to get married to a man of the same or a better social status, be good wives, and be a mother to her husband's children. Very few marriages started with love, but a woman's life is not complete without being married. Over time, the role of married women has evolved a great deal and they now have rights and privileges. John Stuart Mill was one of the great thinkers of the Victorian era, and his essay The Subjection of Women tells how few privileges women had and that they were slaves to their husbands. He also says that women are their own people and

Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman addresses the causality between a lack of education and a lack of reasonability. She advocates for virtue through reason, rather than virtue over reason. Wollstonecraft argues that the minimal freedom of women has limited their view on life, and thusly, their potential intelligence. In fact, she stipulates “all the difference that I can discern, arises from the superior advantage of liberty, which enables the former [man] to see more of life.” Through this greater exposure to the world, Wollstonecraft argues that man holds greater capacity for the development of a thoughtful mind. She extends this reasoning when asserts that a female who attempts to grow her intellect is quickly quashed through deflection to a life of domestic rules and behavior. Wollstonecraft asserts, “if they have natural sagacity it is turned too soon on life and manners.” In summary, this piece of literature contends that women are shaped into subservient individuals who lack the capacity for original thought and discourse. This is portrayed in her comparison of women to a soldier. “[T]hey may well be disciplined machines, but they seldom contain men under

Mill's case for women's equality reflects his Utilitarian roots. The subjection of women, he argues, is not only "wrong in itself" but "one of the chief hindrances to human improvement." By denying women the same opportunities as men, he says, society not only hinders the development of roughly half the population but denies itself the benefit of their talents. The fact that men are typically superior to women in physical strength leads to the assumption that men are superior to women in all areas, despite the fact that there is no proof to support this claim. In this respect, Mill says, the unfair situation of women matches that of slaves. Mill argues that the progress of society requires that all people, men and women alike, not be imprisoned in the "fixed social

In the words of Jane Austen, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife” (Austen, 5). This quote highlights how women were dependent on men to have a place and to be respected in society at the time of the victorian era. Women were viewed as domestic tools rather than human beings; they were treated as a domestic production that men control and own. Before a woman is married she is owned by her father, and after she is owned by her husband. In different parts of the world, the undergrading of women or no feminism still exists. Women can not voice their opinions let alone own an object in the

Mill makes a very strong argument that the position women have in society is not the only possible way to structure societal hierarchy. The reason it seems unnatural to change its structure, he claims, is because it is uncustomary.

Firstly, like I stated in the introduction, Mill believes that the biggest threat to society is that Freedom of Speech being stifled and women not having the same rights and opportunities as men. This is a threat to society for several reasons. Mill pointed out that “the opinion which it is attempted to suppress by authority may possibly be true” (Frederick Nietzsche; Douglas Smith, 2008, p. P386) which indicates that an unpopular opinion could be true – ignoring this opinion would mean the public would be pursuing something which is incorrect – this would clearly damage society. Mill also stated that “though the silenced opinion be an error, it may, and very commonly does, contain a portion of truth; and since the general or prevailing opinion on any subject is rarely or never the whole truth, it is

The past history of subjection towards women by accounts of nature is one of the reasons that women are still oppressed today. John Stuart Mill in his writing

Wollstonecraft is not advocating for physical equality because in terms of nature, men are built in a more superior manner. However, one’s mind was not built to be superior or inferior depending on one’s sex. Wollstonecraft states that men have caused women’s minds to be, “rendered weak and wretched” due to the stereotypes that became embedded in minds and cultures for hundreds of years.

Despite being under the rule of a female monarch, women faced many inequalities and suffering during the Victorian age. Examples of these inequalities include not having the right to vote, unequal educational and employment opportunities. Women were even denied the legal right to divorce in most cases. As the Norton Anthology states, these debates over women’s rights and their roles came to be known as the “woman question” by the Victorians. This lead to many conflicting struggles, such as the desire by all for women to be educated, yet they are denied the same opportunities afforded to men. While these women faced these difficulties, there was also the notion that women should be domestic and feminine. There was an ideal that women should be submissive and pure because they are naturally different. The industrial revolution introduced women into the labor workforce, but there was still a conflict between the two identities; one of an employed woman, and one of a domestic housewife.

As one of the earliest feminist writers, Mary Wollstonecraft faced a daunting audience of critics ready to dispel her cry for the rights of women. Her powerful argument calling for equality in a society dominated by men was strong, and her ideas withstood a lot of criticism to become one of the most important feminist texts. Her argument was simple and illustrates a solution to the inequality in society. The foundation of this argument is the idea of education and how independent thought is necessary to live a virtuous and moral life. In the present state of society, women are seen as inferior to men and held in a state of ignorance. The worst effect of this

Throughout history, women were “conditioned” to believe that it was their duty to be obedient to men. That it was their “nature to live for others….and to have no life but their [men’s] affections” (Mill, 1995, pg.16). Thus, it seemed natural that women were to be subservient to the needs of the men in their lives. They gave up their lives in order to serve and be accepted by them. Mill, however, claims that this was not the case. The subjection of women was not brought upon by natural development, but rather, through customary power relationships that went on to become institutionalized in the same way that slavery was.