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Published in 1869, this essay argues that the legal subordination of women to men, in marriage, property, education and the vote, is wrong in itself and a…
Published in 1869, this essay argues that the legal subordination of women to men, in marriage, property, education and the vote, is wrong in itself and a major obstacle to human progress. Mill dismantles the claim that women's nature makes them unsuited to public life, pointing out that no one can know women's nature while they are denied freedom.
Context and significance
Mill had already proposed votes for women in Parliament in 1867, and he credited his late wife Harriet Taylor and her daughter Helen with many of the ideas. It is a landmark of the movement for equal rights, building on A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.
About the author
John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) received one of the most intense educations ever recorded: his father taught him Greek at three and Latin at eight, and by his teens he was writing on economics. At twenty he fell into a deep depression and found his way out through the poetry of Wordsworth, an experience that taught him the value of feeling alongside reason.
He worked for thirty-five years at the East India Company, wrote on logic, economics and politics, and shared his intellectual life with Harriet Taylor, whom he married in 1851. As a Member of Parliament he proposed votes for women in 1867. His On Liberty, Utilitarianism and The Subjection of Women are still at the centre of debate.