Arguing for equality
Examine how The Subjection of Women challenges custom, claims about nature and the marriage laws of its time.
An original introduction. This guide accompanies the work; it is neither the complete text nor a translation.
Situating the text
Written in 1861 and published in 1869, after his parliamentary campaign for women’s suffrage, the essay draws on discussions with Harriet Taylor and Helen Taylor, whose contribution Mill acknowledged. Harriet Taylor’s own essay The Enfranchisement of Women had appeared in 1851. Mill argues that the legal subordination of one sex to the other is wrong in itself and one of the chief hindrances to human improvement, and that it should give way to perfect equality. He examines marriage law, claims about a fixed female nature, and the exclusion of women from education, the professions and the vote.
Following the arguments
Custom : The general acceptance of a hierarchy proves nothing about its justice when no alternative has ever been allowed a fair trial. Nature : What is called the nature of women is largely an artificial product of education, constraint and circumstance. Marriage : A legal order that subordinates wives to husbands corrupts both partners and prevents a relationship between equals.
Continuing the reading
Begin with the opening chapter on custom, then compare Mill’s case for equal rights with the more conservative passages on the domestic division of labour. Written in 1861 and published in 1869, after his parliamentary campaign for women’s suffrage, the essay draws on discussions with Harriet Taylor and Helen Taylor, whose contribution Mill acknowledged. Harriet Taylor’s own essay The Enfranchisement of Women had appeared in 1851.
Mill turns the lack of evidence about women’s capacities into an argument for the freedom to try.
Your turn to think.
- How does Mill answer the claim that a long-standing custom must be natural?
- Which parts of his argument remain bound to the assumptions of his own time?
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