John Stuart Mill 1806-1873

John Stuart Mill is perhaps the most influential and yet the most criticized of all Victorian authors for his role in advocating sexual equality, the right to divorce, universal suffrage, free speech, and proportional representation. Mill's expressed, "that true poetry expresses the passionate, solitary meditations of the author, it is not so much heard as overheard" (page 514), and this was evident in his writing of the "The Subjection of Women". It argues that women have been victims of history, unjustly denied access to their own potential, prevented by the unquestioned habits of mankind from flourishing as fully human beings. He wrote,

"That the principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes-the legal subordination of one sex to the other-is wrong in itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement; and that it ought to be replaced by a principle of perfect equality, admitting no power or privilege on the one side, nor disability on the other"(page 521)

In the lines mentioned above, the author is calling for the equality of the sexes. He mentioned that the only way for humans to improve is to not think that one sex is superior as compared to the other. However, this was in opposition to the status quo of his time. Society at that time thought men were superior to women. The author was honest in giving his opinion and made sure that it was heard. He never really forced it upon others, instead he wrote the facts as he saw them and why he thought it was unjust.

"There was a time when division of mankind into two classes, a small one of masters and a numerous one of slaves, appeared, even to the most cultivated minds, to be natural, and only natural, condition of human race" (page 522) In order to bring across his point to his readers that the custom of his time, which they all thought to be natural, wherein men were thought to be superior to women, he made mention of days of slavery. As he compared what was happening in the society to that of slavery he mentioned that those of the upper class, masters, in order to justify their passions and legitimate their personal interest thought it was natural to divide mankind into either slaves or us, the masters. Even though slavery was suppose to be abolished, when women were treated as inferior and subjected to the rules of men is not that slavery?

"But, it will be said, the rule of men over women differs from all these others in not being a rule of force: it is accepted voluntarily; women make no complaint, and are consenting parties to it. In the first place, a great number of women do not accept it. Ever since there have been women able to make their sentiments known by their writings (the only mode of publicity which society permits to them), an increasing number of them have recorded protests against their present social condition: and recently many thousands of them, headed by the most eminent women known to the public, have petitioned Parliament for their admission to the Parliamentary Suffrage" (page 523). In these lines the author uses two opposing point of view to show that whenever there is inequality, eventually the oppresed will rebel. He writes that those who wants to validate the point that men are superior to women may state that women accept this role of inferiority voluntarily without complaint. However, in order to bring his point across that there should be equality among the sexes, the author states that some women voiced their opposition to this inequality through whatever means were available to them and eventually rose to prominent position to fight for this equality between the sexes.

Mill's may or may not see this equality between the sexes being fully accomplished during his time but he was very influential in voicing his opinions on the need for equality, especially in work, "The subjection of Women". He really sought to change the way women were treated in the society of his day. He was the first member of Parliament to advocate women's suffrage and his petition was presented in the House of Commons by Mills himself. In my opinion, I think he was a great writer. I enjoyed his work and wondered if some of his opinions was influenced by his relationship with Harriet Taylor.