Comparing The Works Of Mill And John Stuart Mill On The Oppression Of Women
1909 Words8 Pages
For as long as there has been civilization as we know it there has been inequality between the sexes. This is evident through the numerous laws, religious texts, and other various writings by men that defend and even encourage the oppression of women. The oppression of women is something so ingrained into society that, especially during the 18th-19th century, many people felt it was the way of nature because they literally had never known anything different. However, the emergence of feminist writings in the late 18th century provided evidence that not everyone agreed with this ‘natural’ oppression of women. John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor Mill argued for the rights of women in their philosophical writings. In the works On the Subjection of…show more content… Taylor Mill argues that the constraints placed on women to remain in their “proper sphere”, which equates to being a wife and mother, should be abolished and it should be recognized that the proper sphere for any human being is to be allowed to be his or her best self. Mill explains that the idea of women being capable of only domestic duties is in fact false, he argues that it is merely something they have been taught all their lives. He and Taylor mill agree that given opportunity and education women can prove they are capable of much more that what has been recognized by their male counterparts. Additionally, Mill and Taylor Mill both assert that laws that essentially force women to stay in the roles which men have defined as natural for them are completely unnecessary. If women were in fact intended solely for wifedom and motherhood there would be no need for laws to keep them in those roles. Both philosophers argue that if women are truly incapable of something, such as holding political office, then that incapability would be proven, essentially if they truly cannot do something then they will not do