Political PhilosophyBook · 1869
The Subjection of Women
John Stuart Mill
Mill wrote it in 1861 and held it back until 1869, and credited Harriet Taylor Mill with much of the thinking in it. The argument is that the legal subordination of women is wrong in itself and also wasteful of half the available talent. Mill had moved to give women the vote in Parliament in 1867 and been defeated.
Why you should read this
This is an early systematic philosophical argument for legal and social equality between the sexes, applying the same utilitarian and liberal reasoning Mill used elsewhere on liberty and government. Worth reading for the intellectual history of feminism before the movement had that name.
- Field
- Political Philosophy
- Form
- Non-fiction
- Published
- 1869
- Themes
- LiberalismPolitical Philosophy
