"Whatever women's services are most wanted for," he writes, "the free play of competition will hold out the strongest inducements to them to undertake."īut despite Mill's admission that On the Subjection of Women was co-written with his wife, Harriet, this otherwise commendable edition again omits her name from the cover. Mills Subjection of Women (1869), although written of course by a man, is one of the landmarks of British feminism. If, as opponents of female emancipation argue, women are not naturally inclined to be political animals, they have nothing to lose by freeing them from legal shackles because nature will dictate what they are capable of becoming. Mill argues that more people existing alongside one another on an equal footing means increased competition, with an advantageous effect on human moral and intellectual development, both individual and social. He goes on to explain the benefits of female emancipation from the utilitarian standpoint. He states that the opposition to female emancipation is thus driven by prejudice rather than rationality. Mill's contention is that we cannot know that something will not work unless we try it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |