A review by athirah_idrus
The Subjection of Women by John Stuart Mill

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

I’ve always known John Stuart Mill as a political economist. When I found this book nestled amongst my sister’s extensive shelf, I was intrigued. I was curious what a prominent utilitarian would have to say on the subject of women (and their subjection, no less). 

 

I guess extrapolating on the idea of utilitarianism, it does make sense that he was calling out the hypocrisy of the ‘developed economy’ to still subject women to rights that weren’t on par with men, and by law, women were still considered men’s property. By depriving the rights of women, we are depriving the humanity as a whole of what could be achieved if women were given the same rights and freedom as men. 

 

This was surprising to me coming from a white male especially during a time when women were still worth no more than cattle (mind you, he published this book in 1869), he even went further to draw parallels between the rights given to women and slaves, where a male slave under certain conditions even had more freedom and rights compared to a woman of the time. 

 

However, women belonging to a higher class or stature in society were given leniency where they were encouraged to pursue education. Mills was aptly calling out the double standards of the treatment of women belonging to different classes. If we considered it a symbol of civilization for highbred women to be educated, why were we depriving the rest simply because they were born under poorer circumstances? 

 

Women of the time were only expected to marry to carry offspring, which would automatically belong to her husband. Mills argued that men and women should complement each other, and wouldn’t it make a merrier marriage should the couple be able to bounce ideas off one another, and give-and-take where necessary, instead of having a rigid structure where everything was in the hands of the man alone? I thought this was extremely refreshing, especially considering that some people of this day and age still struggling to let go of their ego and give mutual respect, irrespective of their gender. 

 

Compelling though his argument was, it proved to be limited to just that – an argument. Mills did not go further than embellishing his theories, instead of providing evidence for his claims. Though of course he admitted he had no way of doing that other than basing his observations on what was obvious at the time (slaves vs women’s rights). He even admitted that his claims were only theories (though he’d been proven right and now we enjoy these privileges and many of the things he fought for, we now take as a given). 

 

Mills went on to fight for the women’s suffrages in parliament as a politician. 

 

Highly recommended!