written by John Stuart Mill Published - 1869
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”legal subordination of one sex to another – is wrong in itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement; and that it ought to be replaced by a system of perfect equality, admitting no power and privilege on the one side, nor disability on the other”
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likened marriage to slavery
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Mill attacks the argument that women are naturally worse at some things than men and should, therefore, be discouraged or forbidden from doing them. He says that we simply don’t know what women are capable of, because we have never let them try – one cannot make an authoritative statement without evidence. We can’t stop women from trying things because they might not be able to do them. An argument based on speculative physiology is just that, speculation.
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brought up to act as if they were weak, emotional, docile
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on the issue of women’s suffrage: Women make up half of the population, thus they also have a right to a vote since political policies affect women too. He theorises that most men will vote for those MPs who will subordinate women, therefore women must be allowed to vote to protect their own interests.
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actively campaigned for women’s rights as an MP
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Passed important bills
universal education = create new abilities and novel types of behavior of which the current generation and their descendants both benefit from = industrial and social independence
- remaining relics from ancient times