Women In John Stuart Mill's The Subjection Of Women

Strong, determined yet graceful and refined, the transcendent power of women is an attribute that has been misconstrued throughout centuries. Women have the ability to raise and educate generations all the while possessing a fierceness that allows them to accomplish anything they desire. In modern society, the power of women is limitless. They are free to follow their individual paths and choose their own fate. Although modern women have the opportunity to attain their goals, a woman accomplishing anything significant was unheard of two hundred years ago. A history of submission and constraint has deemed them the weaker sex, though this is far from the truth. The depiction of femininity during the Victorian Age differed greatly from the image of women today. Men and women …show more content…
In this passionate and informative essay, Mill’s claims that the subordinate position of women in society is the result of a widespread belief in a natural hierarchy. It was a common belief that women were inferior to men because that was the natural, god-intended order. He compares the role of women to that of slaves, and the men to slave owners. John Stuart Mill states that this natural order is not natural at all, but rather enforced by men to serve their own interests. “The subjection of women to men being a universal custom, any departure from it quite naturally appears unnatural” (1106). In opposition to the subjection of women being natural, Mill’s views it as simply being customary. It is a convention so ingrained within society, that people no longer question its legitimacy. Mill’s point of view drastically transforms the image of the inferior Victorian woman and motions to the possibility of total equality. This concept challenged the rigid beliefs of the Victorian Age and revealed the pressing issue of inequality between