Mill, The Subjection of Women

Thesis: As an advocate for women's rights, Parliament member, John Stuart Mill, took his The Subjection of Women as an opportunity to point out man's flagrant abuse of power by discussing the nonsensical restrictions put in place by men and the surprising obedience of many to these restrictions.

I. Inequality
--A. Not a result of deliberation or forethought, or any social ideas, or any notion whatever of what conduced to the benefit of humanity or the good order of society.
--B. Simply placed on women by men for nonsensical reasons (ex: muscle strength). Therefore, it is not a supportable case.
--C. Inequality and the "rule of men" is "accepted voluntarily"
--> A huge sum of women do not accept it, however, as displayed in writings that have allowed for them to publicly share their displeasure.

II. Women's Struggle for Rights
--A. With no representative party as there is in the U.S., women in England act as part of an organized "Society" that is managed by women for the more limited object of obtaining the political franchise.
--B. Women demand admission into professions and occupations hitherto closed against them.
--C. Women begin to protest worldwide, not just in England the America, against the disabilities under which they labour.

III. Men as a Hinderance
--A. In a relationship, most men, excluding the brutish, desire "not a forced slave but a willing one; not a slave merely, but a favourite."
--B. Men, to instill fear in women ("to maintain obedience"), turned the whole force of education to effect their purpose.
--> Women are brought up in an educational system that leads them to think their ideal of character is the opposite of that of men. They are raised by education not to belive in self-will, and government by self-control, but submission, and yielding to the control of others.
--> "The duty of women"
--C. Being attractive to men became "the polar star of feminine education and formation of character."
--D. "the generality of the male sex cannot yet tolerate the idea of living with an equal."

IV. Suffrage
--A. "To have a voice...is a means of self-protection"
--B. "There is not a shadow of justification for not admitting women" under the same allowance of suffrage. "The majority of the women of any class are not likely to differ in political opinion from the majority of the men of the same calss."

V. Occupations
--A. Like men, women can prove themselves through success in an open profession, and thus prove their qualification.
--> No justification for occupational restrictions