Local and Contextual: John Stuart Mill's The Subjection of Women

The reception of John Stuart Mill's The Subjection of Women (1869) has changed considerably during the last half century. In the increasingly positive reading and re-reading of the book, one criticism persists unchallenged: Mill's argument was universalistic. Not only did his analysis posit a uniform trajectory of both the subjection and the liberation of women, critics argue; also, they add, Mill failed to acknowledge the interrelation of identity and society by adhering to an abstract view of persons. This interpretation does not do justice to Subjection's text and context: Mill's legal prescriptions were not merely a symptom of a liberal theory of progress. He thought the unobstructed participation in the public life of the community the only way out of the vicious circle of habituation and oppression for women. This paper argues that his conclusion was grounded on ethological analyses of English national character, legal history, social institutions, and practices.