Comparison Of Mill And Mona Caird's The Subjection Of Women

The women’s rights movement is one of the most important movements that occurred in the Victorian Era. In this period, middle and upper class women fight back against social stratification and seek social freedom. Female and male writers alike describe their feelings regarding women’s rights. John Stuart Mill and Mona Caird are two writers that serve as advocates for women’s rights. Mill’s The Subjection of Women explains how making men superior to women hinders the progress of human society. In Marriage Caird argues that women should have independence in marriage and that males and females should be co-educated. These two authors’ ideas complement each other nicely and can be compared. In addition to supporting women’s rights in the Victorian

He argues “the subjection of women to men being a universal custom, any departure from it quite naturally unnatural,” (Mill 1106). By this he means that the oppression of women is taught by society, therefore it seems natural. He adds to this argument by using historical and cultural facts. He explains that in the feudal ages, it did not seem strange for women to be independent and/or involved in politics because women were, in fact, involved in such (Mill 1106). This gives the impression that if women’s independence were normalized, it would no longer seem strange. Mill also compares the women’s movement to the start of the English House of Commons, because the deputies of commons at the time thought it was impossible to have the sort of power they developed (1107). Caird’s opinion coincides with Mill’s. She confidently states, “every good thing that we enjoy to-day was once the dream of a ‘crazy enthusiast’ mad enough to believe in the power of ideas and in the power of man to have things as he wills” (Caird 1631). In the case of women’s rights, this means that although women’s independence may seem like an outlandish idea, it is achievable, and it will be achieved. By explaining that the idea that women cannot be independent is a concept created by society, Mill and Caird bring women closer to a status of