The Subjection of Women

John Stuart Mill's 1869 essay The Subjection of Women argues for equality between the sexes, putting forward ideas that were an affront to many at the time. His wife, Harriet Taylor Mill, is credited with co-authoring the essay. The Subjection of Women puts forward a detailed and passionate opposition to the social and legal inequalities imposed on women by society. Mill saw that he was going against the grain of the time, but argued that such inequality was a past relic from a time when might equaled right and that it had no place in the modern world. Inequality between the sexes limited human development as it made half of humanity unable to contribute to society outside of their own homes.