Editing John Stuart Mill (section)

===Women's rights===
[[File:John Stuart Mill, Vanity Fair, 1873-03-29.jpg|thumb|"A Feminine Philosopher". Caricature by [[Leslie Ward|Spy]] published in ''[[Vanity Fair (UK)|Vanity Fair]]'' in 1873.]]
Mill's view of history was that right up until his time "the whole of the female" and "the great majority of the male sex" were simply "slaves". He countered arguments to the contrary, arguing that relations between sexes simply amounted to "the legal subordination of one sex to the other – [which] is wrong itself, and now one of the chief hindrances to human improvement; and that it ought to be replaced by a principle of perfect equality." Here, then, we have an instance of Mill's use of "slavery" in a sense which, compared to its fundamental meaning of absolute unfreedom of person, is an extended and arguably a rhetorical rather than a literal sense.

With this, Mill can be considered among the earliest male proponents of gender equality, having been recruited by American feminist [[John Neal]] during his stay in London circa 1825–1827.<ref>{{Cite book | publisher = A.J. Huston | last = Daggett | first = Windsor | title = A Down-East Yankee From the District of Maine | location = Portland, Maine | year = 1920 | url = https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007921667 | page = 32}}</ref> His book ''[[The Subjection of Women]]'' (1861, publ.1869) is one of the earliest written on this subject by a male author.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/john-stuart-mill-male-feminist-3530510|title=About John Stuart Mill, a Male Feminist and Philosopher |last1=Johnson Lewis |first1=Jone |website=ThoughtCo|language=en|access-date=9 July 2019 |date=February 10, 2019 }}</ref> In ''The Subjection of Women'', Mill attempts to make a case for perfect equality.<ref>[[John Cunningham Wood|Cunningham Wood, John]]. ''John Stuart Mill: Critical Assessments'' 4.</ref>

In his proposal for a universal education system sponsored by the state, Mill expands benefits for many marginalized groups, especially for women. For Mill, a universal education held the potential to create new abilities and novel types of behaviour of which the current receiving generation and their descendants could both benefit from. Such a pathway to opportunity would enable women to gain "industrial and social independence" that would allow them the same movement in their agency and citizenship as men. Mill's view of opportunity stands out in its reach, but even more so for the population he foresees who could benefit from it. Mill was hopeful of the autonomy such an education could allow for its recipients and especially for women. Through the consequential sophistication and knowledge attained, individuals are able to properly act in ways that recedes away from those leading towards overpopulation. This stands directly in contrast with the view held by many of Mill's contemporaries and predecessors who viewed such inclusive programs to be counter-intuitive. Aiming such help at marginalized groups, such as the poor and working class, would only serve to reward them with the opportunity to move to a higher status, thus encouraging greater fertility which at its extreme could lead to overproduction.

He talks about the role of women in marriage and how it must be changed. Mill comments on three major facets of women's lives that he felt are hindering them:

# [[Social construction of gender|society and gender construction]];
# [[Female education|education]]; and
# [[Wife|marriage]].

He argues that the oppression of women was one of the few remaining relics from ancient times, a set of prejudices that severely impeded the progress of humanity.<ref name="The Subjection of Women" /><ref>Mill, John Stuart. [1869] 2005. "The Subjection of Women". pp. 17–26 in ''Feminist Theory: A Philosophical Anthology'', edited by [[Ann Cudd|A. E. Cudd]] and R. O. Andreasen. Oxford, UK: [[Wiley-Blackwell|Blackwell Publishing]]. {{ISBN|978-1405116619}}.</ref> As a Member of Parliament, Mill introduced an unsuccessful amendment to the [[Reform Act 1867|Reform Bill]] to substitute the word "person" in place of "[[Man (word)|man]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=West |first=Henry R. |title=The Oxford Handbook of the History of Ethics |date=1 September 2015 |isbn=978-0198744405 |editor-last=Crisp |editor-first=Roger |location=Oxford |page=528 |chapter=J. S. Mill |oclc=907652431}}</ref>