Mill As A Feminist

John Stuart Mill is a 19th century British writer and thinker with great influence upon his age as well as upon the modern society. As an influential writer and thinker on socio-political matters, Mill's writings and opinions have always been favorite subjects of research by scholars engaged in socio-cultural studies. One of the issues that attract much scholarly attention is his opinion of women and feminism. In the study of his ideas of women and feminism, scholars are divided in their opinion. Some scholars think as a feminist, Mill is not quite consistent in his opinion about women and feminism. Yet there are others who have opposite opinions. After an extensive research on the disputable subject, The present writer hold the idea that Mill is not quite consistent in his opinion about women and feminism, which is reflected in his opinions about women's nature, in his views about women's right, and in his attitude towards women's movement.Firstly, Mill is not quite consistent in his opinion about women's nature. As for women's intelligence, on the one hand, Mill argues women are not inferior to men in intelligence; on the other hand, he also thinks women are not as good at some aspects of intelligence as men. For women's feminine character, Mill argues that the feminine character is unnatural because of the subjection of women at one time but he believes the existence of inborn feminine quality at another time.Secondly, Mill is not quite consistent in his ideas of women's economic rights. For the right to choose occupation, on the one hand, Mill advocates women's right to freely choose work in the labor market but strongly supports women as the full–time wives in the family on the other hand. Likely, Mill advocates women's right for equal pay as men; however, when considering the whole family, Mill supports the opinion that women should get fewer wages than men.Thirdly, Mill is not quite consistent in his attitudes towards women's participation in women's movement. It is testified by Mill's support for women's participation in the suffrage movement and his praise for women's capability on the one hand but his disparagement of women's role in women's movement on the other hand. It is also testified by his support for women's participation in the agitation against the Contagious Diseases movement at the beginning and his objection to women's participation in the agitation against the Contagious Diseases movement later.To sum up, although Mill has made contribution to the women's emancipation, he is not quite consistent in his attitude towards women and feminism. Mill's opinions of women and feminism have both its merits and shortcoming. It should be treated dialectically and scientifically.