The Enfranchisement of Women was written by Harriet Taylor Mill and published by the Westminster Review in July 1851. This essay was considered one of the most significant texts in feminine history as it came out during the early English feminist movement where concerns over women’s employment, education and legal status in society were brought up (Hackleman 274). Through this published work, Mill advocated for the “enfranchisement of women; their admission, in law and in fact, to equality in all rights, political, civil, and social, with the male citizens of the community”(Mill 3). Mill made several important points throughout her work and one of the issues she brought up was that the present conditions did not allow women the opportunity to live according to their “nature” or desires since they were deprived of rights such as legal rights. She brought up the issue of women being excluded from common rights of citizenship, bringing up an example of  British law that claims, “all persons should be tried by their peers; yet women whenever tried, are tried by male judges and a male jury” (Mill 6). The lack of freedom for women also forced them to become wives and mothers because these were the only options that they had. Mill brought up the argument that women were largely oppressed because of the maternal and care-taking responsibilities placed upon them, which was another way that women were deprived of being able to live according to their “nature”. Mill also advocated for women to have the ability to participate in the work force and public life, stating how women would prefer that that part of the income would be from their own doing (Miller). Mill believed that women deserved the same educational rights as men. Women were expected to take care of their families and also encourage their husbands’ moral and intellectual developments. If women did not go to school, they would not be able to support their husbands and families in general.

        Mill also brought up the situation of the lower class and claimed that, “nothing will refine and elevate the lower classes but the elevation of women to perfect equality” (Mill 24). Mill claimed that the working-class women suffered the most as the law denied them property and control over earnings and at the same time, she brought up the idea of violence. She argued that lower-class women were the biggest victims of domestic violence and the unjust law (Deutscher 139). In The Enfranchisement of Women, Mill made it clear that the freedom of women was part of the general progress of England during the 19^th century in general. She pointed out that, “for the interest, therefore, not only of women but of men, and of human improvement in the widest sense, the emancipation of women...cannot stop where it is (Mill 19 ). Mill’s work represented a beginning in the improvement of women’s rights condition in 19^th century England and this issue was only further escalated by future feminists and supporters for better women’s rights. There was debate over whether Harriet Taylor Mill was the main author of this work because she had collaborated with her husband, John Stuart Mill on several works and many of the ideas in this essay were similar to her husband’s essay, The Subjection of Women, but despite conflicting evidence, there was a general consensus that Harriet was the article’s main author since many of the views in the essay corresponded to her radical view of gender roles (Miller). Although Mill was not given the full credit at first and her work was relatively unknown, she was still able to make a big contribution to women’s rights. Her radical views shown through The Enfranchisement of Women and she gave a very clear and rational analysis of the oppression and coercion that women faced in a time when they were considered nothing compared to men and were only defined by their reproductive and care-taking responsibilities (Deutscher 278). Harriet Taylor Mill was able to use this essay to help encourage women to fight for their rights and place in society.   

Works Cited:

 Deutscher, Penelope. “When Feminism Is ‘High’ and Ignorance Is ‘Low’: Harriet Taylor Mill  

    on the Progress of the Species.” Hypatia, vol. 21, no. 3, 2006, pp. 136–150. JSTOR,

     www.jstor.org/stable/3810955. Accessed 20 Sept. 2020.

Hackleman, Leah D. “Suppressed Speech: The Language of Emotion in Harriet Taylor’s The

     Enfranchisement of Women.” Women’s Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, vol. 20, no. 3–

     4, 1992, pp. 273–286. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/00497878.1992.9978913.

Mill, Harriet Hardy Taylor. Enfranchisement of Women. 1868. JSTOR,

      jstor.org/stable/10.2307/60203575. Accessed 20 Sept. 2020.

Miller, Dale E., "Harriet Taylor Mill", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2018

       Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =

     <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2018/entries/harriet-mill/>.

“Portait of Harriet Taylor Mill” Wikimedia Commons, London’s National Portrait Gallery,

      https://www.college.columbia.edu/core/content/harriet-taylor-mill. Accessed 21 Sept. 2020.