M.A.(Political Science) Part-II Paper-VIII (Option XI) Semester-IV Women and Political Theory
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M.A.(Political Science) Part-II Paper-VIII (Option XI) Semester-IV Women and Political Theory LESSON NO. 1.3 AUTHOR : RAMANDEEP KAUR Liberal Feminism J. S Mill and Harriet Taylor Liberal feminism conceives of freedom as personal autonomy—living a life of one's own choosing—and political autonomy—being co-author of the conditions under which one lives. Liberal feminists hold that the exercise of personal autonomy depends on certain enabling conditions that are insufficiently present in women's lives, or that social arrangements often fail to respect women's personal autonomy and other elements of women's flourishing. They hold also that women's needs and interests are insufficiently reflected in the basic conditions under which they live, and that those conditions lack legitimacy because women are inadequately represented in the processes of democratic self-determination. Liberal feminists hold that autonomy deficits like these are due to the “gender system” or the patriarchal nature of inherited traditions and institutions, and that the women's movement should work to identify and remedy them. As the protection and promotion of citizens' autonomy is the appropriate role of the state on the liberal view, liberal feminists hold that the state can and should be the women's movement's ally in promoting women's autonomy. There is disagreement among liberal feminists, however, about the role of personal autonomy in the good life, the appropriate role of the state, and how liberal feminism is to be justified. More than half a century later to Wollstonecraft, Harriet Taylor and John Stuart Mill were still arguing the same point about women. From 1790 to 1850 the excitement, confusion and enthusiasm of revolution channelled into new social and political structures, gave way to a more sober and specific consciousness of women’s exclusion. It is fitting that the first systematic, detailed defence of women’s rights came from John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor. Both were placed ideologically and pragmatically in the midst of currents of democratic M.A. (Political Science) PART II 35 PAPER VIII (Option XI) reform in nineteenth century England. Furthermore their collaboration brought together two divergent strains in the reform movement and in democratic theory. Mill was a utilitarian in a Benthamite tradition, an active member of a philosophical group which took Bentham’s idea as the basis of Parliamentary reforms. After a painful period of self-questioning and after meeting Harriet Taylor, Mill was also increasingly drawn into her circle, the Unitarian Radicals, more literary, more radical and more libertarian than the Utilitarians, especially in matters of the family and sexuality. In the work of Taylor and Mill, these two sometimes conflicting strands in democratic theory came together: firstly, utilitarian demands for a society in which there is the greatest happiness of the greatest number and secondly, a libertarian, Rousseauian claim that freedom is the natural right of every human being. Both doctrines had weaknesses- utilitarianism because, if applied strictly, it seemed to allowed actions that were clearly and intuitively wrong and the doctrine of natural rights because it could too easily as argued by critics such as Edmund Burke, degenerate into the dangerous metaphysical fictions which led to the excesses and destructiveness of the French Revolution. In Mill’s political theory, a synthesis of utilitarianism and libertarianism structured the final balance of the functioning democratic state. In arguments of a society in which the interest of every man would be protected, Mill and Taylor found the justification for a corresponding feminist revolution. These arguments provide the agenda for the next 200 years of liberal feminism. Women should be granted all political privileges including the vote and right to run public office. They should also available to them the choice to enter a profession rather than to marry and the education necessary for the fulfilment of that ambition. According to the principles of democratic theory, such reforms would eventually lead to equality. 3.1 Harriet Taylor and J.SMILL’s Intellectual closeness leads to Attachment Harriet Taylor (1807–1858) was a surgeon's daughter and grew up in London. She married at the age of eighteen to thirty nine year old John Taylor and M.A. (Political Science) PART II 36 PAPER VIII (Option XI) went on to have three children with him. In 1830 she met John Stuart Mill and began a close friendship with him. Mill credited her with contributing to his work and respected her as an intellectual equal. The extraordinary relationship between Mill and Taylor shaped not only their personal lives, but also the priorities of their thoughts and writings. They met in 1830, when Harriet was married to John Taylor. Her intimate friendship with Mill was a source of much criticism; the restrictiveness of Victorian morality made their relationship suspect. Their disgust at the ostracism they faced due to their close relationship may be recognised in the criticism of cultural conformity in On Liberty. In The Subjection of Women, Mill discusses the situation of an intelligent woman confined by patriarchal institutions and customs that deny her individuality. Through his relationship with Taylor, Mill reached the strong conviction that women’s suffrage was an essential step towards the moral improvement of humankind, and that the relationship between husband and wife had to be grounded in legal as well as real equality – that “marital slavery should be replaced by “marital friendship”. In 1851, two years after John Taylor’s death, Mill and Harriet Taylor were married, subsequently working together on Mill’s Autobiography and On Liberty. Harriet died only seven years after their marriage, and The Subjection of Women was published after her death. 3.2 Taylor Mill's Influence on Mill and their collaboration Taylor had an important role in Mill’s writing of SW. Taylor was a strong feminist. It seems that he identified with her intellectually, and perhaps through her his conscious awareness of his own subjection was raised. Taylor had a great deal of integrity, which Mill’s mother did not have, enabling Mill to write SW by raising his own subjugation to consciousness. It must be emphasized that while Taylor had a very important role in raising Mill’s consciousness and bringing inspiration to his work, he would not have embarked on such an important work if it were not out of his own soulful need for liberation and development. According to Mill, ‘’ When two persons have their thoughts and speculations completely in common; when all subjects of intellectual or moral interest are discussed between them in daily life, and probed to much greater depths than are usually or M.A. (Political Science) PART II 37 PAPER VIII (Option XI) conveniently sounded in writings intended for general readers; when they set out from the same principles, and arrive at their conclusions by processes pursued jointly, it is of little consequence in respect to the question of originality, which of them holds the pen; the one who contributes least to the composition may contribute most to the thought; the writings which result are the joint product of both, and it must often be impossible to disentangle their respective parts, and affirm that this belongs to one and that to the other.’’ Indeed, his own subjugation was foundational to his creative direction; it could not have been accomplished if his own life and integrity were not on the line. In short, Mill embarked on this work because he needed to for his own salvation. The joint nature of their writings is important for our understanding of the context of their philosophical ideas 3.3 Mill on Subjection on Women An important by product of Mill’s early life and his relationship with Taylor was his writing on the subjugation of women. Mill knew first-hand the impact of being subjected to a dominant other. This work was no doubt a statement of his experience and a strong statement of a cultural condition of his time. A brief description of this work follows to provide context for understanding the commentary relative to Mill and this work. Mill published The Subjection of Women in 1869. Mill formulates the fundamental argument of The Subjection of Women in its first paragraph: [T]he principle which regulates the existing social relations between the two sexes – the legal subordination of one sex to the other – is wrong in itself and one of the chief hindrances to human improvement; and […] ought to be replaced by a principle of perfect equality, admitting no power or privilege on the one side, nor disability on the other. Mill’s criticism of the social status of women is based on his analysis of the social injustice excluding women from public and civil life, from politics and decision-making. He stresses that this kind of social injustice is one of the main barriers to human progress and the moral improvement of humankind. Analysing M.A. (Political Science) PART II 38 PAPER VIII (Option XI) the consequences of women’s subjugation, he points out that such conditions negatively affect not only the lives of women, but of men as well. Men and women alike are harmed by such a situation, and consequently the subjection of women negatively affects the whole of society. As a liberal thinker, Mill expresses his strong conviction that the subordination of women, which deprives them of freedom, is an unjust violation of the principle of liberty. He locates the origin of women’s oppression in men’s physical strength, assuming that the more influence reason has in a society, the less importance physical strength will have. In such a state of affairs, women would no longer be disadvantaged, as physical strength becomes less important as civilisation progresses.