John Stuart Mill's Republican Feminism

• Main Author: Gustavo Hessmann Dalaqua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Estadual do Ceará 2018-10-01
• Series: Kalagatos
• Subjects: John Stuart Mill; feminism; republicanism; liberty; equality; feminismo; republicanismo; liberdade; igualdade
• Online Access: http://kalagatos.com/index.php/kalagatos/article/view/725

This paper argues that John Stuart Mill’s commitment to gender equality and acute understanding of women’s subordination to male power led him to develop a conception of freedom that evokes republicanism. In order to substantiate the thesis that the concept of freedom put forth in The Subjection of Women steers a middle course between feminism and republicanism, four similarities between Mill’s political theory and republican freedom are highlighted, among which are (i) the identification of freedom with the absence of arbitrary subjection and (ii) the idea that liberty can be exercised only among equals.