Harriet Taylor Mill on Gender Equality

Among womenWomen philosophersTeaching, Harriet Taylor[aut]Birnbacher, Dieter Mill belongs to those who are more well-known as inspirers of great thinkers than as authors of philosophical works in their own right. Both her influence on the thought of her partner, husband and close collaborator John Stuart Mill[aut]Mill, John Stuart, and the extent to which she contributed to the writing of the works published under his name, are a matter of controversy. However, the work of which we are fairly certain that its author is Harriet Taylor without qualification is the essay Enfranchisement of WomenEnfranchisement of Women published in 1851 under John Stuart Mill's name. This essay is made the subject of a close analysis. It is made clear that Taylor, not unlike her husband in his more controversial essays, makes use of a number of strategies to present her position in a light that makes as acceptable as possible to readers who instinctively react to her message with reservations, for example by aligning gender equalityGender Equality with other reforms instituted in her time. In this way, the issue of the equality of the sexesEquality of the sexes is linked to the ongoing process of successively replacing the dominion of the strongest by the principlesPrinciple, principles of social justice and equality.