ABSTRACT OF PAPER
Title: Collective utility and individual liberty: Mill’s feminism
Author:
Although Mill is generally considered as one of the first feminist economists, he developed an odd position concerning the desirability that a married woman should not be employed outside the family: “Like a man when he chooses a profession, so, when a woman marries, it may in general be understood that she makes choice of the management of a household, and the bringing up of a family […] and that she renounces, not all other objects and occupations, but all which are not consistent with the requirements of this” (The Subjection of Women, ed. A. Rossi, p. 179). This communication aims at analyzing this position from the point of view of utilitarianism for, according to Mill, “the decision on [women’ roles in society], as on any of the other social arrangements of mankind, depend[s] on what an enlightened estimate of tendencies and consequences may show to be most advantageous to humanity in general, without distinction of sex” (ibid., p. 147). We identify two types of arguments in Mill’s writings: we oppose a “benthamian” version of utilitarianism, which justifies the exclusion of married women from the labour market because of economic costs and externalities, and a “millian” version, which insists on individual liberty and quality of life. According to the first point of view, Mill argues in favour of the woman’s “sacrifice” for the well-being of the community: their exclusion from the labour market avoids an increasing labour supply and consequently a drop in wages; it also allows the married woman to devote her life to the management of the family home. But, from an other point of view, Mill’s position is justified by a general reflection about the importance of equality between men and women: such equality is presented as a decisive stage towards a society in which the worth of human development – the ability for each individual to fulfill one’s potential in a myriad of ways – is respected. We then discuss the compatibility of these two kinds of arguments.
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