John Stuart Mill, "The Subjection of Women"In this excerpt, Mill begins by inquiring about the true discrepancy between men and women, in hopes to draw a distinction between those differences which are perceived and those differences which are innate. However, he soon comes to the conclusion that it is extremely problematic to ever expect to accurately identify the differences between sexes. He explains that the reason why there can be no clear-cut answer is due to how things stand in society. Mill admits that men are stubborn and cannot see past what is already ingrained in their heads. Most of what is commonly recognized as natural is merely what is hardwired in the status quo of society. Man's need to dominate both forbids and evades any sort of competition between men and women in which it is even remotely possible that man could be defeated. This refusal of an opportunity to prove themselves, constantly places women in the stereotypical mold of domesticity and submissiveness. From the beginning of time, women were typically not allowed to have any substantial influence on important matters at hand. As a result, man contributes little to history because he is unwilling to change this dynamic. Ultimately, Mill argues that women should be allowed more opportunities so that they may show their full potential. He also suggests that if social stratification were altered, then perhaps, the nature of men and women could change. However, he explains that without completely changing the inner workings of society, the concept of male and female as being equals will never be redeemed.Men are unable to understand the characteristics of women, even those who are closest to them. Just because a man loves a woman, does not mean that he understands that women, much less woman kind in its entirety. Even in a genuine relationship, the tendency of a male to dominate over his more subservient spouse stands in opposition to complete cognizance. However, after spending a great deal of time with a woman that he adores, a man is sometimes able to understand certain details about that woman, but surely not about her nature. Mill explains that he only woman that man has the opportunity to survey and interpret to some respectable level is his wife. And, even then, man's viewpoint on woman becomes generalized relating to one particular instance which is that of his wife. One man cannot speculate the way in which another man's wife operates simply based on what he has observed of his own wife. Nobody in the world truly knows what women are capable of and that is somewhat due to the way in which society operates. Accordingly, he disputed the conception that females aresomewhat more inept than men both mentally and physically by nature.After some research which was inspired by what was said in class on tuesday, I learned that this piece was in fact written in collaboration with his wife, Harriet Taylor Mill, which could be a criticism in its own since he assumes the credit for her words without mentioning her name even as a side note. It is very possible, given the nature of the writing and its ideals that nearly the entire text was composed by the hand of Mill's wife rather than himself. While its very difficult to disagree with the fact that unequivocal differences between the sexes are impossible to accurately define, there are some minor flaws in his reasoning. He does not consider the situation from a man's point of view and how sexual stereotypes could negatively affect him. What if a man wanted to cook and to clean and to tend to the children but society denied him that opportunity? These assumed gender roles aren't just one sided and can also be disadvantageous to men as well as to women. Despite the fact that I am a woman myself and I do agree with most of what Mill suggests in this excerpt, these assumptions somewhat biased against men because it does not consider how some men are socially restricted from being emotional or from taking on roles which are traditionally considered to be female