Revision summary
J. S. Mill argued that women must vote as persons, against legal subjection. The Subjection of Women and the 1867 ‘person’ amendment are the key texts and act. The case rests on liberty, talent, and the moral quality of representative government. Pateman and MacKinnon accept the franchise and still criticise the sexual contract. Indian universal adult franchise realised Mill’s demand earlier than Britain did.
Model answer
Introduction
J. S. Mill, not a truncated “S. Mill”, made women’s suffrage a test of representative government. In The Subjection of Women (1869) and in the Commons, he treated the vote as a right of persons, not a male privilege.
Body
The argument
- Legal subjection of wives is a surviving slavery. It corrupts both sexes and wastes half the talent of the species.
- Suffrage follows from the same liberty of thought and self-development that On Liberty defends.
- Mill moved an amendment to the 1867 Reform Bill to replace “man” with “person”. It failed, but it put the claim on the parliamentary record.
- He held that political exclusion teaches women dependence and men unjust pride, which is bad for the quality of government.
Limit and later critique
- Mill still spoke the language of civilisation, education, and household improvement. Pateman says the sexual contract is deeper than a franchise extension.
- MacKinnon would add that a vote without reconstruction of sexuality and workplace power is incomplete.
- Indian adult franchise in 1950, including women, went further than Mill’s Britain. Social domination did not vanish with the roll.
- The accurate comment is: Mill supplied the classic liberal case for women as electors and candidates; feminism after Pateman asks for more than the ballot.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD M[J. S. Mill] --> S[Subjection of Women 1869] M --> V[Suffrage as personhood] M --> R[1867 Reform amendment] P[Pateman MacKinnon] --> L[Vote is not enough]
Conclusion
J. S. Mill tied women suffrage to liberty, competence, and the end of legal subjection. The 1867 amendment was his parliamentary act. Pateman and MacKinnon keep the vote and still criticise the gendered state that Mill only partly saw.
Quick related
Students also ask
-
How has Rawls enriched the idea of justice in liberalism?
Next question in the 2021 paper (Q2). View answer →
-
Did Mill want only educated women to vote?
He favoured a literate, capable electorate for both sexes in some writings, but the core claim is that sex is not a ground of exclusion.
-
Is the official name J. S. Mill or S. Mill?
The thinker is John Stuart Mill, written J. S. Mill. ‘S. Mill’ is a truncation, not the official name.
PYQ trend
When UPSC asked this
Related PYQs from other years, newest first. Open a question to read it.
-
2022 · Q1(a) · PSIR GS 1 · 10 marks
Systems Approach. -
2022 · Q1(b) · PSIR GS 1 · 10 marks
Cultural Relativism. -
2022 · Q1(c) · PSIR GS 1 · 10 marks
"Revolution in Permanence". -
2022 · Q1(d) · PSIR GS 1 · 10 marks
Bases of Power. -
2021 · Q1(d) · PSIR GS 1 · 10 marks
Tools of legitimation of the State. -
2021 · Q2(b) · PSIR GS 1 · 15 marks
Examine the importance of behavioural approach in political theory. What led to its decline? -
2021 · Q4(b) · PSIR GS 1 · 15 marks
Marx's concept of alienation is an essential part of the reality in capitalism. Explain -
2021 · Q4(c) · PSIR GS 1 · 15 marks
"Free and fair deliberation is key to the foundation of democracy." Explain
More from this paper
Q1(a) · UPSC Mains 2021 · PSIR GS 1 · 10 marks
Feminist critique of the State.
Theories of the State
Feminists treat the state as gendered, not as a neutral referee. Pateman locates a sexual contract beneath the social contract. MacKinnon reads law as organised around male power. The public–private split hid household domination from liberal theory. Indian Article 15, Vishaka, and the 73rd Amendment are incomplete replies.
Q1(b) · UPSC Mains 2021 · PSIR GS 1 · 10 marks
Affirmative action.
Equality
Affirmative action gives extra access to historically excluded groups. Ambedkar treated it as necessary for equal citizenship in a caste order. Champakam Dorairajan forced the First Amendment and Article 15(4). Mandal and Indra Sawhney framed OBC policy and the creamy layer. Jaffrelot shows the same tool as a political identity, not only a welfare device.
Q1(c) · UPSC Mains 2021 · PSIR GS 1 · 10 marks
Equality of outcome as a political idea.
Equality
Equality of outcome is a political test of actual conditions, not of legal form alone. Marx’s classless society is a strong version; Ambedkar’s status equality is a civic version. Rawls allows unequal outcomes under the difference principle. Hayek and Nozick reject patterned end-states as unfreedom. Indian Parts III and IV mix rights with a drive toward less unequal results.
Toppers' copies
Toppers' copies for this question will be uploaded soon.