Comparing John Stuart Mills The Subjection of Women and...

Comparing John Stuart Mills The Subjection of Women and Florence Nightingales Cassandra For thousands of years, women have struggled under the domination of men. In a great many societies around the world, men hold the power and women have to fight for their roles as equals in these patriarchal societies. Florence Nightingale wrote about such a society in her piece, Cassandra, and John Stuart Mill wrote further on the subject in his essay The Subjection of Women. These two pieces explore the same basic idea, but there are differences as well. While they both recognize its presence, Mill blames the subjection of women on custom, and Nightingale blames it on society. These appear to be different arguments, but they may be more†¦show more content†¦He feels that because women have been in this position for so many years, it would feel irregular to deviate from it. â€Å"The subjection of women to men being a universal custom, any departure from it quite naturally appears unnatural† (Mill 1157). As he continues, he reveals his thoughts on the matter t o the reader: â€Å"this relic of the past is discordant with the future, and must necessarily disappear† (Mill 1159). Mill explores many aspects of the issue. He attempts to uncover the differences between the sexes to provide maybe another solution to the problem, but to no avail, â€Å"nothing final can be known† (Mill 1162); nothing is as strongly stated as when he places the blame on custom. Later in his essay, while exploring the systems of past societies, he comes to the same conclusion as earlier. Only this time, he states that there has been some improvement in the system as time went by; however, equality has not yet been reached. He believes that the small increase in power over time is enough to suggest that equality is the solution: â€Å"Through all†¦human history, the condition of women has been approaching nearer to equality with men. This does not itself prove that the assimilation must go on to complete equality; but it assuredly affords s ome presumption that such is the case† (Mill 1160). This quote is yet another contribution to the blame of custom. In the past, societies lacked equality