(Importantly, the book was published in 1869, 58 years after slavery was abolished in the British colonies and four years after it was abolished in the U.S.). In using slavery as a metaphor, Mill draws on the momentum of the abolitionist movement. Throughout the book, Mill describes women as existing in a state of “bondage” to men, who act as their “masters.” He emphasizes that women have so few legal rights that they end up effectively enslaved to their husbands, who wield absolute authority and control over them. The most important symbol in The Subjection of Women is undoubtedly slavery, which Mill uses as a metaphor for the condition of women at the time he is writing.
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