Two Approaches on the Philosophy of Separate Spheres in Mid-Victorian England: John Ruskin and John Stuart Mill

Abstract

The industrial revolution and Britain's transgression from an agricultural nation to a steel empire had a great impact upon the people who experienced these events. The shift in people's mentality and existence soon brought into light the Woman Question, a matter which upset Queen Victorian, who considering men and women different. Her position on the matter was shared by John Ruskin, who published “Sesame and Lilies”, an approach on the philosophy of separate spheres which claimed that women were best equipped for the private or domestic realm, while men were naturally suited to the active, aggressive and intellectual domains of public life. At the opposite pole of the argument, John Stuart Mill published “The Subjection of Women”, a well-argued approach to gender philosophy in clear contrast to that of Ruskin, which voiced the thoughts and aspirations of many women who had already started the battle for their emancipation. This article focuses upon the two approaches on gender philosophy presented in the studies written by two of the most unanimously heard voices of the mid-Victorian era.