John Stuart Mill on wage inequalities between men and women

International audienceMill proposes an analysis of women’s low wages in a paragraph of Principles of Political Economy. The paper’s purpose is to confront this analysis with his conception of justice, rooted in his utilitarianism. Mill’s attachment to justice arises in a particular context, as the result of various intellectual influences. On the one hand, it underlies his concern for the situation of women on the labour market and his insistence on the role played by custom and laws in wage differences between men and women. On the other hand, the shortcomings of Mill’s analysis appear consistent with his vision of equal justice and freedom for women