20 May 1867

John Stuart Mill speaks in Parliament in favour of female suffrage

Moving an amendment to the Reform Bill which would give women the same political rights as men Mill argued, ‘It violates one of the oldest of our constitutional maxims a doctrine dear to Reformers, and theoretically acknowledged by most Conservatives that taxation and representation should be co-extensive. Do not women pay taxes? Does not every woman who is sui juris contribute exactly as much to the revenue as a man who has the same electoral qualification? If a stake in the country means anything, the owner of freehold or leasehold property has the same stake, whether it is owned by a man or a woman’.