Mill’s “On Liberty” in the era of censorship

By Mehreen Imambaksh Throughout history, women have possessed powerful thoughts, deep emotions, and creative voices; yet, many of these voices have gone unnoticed. Their experiences were frequently limited to their homes, their abilities were questioned, and their intellectual development was neglected. However, literature, history, and social thought expose that women were capable of uttering knowledge, shaping culture, and influencing society, but patriarchal systems often restricted their visibility. For centuries, women were expected to remain silent in public intellectual areas. Their role was widely limited to household responsibilities, whereas education, authorship, and public speaking were dominated by men. Yet despite these barriers, many women endured to write, think, and challenge the systems that tried to silence them. One beautiful example can be found in the nineteenth century with the eminent novel *Wuthering Heights*, written by Emily Brontë (1847). Today the novel is considered one of the masterpieces in English literature. Moreover, Emily Brontë did not publish it under her original name; rather, she used the pen name Ellis Bell. Similarly, her sisters also adopted the same approaches. Charlotte Brontë published *Jane Eyre* under the name of Currer Bell, and Anne Brontë published *The Tenant of Wildfell Hall* under the name of Acton Bell. The reason behind these pen names was simple but widely revealing: society frequently refused to take women writers seriously. The Brontë sisters were highly imaginative and intellectually able, yet they felt pressured to hide their identities to ensure their work could be approved. Their circumstances examine the huge restrictions placed upon women’s voices during that time. Long before the Brontë sisters, early feminist thinkers had raised concerns about women’s lack of education and freedom. In 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote *A Vindication of the Rights of Woman*, challenging that women should have equal access to education and intellectual opportunities. She said that women were treated as inferior in society not because they lacked capability, but because they were refused the chance to advance their minds. More than a century later, this problem was discussed again by Virginia Woolf in her masterpiece work *A Room of One’s Own* (1929). She famously argued that women in the past were refused both financial independence and private space, which restricted them from freely uttering knowledge. Therefore, she said a woman needs not merely talent but also freedom and equality to express her feelings and thoughts. Modern scholars have further examined how systems of knowledge can silence subaltern voices. In her essay “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (1988), Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak introduced the idea of epistemic violence, which means how dominant systems of knowledge remove or suppress the voices of certain groups, especially women and colonized communities. When women’s ideas are ignored or removed, their experiences are excluded from the production of knowledge, creating a form of intellectual oppression. These rooted examples depict that women’s silence was never because of a lack of intelligence or creativity. Instead, it was the result of social systems that demotivated or limited their role in participation in intellectual and public life. Even today, this evidence remains visible in many societies. In many cultures, women still hesitate to talk openly, particularly on public platforms or digital spaces. Furthermore, social expectations and fear of judgment frequently create unseen obstacles that prevent women from sharing their thoughts and feelings. This hesitation is not always enforced directly; sometimes it evolves internally due to long-standing social pressures. Moreover, I personally experienced this hesitation in my own life. For many years, I believed in the significance of women’s ability, yet I was not actively immersed in initiatives related to it. One cause for this was my anxiety about visibility on social media platforms to reveal my feelings and ideas because I feared how society, especially as a Baloch student, might react to a woman openly sharing her ideas. This anxiety is not unfamiliar. Many women feel unsure about expressing themselves publicly because they expect critique or misunderstanding. However, personal growth frequently begins with a small step. For me, that step was creating my social media platforms such as Medium, a LinkedIn profile, and starting to share my writings, including poems and reflections based on my experiences. At the start, this act felt common, yet slowly opened new chances. Through this visibility, I became connected with extensive intellectual and professional networks, which ultimately led me to become immersed in women’s ascension. Being involved in this initiative has allowed me to interact with women from various cultures, backgrounds, and perspectives. These interactions have been widely improving. They have shown me that when women communicate and share experiences across cultures, they create unique forms of understanding and collective growth. This experience shows that women’s empowerment does not always happen through major changes, but it begins slowly when women start to express themselves, engage in conversations, and share knowledge with others. Communication is one of the influential tools that helps women to connect their personal experiences with global discussions about equality and justice. However, change needs cooperation. Women’s power should not be seen as an effort between men and women. Instead, it should be perceived as a collaborative struggle to create a fair and inclusive society. Both men and women play a major role in supporting and motivating women’s voices. Traditionally, patriarchal societies frequently reduced women to limited roles, especially examining their function as a child-bearing machine. Whereas motherhood is an essential and valuable role, it should never define the entirety of a woman’s identity. Women have intellectual capabilities, creative skills, and leadership qualities that can contribute importantly to society. Education plays an essential role in changing these circumstances. When women receive education, they gain the confidence and knowledge necessary to contribute actively in social, economic, and intellectual life. Educated women are more capable of expressing their thoughts, challenging injustice, and participating in the development of their communities. Furthermore, the impact of women’s education extends beyond the individual. When women are educated, they can brighten their children’s lives and motivate the next generations to learn. Historically, when women