Women's Role In Slavery For Women

Slavery for women was much different then for men. What it feels like to be an enslaved woman and deal with the facts that not only were you cheap labor, but also the means to get cheaper labor. Women can reproduce, and to raise a baby then to have your family sold away was a fact of life. Families influenced woman's behavior, as they were "less likely to escape or join collective resistance". (Pg.229 text) Slave women did not enjoy the domestic security available to white families. Under theses circumstances there is more equality among male and female slaves than in white families. Also women's vital role in the slave community also helped to blur gender and the negative mode of sexuality. There jobs were different and this caused
them to be a lower price and value because they're more likely to be field hands than artisans. Women were also house servants their tasks were menial at best. Many white plantation owners never visited the fields were the slaves were at work and new almost nothing of their conditions. Some of the overseers who had charge of them were said to "be generally unprincipled and intempered men". (Pg. 235,text) Women could be beaten and also sexually assaulted as opposed to me who were generally not assaulted. They were encouraged to have sex for reproduction to produce more slaves. They were also open to sexual assault by white men and some would use this sex with white men to gain privilege. Some women being house servants did have an opportunity to read as they were taught to read the bible. This differed from men as they were not taught this, but women could teach them. Even though men expressed their displeasure with slavery with resistance and escape a women's role in the slave community was also just as hard as men. The differences in jobs and treatment did not undervalue their experience. In most cases it could be seen as a more difficult experience and in fact because of the rape, the loss of families, and their jobs it's tough to disagree