Slavery and Gender

Men and women alike faced horrors in the chattel slavery practiced in the Americas. Gender, however, played a significant factor in the hardships they confronted. Keep reading to learn about how gender affected the early history of the slave trade and how it defined the labor structure in the Americas.

The History of Colonialism and Slavery

The first European colonies in the New World often exploited indigenous labor as an inhumane means of cutting costs. But, they soon found that indigenous labor was not sustainable, due in large part to diseases from the Old World that wiped out indigenous populations. As such, colonists looked towards another source of forced labor, and the Transatlantic Slave Trade began.

Fig. 1 - map of the Triangular Trade

Beginning as early as the 15th century, Portuguese merchants bought slaves from powerful West African kingdoms and forcibly transferred them across the Atlantic Ocean to colonies such as Brazil in the Americas. The Spanish followed shortly thereafter in the Caribbean, and by the 1670s and 80s, the slave trade was also very active in the British colonies.

The Role of Gender in the Trafficking of Africans

When the Transatlantic Slave Trade first began, slave traders, sought out men far more often than women because slaveholders believed that men would be more capable of the hard agricultural labor their farms demanded. As a result, African men came to the Americas at a disproportionate rate. But with time, slaveholders realized that African women were more readily available and sold at a cheaper price. So, as enslaved men began to take on more specialized work such as blacksmithing and carpentry, women took on fieldwork previously reserved for men. Eventually, women even came to outnumber men in agricultural settings.

Fig. 2 - depiction of a slave auction in Virginia

The Role of Gender in Chattel Slavery

The responsibilities of enslaved persons were often divided along gender lines and mirrored the gender roles of European men and women. That is, women more often took on domestic roles, and men more often handled tasks that demanded hard labor. Additionally, it was the men that worked towards developing special skills, rather than the women.

The Role of Gender in Chattel Slavery: The Role of Men

Although women eventually came to outnumber men in agricultural settings, there was still a division of labor among men and women working in the fields. For example, while the women might hoe the fields, the men would plow the fields. And, on large plantations, men were still more likely to serve as field hands than women. The work of field hands included clearing the land as well as planting and harvesting the crops.

The Role of Gender in Chattel Slavery: The Role of Women

Focusing on domestic labor, women performed a number of tasks that would otherwise be the duties of a slaveholder’s wife. For example, they might be responsible for sewing clothes, cooking meals, cleaning the house, and supervising the children. It was also the women that served as midwives.

The Role of Women’s Reproduction in New World Slavery

Once slavery became more common in the Americas, the question of the legal status of enslaved women’s children came into question. The colony of Virginia was the first to introduce the partus sequitur ventrem legal code in 1662, and colonies across the Americas quickly followed. Under this legal code, enslaved women’s children would take on the status of their mothers and become enslaved themselves. As a result, slaveholders greatly encouraged reproduction, knowing it would increase their number of enslaved persons.

Fig. 3 - an enslaved family in Georgia circa 1850

Childbearing was an experience unique to women and had a number of downsides that took away from the profound experience of motherhood. While pregnant women might receive more food and fewer working hours, as soon as they gave birth, they had to return to their jobs, harsh field labor included. Often, other enslaved women raised their children, but if not, women took on the responsibility of motherhood on top of their other tasks.

Enslaved women were also acutely aware of the position their children were born into and went to great lengths to protect them. For example, women were far less likely than men to attempt an escape because they felt the need to remain for their children. Although far rarer, some women even ended their children's lives to spare them a life of enslavement.

Gender and Slavery in the Caribbean vs the British Colonies

The gender-based responsibilities of enslaved men and women were similar across the Americas, from the British colonies to the Caribbean. Something particular to the British colonies, however, were the high rates of reproduction among enslaved persons. It was another reason that slaveholders preferred young adults. It was also a large reason why the British colonies, and then the United States, imported significantly fewer enslaved persons than the Spanish Caribbean.

Fig. 3 - map showing the destinations of enslaved Africans