CGS 112 Chapter Article Notes: 'Women's Sweat': Gender and Agricultural Labor in the Colonial World
4 Jul 2018
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CGS 112 – Article Notes – ‘Women’s Sweat’: Gender and Agricultural Labor in the
Colonial World
Most slave women were put to work in the fields, not in the house
oNot many slaveowners had nice houses to upkeep
oIgnoring cultural norms and forcing women to do the work they didn't want to do
themselves
Performing similar tasks that they did in Africa, but with entirely different
cultural meaning
Laboring women as a justification for African inferiority
Fieldwork: Sugar Fields
Often, slaveowners had an equal distribution of male and female slaves, and would sometimes
have more female salves than male slaves
Using slave children as wealth that was gifted in wills
Women denied from skilled/artisanal positions, so they couldn't learn a skill and make
money/move up from it
Working in the fields lowering fertility
Having to juggle motherhood with field work
Owner's wives also taking on skilled work while slave women did unskilled work
Full day of work in the fields and then having to work to process the food that they picked at
nighttime
oFalling asleep on the job and causing accidents
Fieldwork: Cattle Pens
South Carolina's land grants were given in proportion to how many slaves/servants you brought
over
oSlavery always a source of wealth
oGiven 50 more acres if they brought men vs. women
Still brought women over, thought of them as an investment
Men already skilled in dealing with animals, so they worked with the animals, while the women
worked in the fields
Slaveowners considering female slaves as outlets for male slaves' sexuality, as well as their own
Growth of cash crops in the colonies led to more importation of African slaves
Selling slave women with the idea that they would bear children, even if they hadn't consented
Slaves who did housework had more freedom to wander the streets and even take on other
work
oControlling mobility of overly independent women by selling them to places far away
Fieldwork: Rice Swamps
Women heavily involved in processing rice
Rice and knowledge of producing it brought over from Senegambia region
Rice very intensive and hard work
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Document Summary
Cgs 112 article notes women"s sweat": gender and agricultural labor in the. Most slave women were put to work in the fields, not in the house: not many slaveowners had nice houses to upkeep o. Ignoring cultural norms and forcing women to do the work they didn"t want to do themselves. Performing similar tasks that they did in africa, but with entirely different cultural meaning. Laboring women as a justification for african inferiority. Often, slaveowners had an equal distribution of male and female slaves, and would sometimes have more female salves than male slaves. Using slave children as wealth that was gifted in wills. Women denied from skilled/artisanal positions, so they couldn"t learn a skill and make money/move up from it. Having to juggle motherhood with field work. Owner"s wives also taking on skilled work while slave women did unskilled work.
