Roles Of Women In The Slave Trade

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Women would also be used to fulfill the sexual needs of men, during the slave trade. Not only would this use for sex benefit men through their erotic needs, but it would also lead to procreation, and any child born to a woman slave would also become enslaved at birth. It states in the “Daughters of injur’d Africk” article by Barbara Bush that, “…lower status women serviced the (often combined) sexual and other domestic needs of the white male residents on the coast as temporary concubines, ‘gromettas’ (free servants), or slaves” (Bush 2008). In other words, slaves would be forced to be a man’s mistress, serving him both in sex and labour. The abuse they would experience was even more traumatic because they were also very susceptible to separation from their children. …show more content…
Male slaves would work the fields and complete much of the physical factory work, but of course would not be able fulfill the male needs of their master which is why women were considered to be so essential in the slave trade. Conversely, women would use their sexual abilities as a way of earning privilege, “slave women were able to secure small favours for casual sex, a universal strategy for survival in adversity also employed by female slaves in the Caribbean,” (Bush 2008). This meant that by performing these acts, willingly and endearingly, women would be able to establish a sense of power. It would enable them to develop relationships with their slave owners, which would in turn give them better treatment and