Gendered Nature of Slavery in the Narrative of Mary Prince 'A West Indian Slave'

Slavery and Gender
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Different narratives of enslaved people provide historians with an opportunity to explore slavery through different lenses. This paper draws on the narrative of Mary Prince, a West Indian slave, to explore slavery through a gendered lens. It seeks to establish whether using a gendered lens to explore slavery sheds light on the different ways that enslaved men and women experienced slavery. Sexual harassment and exploitation, gender roles, and harsh treatment are analyzed to shed light on how male and female slaves experienced slavery differently.
Sexual Harassment, Exploitation, and Slavery
Women experienced some form of sexual harassment from their white male masters/owners. This is not something that male slaves had to endure. While the enslaved women’s experiences with sexual harassment are not explicitly told in Prince’s narrative, there is an indication that it did occur. For instance, Prince narrates her experience with sexual harassment while working for Mr. D and says that “He had an ugly fashion of stripping himself quite naked, and ordering me then to wash him in a tub of water… Sometimes when he called me to wash him, I would not come; my eyes were so full of shame.” In the modern-day, this act is considered sexual harassment because it places a woman in an uncomfortable position even when she is not explicitly asked to have sex with the man. Also, Prince’s refusal to wash her master and the subsequent beating she received also shows a form of sexual harassment where someone gets punished for refusing to engage in a non-consensual sexual situation. Prince eventually had to leave Mr. D and work for another white man because she wanted to escape the indecency.[. Mary Prince, The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave. (University of North Carolina Press: n.d), 27.] [. “Alexandra Thomas,” Agency, Gender, and the Law in Slave Narrative, accessed October 12,2021, https://fsu.digital.flvc.org/islandora/object/fsu:204841/datastream/PDF/view.]
Stories of slave owners sexually exploiting enslaved women, regardless of the era or geographical elements, are common. These are stories that most reveal the gendered nature of slavery, especially because in sexual harassment or exploitation cases, the perpetrator usually has the upper hand over the victim. White men (slave owners) had power over enslaved women and could coerce them into engaging in non-consensual sex or even engage in sexual violence. For instance, enslaved women in Jamaican plantations had to endure rape and sexual exploitation at the hands of White slave owners. Thus, slavery presented more challenges and hardships for women because other than not being free to do what they wanted and live a life of their choosing; they also did not have freedom when it came to their bodies. The mere fact of being a woman in slavery made women more vulnerable than their male counterparts. Their sexuality was used against them. In addition, enslaved women did not experience sexual harassment and exploitation just through rape and solicitation of sexual favors. There were other forms of sexual harassment experienced by women. For instance, white men found it sexually pleasurable and gratifying to physically and mentally pain enslaved women. Stripping and beating as a form of punishment was also a form of sexual harassment. Further, enslaved women were sexually exploited by their male masters for reproductive purposes. They became a source of more slaves because even as seen in Prince’s narrative, children born into slavery became properties of the slave owners and could be traded, just like their mothers. Also, enslaved women would get sexually exploited by their masters, and when they got pregnant, they would be sold to another master and warned not to say anything about the pregnancy. These are some of the experiences that characterized female enslavement but were absent in male enslavement.[. Jennifer Morgan, "Gender and Slavery, Birth and Death on Atlantic Plantations," The William and Mary Quarterly 72, no. 4 (2015): 676-679.] [. Ken Donovan, "Female Slaves as Sexual Victims in Ile Royale" Acadiensis 43, no. 1 (2014): 147-156.]
Gender Roles and Slavery
Prince’s narrative reveals that women were also assigned household work more often than men. Their duties included cooking, cleaning, and taking care of others. For instance, Prince’s role at Mrs. Pruden’s was to nurse a small baby. “All my employment at this time was nursing a sweet baby, little Master Daniel…” She also took up the same role when she was sold to a new master, Captain I. Other female slaves, such as Hetty, were also assigned domestic chores such as preparing meals, working in the house, and tending to the older children. This aligns with traditional gender roles and stereotypes that view women as soft and fragile and incapable of performing hard tasks. This can be attributed to the physical differences between men and women, especially in relation to physical strength.[. Prince, History of Mary Prince, 13]
However, there is also evidence that male and female slaves were assigned the same work. In such cases, gender roles and stereotypes were not observed. For instance, when Prince was sold to Mr. D, she was assigned to work in the saltwater with the rest of the slaves. This work involved heavy manual labor where the slaves shoveled large heaps of salt and worked in harsh conditions that threatened their well-being and health. They also pushed wheelbarrows and dived into the sea to collect building stones for their master’s house. This can be seen as a way in which slavery challenged traditional gender roles because Prince was not spared from hard work because she was a woman. This is not the only instance where slavery challenged traditional gender roles. Slavery in America also challenged gender roles, and women slaves worked in the fields just like men. A narrative from an African American slave in Louisiana revealed that there were no differences between male and female slaves when it came to working. The man reveals that women were sent to help them chop down trees in the field, and they were excellent at chopping and piling logs, “making them equal to any man.” Another slave reveals that women worked...