Women-Slaves’ History in Africa and Europe Essay

Exclusively available on IvyPanda Available only on IvyPanda

Multiple other societies used the vast continent of Africa in regards to the supply of agriculture, valuable natural resources, as well as slaves. Women played an active role in maintaining the urban communities of Africa, producing and trading goods. They were also often responsible for tending the crops on many island farms, thus juggling between the responsibilities of being wives and mothers with the duty to actively engage in labor. Less fortunate women were pawns and slaves and therefore were forced to work on farms with no benefit other than obeying their masters. The high-intensity worker that women slaves performed in Africa was highly valuable despite the imbalance of power. They were twice as likely as men to become slaves and were prized for their both productive and reproductive value. Women were responsible for cloth weaving, pottery, trading of goods at markets, and facilitating day-to-day living1. Due to the ability of women slaves to give children to their slaveowners, the latter often purchased slaves as second wives when they could not afford the costs of marriage.

We will write a custom essay on your topic a custom Essay on Women-Slaves’ History in Africa and Europe
808 writers online

In Europe, however, marriages were monogamous, which meant that the practice of taking slaves as second wives was not accepted. The Catholic Church played an essential role in the preservation of the family unit and thus could not allow men to follow the practices that were common in Africa. Therefore, despite the labor potential of slave women in Europe, their possession was not as prized in Europe as in Africa because of the different social structures and customs. However, as mentioned by Dayton and Levenstein in their article “The Big Tent of U.S. Women’s and Gender History,” the reinvention of slavery by Europeans in the Americas underlined the importance of women’s reproductive capacities2. New slaveholders placed a particular value on the childbearing capabilities of women slaves, which led to a commodification of them as sexual beings within the expanding framework of Western capitalism. Thus, the particular structure of the European society significantly limited sexual relationships between men and women, which meant that women slaves were not as valued for their reproductive capacities as compared to Africa. However, the reinvention of slavery in newly-developing America contributed to the increasing value of women slaves in the country as the social rules along with religious frameworks were not as fully developed as in Europe.

Understanding Yin and Yang: The Perspective of Gender

The concept of gender lies in the basic foundations of Chinese philosophy. The two opposites, the Yin and the Yang represent the core components of cosmology and denote the correlative aspects of dark and light, male and female, as well as hard and soft. All of these notions are deeply integrated within the connotations of gender and point to the need for recognition of the interplay of different forces to support the development of the world and societies within it. It is important to note that Confucian and Daoist traditions of thought are the most dominant in the considerations of gender issues; however, their perspectives are somewhat contradictory.

Within the Confucianist view, yang is viewed as the dominant, male-associated characteristic that prevails in the relationship between the yin and the yang. The Daoist tradition opposes this view and emphasizes the integral role of yin’s female characteristics. In both perspectives, however, the contradictory qualities of yin and yang are seen as essential parts of a complete being or thing that complement and support one another. Chinese philosophers suggest that people are made from their physiological characteristics, which represent the basis for the corresponding physical identities3. In terms of social roles, genders act upon their mutually reciprocal, physical, and generative roles as males and females. The two genders and their functions are understood correlatively, with the context and dynamic tendencies determining their interactions.

It is essential to mention that despite the ideas of balance and the complimentary quality of relationships between masculine and feminine, there are social inequalities that existed and continue to exist in Chinese society. Previously, the idea of yin and yang was used as an ideological background for supporting the segregation of women. During the Han dynasty, the Confucian version of the philosophical view was especially prevalent, thus allowing males to prevail as more powerful, dominant, and moral. Within the biased background, oppressive practices were initiated and supported as seen in the tradition of foot binding as the expression of inequality among genders.

One can agree with the idea that the balance between genders is a positive outlook on the social structure4. When viewed as perfect additions to one another, the ideology of yin and yang can be accepted even within the feminist perspective. However, as the Confucian theory underlines the importance of yang and its dominance over yin, concerns arise regarding the equality of opportunity among genders. Masculinity should positively contribute to femininity and vice versa, with their powers contributing mutually to positive outcomes, which is why accepting the Confucian view that masculinity prevails does not align with the current understanding of gender equality.

Bibliography

  1. Mary Bugle, Teresa Murphy, Jane Gerhard, A Concise Women’s History (Boston, MA: Pearson Education), 12.
  2. Cornelia Dayton and Lisa Levenstein, The Big Tent of U.S. Women’s and Gender History: A State of the Field,” The Journal of American History 99, no. 3 (2012): 813.
  3. Ann Pang-White, The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Chinese Philosophy and Gender (London: Bloomsbury, 2015), 294.
  4. Deborah Whitehead, “Feminism, Religion, and the Politics of History,” JFSR 27, no. 2 (2011): 5.
Print
Need an custom research paper on Women-Slaves’ History in Africa and Europe written from scratch by a professional specifically for you?
808 writers online
Cite This paper
Select a referencing style:

Reference

IvyPanda. (2021, August 24). Women-Slaves' History in Africa and Europe. https://ivypanda.com/essays/women-slaves-history-in-africa-and-europe/

Work Cited

"Women-Slaves' History in Africa and Europe." IvyPanda, 24 Aug. 2021, ivypanda.com/essays/women-slaves-history-in-africa-and-europe/.

References

IvyPanda. (2021) 'Women-Slaves' History in Africa and Europe'. 24 August.

References

IvyPanda. 2021. "Women-Slaves' History in Africa and Europe." August 24, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/women-slaves-history-in-africa-and-europe/.

1. IvyPanda. "Women-Slaves' History in Africa and Europe." August 24, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/women-slaves-history-in-africa-and-europe/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "Women-Slaves' History in Africa and Europe." August 24, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/women-slaves-history-in-africa-and-europe/.

Powered by CiteTotal, free citation style generator
If you are the copyright owner of this paper and no longer wish to have your work published on IvyPanda. Request the removal
More related papers
Cite
Print
1 / 1