How has the image of convict women changed across time?
The ways in which contemporaries, feminists and historians have perceived the role of convict women in Australia has undergone significant change over the past several decades. To begin, it should be noted that most contemporaries portrayed convict women in a most unfavourable light. In 1838, for example, the Molesworth Committee claimed that convict women were 'with scarcely an exception, drunken and abandoned prostitutes.' The free settler James Mudie, too, considered convict women ‘the lowest possible ... they all smoke, drink and in fact, to speak in plain language, I consider them all prostitutes.’ Moreover, a new settler wrote back to England with a critical view of the colonies, calling it 'little better than an extensive brothel' in which women were cast as servants and objects of sexual fulfilment. The picture painted of convict women was, indeed, far from flattering!
In Damned Whores and God’s Police, the Australian feminist Anne Summers takes this idea up and argues that women were moulded into this 'drunken and abandoned prostitute' stereotype as a result of oppressive patriarchal forces. Summers argues that women have traditionally been classed into one of two extreme categories: either moral women or damned whores. Summers blames ‘the traditional Judeo-Christian notion that all women could be categorized as being exclusively either good or evil’ for these absurdly stereotypical images of women that were successfully exported to Australia. Yet, as Summers goes on to point out, the situation in Australia was incredibly lopsided; most convict women were stereotyped into the ‘damned whore' category, which was reinforced by patriarchal forces within the colony. Regrettably, women had little hope of escaping this ‘damned whore’ stereotype; as Summers points out, the clasp of patriarchy used this degrading stereotype as a means of social control, and ensured that ‘female convicts were not allowed to change their ways.’
Summers’ argument that all convict women were doomed to be ‘damned whores’ because of the patriarchy has since been challenged by economic historians, however. In ‘Counting the Convicts’, the economic historian Deborah Oxley paints a very different picture of convict women to that of Summers, in which she argues that women, as well as men, brought with them skills that were invaluable to the economic growth of the colony. Here, it is important to note that the majority of convict women were in their late teens to early 30s (a perusal of the indents of thirty women aboard the Pyramus shows us this), meaning that the women being transported were ‘in the prime of their life, both in terms of productive capacity, and childbearing’ according to Oxley. The indents of the Pyramus also reveals the various employments for which these convict women had been trained, including housemaids, dairy maids, nursemaids, needleworkers, laundresses, and plain cooks.
Even though many contemporary accounts suggest otherwise, convict women brought with them varied and valuable—if underappreciated—skills in addition to their childbearing capacity, which Summers' one-dimensional view of convict women as 'damned whores' overlooks. Indeed, as Oxley rightly argues, women were as crucial to the upkeep and success of the colony as the men themselves.
The ways in which contemporaries, feminists and historians have perceived the role of convict women in Australia has undergone significant change over the past several decades. To begin, it should be noted that most contemporaries portrayed convict women in a most unfavourable light. In 1838, for example, the Molesworth Committee claimed that convict women were 'with scarcely an exception, drunken and abandoned prostitutes.' The free settler James Mudie, too, considered convict women ‘the lowest possible ... they all smoke, drink and in fact, to speak in plain language, I consider them all prostitutes.’ Moreover, a new settler wrote back to England with a critical view of the colonies, calling it 'little better than an extensive brothel' in which women were cast as servants and objects of sexual fulfilment. The picture painted of convict women was, indeed, far from flattering!
In Damned Whores and God’s Police, the Australian feminist Anne Summers takes this idea up and argues that women were moulded into this 'drunken and abandoned prostitute' stereotype as a result of oppressive patriarchal forces. Summers argues that women have traditionally been classed into one of two extreme categories: either moral women or damned whores. Summers blames ‘the traditional Judeo-Christian notion that all women could be categorized as being exclusively either good or evil’ for these absurdly stereotypical images of women that were successfully exported to Australia. Yet, as Summers goes on to point out, the situation in Australia was incredibly lopsided; most convict women were stereotyped into the ‘damned whore' category, which was reinforced by patriarchal forces within the colony. Regrettably, women had little hope of escaping this ‘damned whore’ stereotype; as Summers points out, the clasp of patriarchy used this degrading stereotype as a means of social control, and ensured that ‘female convicts were not allowed to change their ways.’
A picture of the Parramatta Female Factory taken in 1826. Female Factories, also known as prison workhouses, were one of Australia's responses to the management of convict women. According to Anne Summers, the Factory at Parramatta also served as a 'brothel' and 'marriage mart', thus reinforcing the prevalent 'whore' stereotype. (Source: National Library of Australia)
Summers’ argument that all convict women were doomed to be ‘damned whores’ because of the patriarchy has since been challenged by economic historians, however. In ‘Counting the Convicts’, the economic historian Deborah Oxley paints a very different picture of convict women to that of Summers, in which she argues that women, as well as men, brought with them skills that were invaluable to the economic growth of the colony. Here, it is important to note that the majority of convict women were in their late teens to early 30s (a perusal of the indents of thirty women aboard the Pyramus shows us this), meaning that the women being transported were ‘in the prime of their life, both in terms of productive capacity, and childbearing’ according to Oxley. The indents of the Pyramus also reveals the various employments for which these convict women had been trained, including housemaids, dairy maids, nursemaids, needleworkers, laundresses, and plain cooks.
Even though many contemporary accounts suggest otherwise, convict women brought with them varied and valuable—if underappreciated—skills in addition to their childbearing capacity, which Summers' one-dimensional view of convict women as 'damned whores' overlooks. Indeed, as Oxley rightly argues, women were as crucial to the upkeep and success of the colony as the men themselves.
1 comments:
where can I find deborahs book 'counting the convicts'?
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