iwd: The commodification of the womb

In honour of International Women’s Day, this trio of essays will highlight the strength and power of black women in the 18th and 19th century as they battled with the horrors of enslavement.

This is essay will focus on the commodification of the womb, what that meant in practice and why it was one of the more important examples of the brutality of the slave trade.

Lasting from the 16th to the 19th century, the Trans-Atlantic slave trade is one of the darkest chapters of world history. The trade, characterized by the capture, transportation, and exploitation of Africans in the Americas, Caribbean, and other parts of the world, was truly the birth of modern capitalism, and economic exploitation. Driven by the demand for cheap labour, young African men and women alike found themselves sentenced to a life of servitude. They were captured for their strength and great labour potential, but the women also held value in other areas too. African women were considered valuable resources due to their reproductive capacity, and as a result were on the receiving end of sexual and reproduction exploitation. This short essay will explore the commodification of black women's wombs during this time, highlighting the economic and social implications of this practice.

Right up until the Abolition Act of 1807, a steady stream of Africans were transported across the Atlantic by the British ships on over 3.2 million journeys. There was constant, replenishable workforce for the plantations, leading many planters and slave owners to believe that it was ‘better to buy, than breed’. Conditions on the plantations were designed to force the maximum productivity out of the enslaved until they succumb to their treatment or exhaustion. It’s important to note that the average life expectancy for a slave in Jamaica at this time was only seven years – the unofficial policy being to work a slave to death. After the introduction of the act, which banned further transportation of Africans to the colonies in the Caribbean, slave owners and planters had to change their approach to ensure that the plantations remained profitable. By this time, Jamaica was one of the largest producers of sugar in the world and the demand for labour on the plantations was incredibly high. It now fell on black women, already vulnerable to sexual abuse and exploitation to become the solution to their captors’ problems.

The reproductive capacity of black women was always seen as a valuable resource that could be exploited for economic gain, but now it was deemed as essential. The womb becoming just as important as their physical labour if not more so. Plantation owners and slave traders saw the black womb as a source of profit and a means to increase their wealth. The womb was a means to increase the slave population on the plantations, and this, in turn, increased the economic value of the slaves. The more slaves a plantation owner had, the more labour they could produce, and the more wealth they could accumulate. In their eyes, these women needed to keep the slave population growing, and had no issues with forcing women to have children with little regard for their health and wellbeing. This practice of using their reproductive capacity as a commodity to increase the slave population, maintain wealth and increase profits, is the commodification of the womb.

The reproductive exploitation was not limited to the production of children but also extended to the trade in their reproductive organs, and their bodies for the purposes of medicine and science. How black women’s bodies were used for medical experimentation is something that I will cover in a later essay.

In contrast to forcing women to reproduce, slave owners used the womb as a form of punishment. There are reports of traders forcibly removing the ovaries and fallopian tubes of women as a means to control the slave population and prevent the growth of the black population, in areas where they felt they needed more control. The removal of reproductive organs also had economic implications, as it reduced the perceived value of these women and lowered their life expectancy.

This policy also had implications for the ‘family’ structure in the enslaved community. Because women were often separated from their partners and families, and forced to have children with men chosen by the slave owners, this contributed to the breakdown of the family structure. The breakdown of the family and the psychological trauma of this, amongst many other factors has had long-lasting implications for the social and economic development of the black community in Jamaica.

The exploitation of black women's bodies contributed to their dehumanisation and the breakdown of their social and family structure. It had a profound effect on their life expectancy and no doubt their mental health too. It is amazing that so many were able to persevere in their fight to survive. Despite all of this hardship, women found ways to resist and rebel against the system of oppression, demonstrating their agency and autonomy in the face of extreme exploitation.

It is important to recognize and acknowledge the history of the commodification of womb and its legacy in contemporary society. The legacy of the slave trade and its impact on black women's reproductive rights and healthcare is still evident today and it is imperative to understand this history in order to address the ongoing social and economic inequalities that continue to affect black women in Jamaica and beyond.

As a descendant of women enslaved in Jamaica, I am so proud of their tenacity, resolve, and ability to survive in circumstances that none of us could ever imagine. To them, I dedicate this years International Women’s Day.

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References:

• Hall, Gwendolyn Midlo. Social Control in Slave Plantation Societies: A Comparison of St. Domingue and Cuba. The American Historical Review, vol. 87, no. 4, 1982, pp. 842–875. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1864053. Accessed 27 Feb. 2023.

• Morgan, Jennifer L. Laboring Women: Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004.

• Sharpe, Jenny. "In the Wake: On Blackness and Being." Duke University Press, 2016.

• Turner, Mary E. Slaves and Missionaries: The Disintegration of Jamaican Slave Society, 1787-1834. University of Illinois Press, 1998.