IWD: The Womb as a site of Resistance

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 womb as a site of resistance, and the impact that had on emancipation.

In the previous essay, I discussed the commodification of the womb and how enslaved women were at the mercy of their owner when it comes to sexual and reproductive violence. But despite the brutal exploitation of the wombs, black women fought back, using their bodies as the first line of defence.

Abortion was illegal in many slave colonies but that didn’t stop women from finding ways to terminate their pregnancies. Some women used their knowledge of traditional plants and herbs from their former cultural practices to induce abortions, while some others resorted to more extreme measures such as self-harm and ingesting known toxic substances. Many felt it was better to die, than to bring a child into a life of enslavement and were willing to do anything to maintain a sense of control over their own bodies and future.  

For those that had autonomous pregnancies, or chose to continue with forced pregnancies, they found support within their community. Women formed support networks to provide emotional and practical support, and help each other through pregnancy and childbirth, a time when enslaved women were at their most vulnerable. They would share knowledge about childbirth and child-rearing, as well as provide each other with physical and emotional support during labour and delivery. By forming these networks, enslaved women were able to maintain a sense of community and support in the face of extreme oppression.

Acts like these were critical in maintaining a sense of agency and autonomy. They took incredible amount of emotional strength and were extremely risky. But it was price women were willing to pay.

Increased uprisings and mutinies amongst the male population of slaves has long been credited for helping to speed up the success of the abolition movement, with data about slave rebellions being relatively easy to find. However, the impact of womens acts of resistance almost always gets overlooked. As we know, free labour equals profit, and thanks to the success of womens resistance, huge dents were being made in plantations profits.

Birth rates in the british Caribbean were always relatively low due to the harsh working environment, but even with the increased pressure on women to bare children, between 1807 and 1833 the birth rates in Jamaica remained low. Low enough for slave owners and planters to begin to offer incentives like better food and reduced working hours for women were willing to get pregnant. Women’s acts of resistance in the womb were having the desired effect. Not only were they retaining their autonomy, they were also bringing down the economy – so much so, that the plantation and the ‘free’ labour it came with were no longer profitable.

These women, with all their strength, and resolve, made a huge contribution to the abolition movement and securing their freedom. Their contribution should be acknowledged and celebrated, especially today on 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.