Gender in Slavery

In 12 Years a Slave, women were incredibly emotional. For example, Eliza got separated from her children, Solomon did as well, he stayed strong, and he knew if he sobbed over them he would get harsher treatments. Patsy pulled 500 lbs of cotton, while most of the male slaves pulled 160-200. Whoever didn't pull enough to make the masters happy were whipped and hung and however else to make them unhappy for not working hard. The easier jobs are usually done better by women. I think men are stronger physically, and emotionally, women often get to caught up from being taken from their family, that the don't work as hard. Even though it was bad to talk back to your master, men knew how to defend themselves, Platt was a building a house, and they taught him which way to do it, and the master said "You're doing it wrong," and Platt answered back telling him that's how he was taught. By talking back to a master you will be hurt or harmed. In this movie you could see that women had a lot of fear living on a plantation. The women mistress' weren't allowed to say to much, they only had a little input, while the masters said or did whatever was necessary to treat the slaves bad. 

Men And Women