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| Modern interpretations of convict history do not depict the injustices women suffered. |
Rachel is taken advantage of by Surgeon White and there is little that she can do to help herself because of her position as a woman. He impregnates her, but refuses to marry her because he does not want her to come with him when he returns to England. "Even without her convict past, the tongues would wag if he married the likes of her. Gentleman did not marry servants". Once Rachel gives birth to their son, Andrew, Surgeon White has no issue in taking their child away from his mother and back with him to England, "A father has every right to what happens to his child".
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| A stereotypical image of early female convicts |
All of these examples in Jackie French's novel "Nanberry Black Brother White" reflect how women had extremely tough lives during colonial Australia and that they were most disadvantaged group of people throughout this time. Out of the 717 convicts who arrived with the first fleet only 188 were women, meaning women were vastly outnumber and put at an even bigger disadvantage. Women of all the groups of people in colonial Australia were the most disadvantaged, nobody had it harder then women in colonial Australia.
Your response should include the following things.
1] Your point of view regarding the issue presented above
2] A well constructed TEEEL paragraph [50-100words]
3] Evidence from the text to support your answer
(Georgia Juniper)
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with the statements made above, Women were indeed a disadvantaged minority who were not looked at like equals but toys for enjoyment which most had to agree to being, to survive in this new world. For the men of the colony, they had it easier as most had some sort of knowledge of how to survive - women on the other hand, did not. So, the colonial men took full advantage.
a fine example, is the way Rachel constantly had to be on alert in case her actions were taken in the wrong way, she always watched how she responded or communicated with other men, she only went out at certain times for her safety and had to apply many security measures to keep from drunk men breaking into her home - no one should have to live like that (woman or not), constantly feeling un-safe in her own town because of men.
Colonial women, no matter their background - did it the toughest. It was not at all that easy to leave your life in England and then become apart of a small minority (that is constantly attacked because of your sex)this book did truly reflects the many challenges women faced and acknowledges the fact that this was,a constant thing women had to face every day for years.
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ReplyDeleteMiss Sue I completely agree with you.
ReplyDeleteAs you said In Nanberry Surgeon White appears as a gentleman, but listen. What kind of a man gets a woman pregnant then leaves her to take care of herself when he becomes rich and famous. Surgeon White treats Maria like a slave. Even the O’possum and Nanberry get better treatment than she did and that's pretty sad. She looked after them with so much care. In fact she treated them better than she was treated!
And I was also not surprised as to when you added that they were used for men’s sexual needs. That is absolutely horrible and barbaric.
In this time I guess women did not know better than to obey the men and do as they were ordered.
I agree with this article, this article shows what women had to go through. Women were like abused and forced to do things they didn't want to do, and I think that women should never be treated the way they were. This is a really good article because it does explain what women had to go through and how they had been treated back then. It is very terrifying to hear what women were forced to do and I think no one would want to experience that because everyone is the same and everyone is human.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said because women had it pretty hard back in the days because the men took over and had control over everything and the poor women didn't have any sayings or rights to do anything. I agree with how you said that the men would just force the women do stuff they didn't want to just for their own sake and they didn't even care about what the women wanted. The women truly had a right to not smile or even look at a mans face as stated. I agree that it would of been definitely hard for them, but i sort of disagree a little bit because the Aboriginals would of had it even way harder because they actually got killed and abused.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said because woman did have a really hard time. Because men did take over every thing and woman never got to have a say and always had to follow what men wanted to do. I agree what man gets a woman pregnant and just leaves with out her and doesn't help her with his kids.
ReplyDeleteYour writing piece was something I completely agree on, however I do think the Aboriginals had it much worse. It truly disappointed me the way women were treated during these times. In no way, should men treat women with such disrespect! It was absolutely abominable how women were forced to have sexual intercourse with men, just to gain something they need. What's even more horrible is that the women were often impregnated by this, only to have the father of their unborn child abandon them. What was so abhorrent was that Surgeon White did not want to be with Rachel because of her convict past and poor status, he did not want to taint his reputation by being with her. On top of that, he took away Rachel's firstborn, leaving her devastated. It's completely depressing how women were only seen and treated as objects of service and pleasure.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with the article written above but I do believe the aboriginals had it a lot worse. The women of colonial Australia indeed had a lack of equal rights and opportunities. It was disgusting the way men treated these innocent women and how they put their lives in danger and had no respect for them at all. The men completely took advantage of the women and made them complete tasks that was no option for them. As one example from Nanberry was pointed out, Surgeon White impregnates Rachel and refuses to marry her and take her back to England with their new born son, Andrew. He completely takes advantage of her which shows how unequal the women where treated in this period.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the text but i believe that the aboriginal people had it a lot worse. The women of colonial Australia were treated very poorly but if you take matters into the Aboriginals it shows that they were killed abused and also put as slaves just for the British. But still i did think the Woman had it bad! An example was in the book Nanberry where Surgeon White impregnates Rachel and refuses to marry her, he also refuses to take her back to England with their new born son, Andrew. This shows that the British just used them and points out that women were mistreated.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with the statement written above. Women were treated with no respect and were also treated as slaves by men which shows us that the women of colonial Australia had no say in what they did and certainly had no equal rights. The women were outnumbered when they came to Australia which made them not have a say in anything they would do and the men would always take advantage of them and would force the women into doing things that they wouldn't want to do and never respected them. In Nanberry, when Maria says she would “avoid the eyes of the men with their thin and filthy faces who’d take a smile as an invitation”, this statement is so true, like I have said multiply times, the men would treat women with no respect what so ever. I disagree with you when you say that nobody had it harder than women in colonial Australia because I believe that the aboriginals had it way worse by always having to fear that the English would kill them and the English would always kill them even if they meant no harm.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this text. The woman in colonial Australia were treated worse than the animals. The woman were taken advantage of and were made by the men to be there slaves and were used and abused by the men at this time.
ReplyDeleteIn the text it states that Rachael got taken advantage of by surgeon White who seemed like a nice guy but he got Rachael pregnant and since he won't marry Rachael he can easily take his son back with him to England and leave the child's mother behind now what kind of a person does that. The texts also states that woman like Maria would try to avoid looking at the men so that they don't get any weird ideas.
The only statement in this text that I disagree with is that woman were treated the worse than anyone else. I don't completely agree with that because they at least had somewhere to go for the night and sleep and got to eat and they had medical supplies where as the aboriginals slept on the ground had no house and no medical supplies and some were even killed by the whites which is way worse than just being punished.
I completely agree with this article. Women were treated most unfairly. They were given no rights
ReplyDeleteI was most shocked when I learnt that women were just their for men's needs. And that the men completely abounded them when they impregnated them but took their child away as soon as they had given birth. It clearly explains what women in those years had to go through and what they had to injurer.
Women worked much hared in these times then men as the women would look after households, cook and clean. Like with Maria and Lon, Lon was supposed to help with the work but Maria had to do it all herself as he was lazy. Women and men are both humans being and should be treated equally and have the same rights.
But besides the women I think the aboriginals had it the worst out of everyone. Aboriginals were killed by the disease brought to Australia by the English and the English made no move in helping them. The English also kidnapped aboriginals just to use them as translators. The kidnapped were as prisoners, Bennelong one of the kidnapped aboriginals was force to wear a chain around his ankle so he would not flee.
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ReplyDeleteYour artical makes so much sense and i agree highly. They were treated very badly and the amount of disadvatages were enormous.They had no ground and no rights.
ReplyDeleteAn example in Nanberry was when Surgeon White impregnates Racheal and refuses to Marry her, he also dosent allow Racheal to go back to England with her new born son named Andrew. This clearly shows that the wemon had not ground and that the British had full contol over the wemon.
I was confused when i first found out that the men where taking control of the wemon and there pregnancy.Them taking the child away from the wemon as soon as it was born and the wemon had no right to say anything or act back for there child.This artical had many explenation on how the wemons had no right and what the men were getting them to do.The men had no right to do any of that to the wemon and that was bad. But compared to the aboriganols it was life thretning. The Aboriganols caught the disease and most died, some got used and slaves, translators and some where kidnapped and became prisinors.
i completely agree with your writing, the colonial women were treated poorly and like slaves. i don't understand why the men had so much power and the women were just there to be there slaves, the women had no rights at all. i find it ridiculous how the men were able to get a lady pregnant and then when its born just take it away for. but i have to say the aboriginals had it way worse! they were in a terrible position, there were many of them dying and getting kidnapped.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Miss Sue's article and i think the the aboriginal women weren't treated with their equal rights. It is really sad to see that back in those days that the men had all the power and control and the women didn't have a say. I also surprised when i found out the women were their just for the men's needs.
ReplyDeleteIn the book surgeon white treated Maria like she wasn't there and he even treated the possum better which was really sad. Men abused women sexually and as slaves and didn't really care as if the women were worthless.
Also beside the women i think the aboriginals had it worse because the white settlers brought disease and most aboriginals died from the disease without any medication or help.
What was discussed in the blog paragraph, I completely agree with. I have no doubt that the women had it bad. Unbiased to the fact that this was written on the women rights topic, I do feel that the Aborigines had it much worse. The women, as suggested in the Nanberry novel, had no rights to land, were stereotyped as prostitutes and even had to use sex as a way to get a proper meal. But they still had a right to being in the colony, and to be alive. The Aborigines were taken of their land, food, shamed for being black and were kidnapped to be "translators." To sum up my feelings, I still completely agree with the content of this argument.
ReplyDeletei completely agree with the statement made above. Because of all the great points that you brought up in this article it made me think differently about the woman during this time. like you said, woman weren't granted much respect but they gave respect to the men. but in my opinion the aboriginals had a more worse point of view. because of all the things that they had to go through when the white men came to Australia. especially the smallpox outbreak that caused thousands to die. even though the woman had a bad time during this event i still thing that the aboriginals took the most amount of pain during this time.
ReplyDeleteMiss sue,
ReplyDeletewhat you have wrote on the top, I agree with you.
Women have been terribly treated by the men and they couldn't disobey the men. The disadvantage that women has in the colonial time are ridiculous. Women becomes the men slave is because women is too weak Women had to obey the men because the women had no choice but to obey the men.
At the top, the examples of women’s disadvantage that was written upon was pointed out really good. Rachel had been terribly treated by surgeon white and surgeon white impregnates Rachel but he refuses to marry her just because she is a servant. Gentleman did not marry servants”
I completely agree that women were treated unfairly and unjustly during colonial Australia. They were taken advantage of and were only used to benefit men as they were servants, had little to no rights like owning land and were more commonly known as prostitutes during that time. One of the examples of this abusive attitude towards women was in the second paragraph where Rachel was helplessly used for sex and was impregnated then her child, Andrew was taken from her from Surgeon White, the father of Andrew.
ReplyDeleteThis was undoubtedly very difficult and hard times for women but however, even though women were treated like this and were objectified, they weren't treated as badly as the natives called the Aboriginals. During the time as there were many arguments and conflict over land rights, the British Government decided to take all the Aboriginal children from their parents and then be released to 'white society' at the age of 18. The purpose of this was that their future, language and traditions were to be taken in hope that Aboriginal culture could be ended within a short time. These children are known as the 'Stolen Generation'
This is why I believe that the Aboriginal people had much a harder time than women in colonial Australia
I strongly agree on your blog about men taking advantage of women and using them for their own selfish desires. The men had no right to do what they did. The men took power over the women and turned them into prostitutes and slaves. When Rachel got pregnant the man had left her behind and went to England and left Rachel in Australia to have her kid.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the blog on certain levels. “Life for women in colonial Australia was undoubtedly hard because of the lack of equal rights and opportunities for women during this period.” I agree with this statement, it just mentioning how hard it was for them and why. “were most disadvantaged group of people throughout this time” I simply cannot agree with because it is saying the Aboriginals didn’t have it bad either (as much as them) which is simply not true.
ReplyDeleteThe Aboriginal women were taken from families, children stolen, families dying of illnesses and then treated as inhumane objects, not only that but a mistake in the human race. It is said that convicts and such were taken as used as sexual objects and slaves, but the reason they were there was for some sort of crime. The Aboriginals were punished for just living, imagine being taken away from everything you know.
The Aboriginals were more confused than the British considering the Aboriginals had no idea and weren’t in control, whilst the Britain were kidnapping and murdering in masses while trying to survive the Australian conditions.
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ReplyDeletemiss i agree with u i like how u write your blog it really good
ReplyDeleteMiss sue, I strongly agree with the imformation you have provided me with, I am also very fortunate that we live in a world today where everyone can see women equally to men, back then women were treated so fouly and men disrespected us as though we were nothing but an object, when really we were and still are today Women,human beings and someone who has feelings.
ReplyDeleteThis blog has changed my opinion on how the woman were treated in colonial times because I had no knowledge of how the woman were treated in those times. It has taught me a lot about the subject. I found the blog interesting to read while it was telling me a lot of information about the woman.
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ReplyDeleteThis changed my opinion on how women lived in those days, before reading this I thought women only had a little less rights than men and I thought men had it tougher. Now I know that women were often objectified and thought of as nothing more than slaves or 'breeding' tools.I now have much more respect for the resilience and patience that these women portrayed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this because of how you have described the life of the female convicts in the camps of early Australia.
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