The experience of slavery for black men and women was similar in regard to the abuse and lack of rights they endured, but there are several unique differences between how each sex was treated.

The most obvious difference comes from the fact that women are the ones who bear children. Because of this, women often suffered forced copulation with male slaves in order to produce children they might not be able to keep. This practice allowed slave owners to increase their number of slaves without purchasing additional people. In some cases, slave owners did not keep the children permanently but instead used them as a means of revenue by auctioning them once they were old enough.

Since marriages between slave women and men were not legally recognized, any children produced between a husband and wife were subject to be removed from their parents at the behest of the slave owner. Since many women shouldered the responsibilities of child-rearing at the time, female slaves were most impacted by these policies about their children. Furthermore, some would argue that this affected women emotionally more than men because of the supposed natural bond between a mother and child, though this assumption is rooted in gender stereotypes.

Another issue that impacted women more than men relates to sexual assault by whites. Stereotypes about black women’s overt sexuality were often used to justify the systemic rape of female slaves by their white owners. Even if a woman willingly entered into a sexual relationship with an owner, his power over her made it impossible to fully grant consent. To make matters worse, any children resulting from these sexual assaults were almost always viewed as slaves as well.

Another way in which slavery differed for women would be the various roles on a plantation or homestead. In the antebellum South, most of the more servant-oriented roles for slaves, such as cook, maid, or attendant, were fulfilled by female slaves. This is due to gender stereotypes about women being better suited to these roles than men, even as slaves.

While slavery’s horrific system of violence negatively impacted both men and women who suffered under it, these key differences between the two sexes certainly impacted the individual ways in which suffering was experienced.