bondswomen
Enslaved women historically
Bondswomen is the plural of bondswoman—a woman held in slavery or indentured servitude.
The term appears primarily in historical contexts describing enslaved women in the Americas or serfs in feudal systems: The plantation's bondswomen worked from dawn to dusk.
It also has a rare legal sense: a woman who posts bond for another's court appearance.
Formal binding contract
- serfdomFeudal bound labor
- peonageDebt-based forced labor
- vassalageSubordination to a lord
- chattelMovable personal property
manumission · thrall · villeinage · feudalism · helotry · encomienda · fiefdom · plantation
Made someone's property
- drudgeryHard, boring work
- toilStrenuous, prolonged effort
- laborStrenuous effort; also childbirth
- domesticOf the home
maid · servant · housekeeper · yoke · subjugation · captivity · enslavement · forced
Selfish use of others
- powerlessnessInability to affect outcomes
- marginalizationRelegation to powerless periphery
- victimizationBeing made to suffer
- disenfranchisementRemoval of voting rights
coercion · abuse · dehumanization · silencing · vulnerability · suffering · injustice · patriarchy
indenture
Formal binding contract
chattel · manumission · thrall · villeinage · feudalism · helotry · encomienda · fiefdom · plantation · emancipation
enslaved
Made someone's property
domestic · maid · servant · housekeeper · yoke · subjugation · captivity · enslavement · forced · unpaid
exploitation
Selfish use of others
- powerlessnessInability to affect outcomes
- marginalizationRelegation to powerless periphery
- victimizationBeing made to suffer
disenfranchisement · coercion · abuse · dehumanization · silencing · vulnerability · suffering · injustice · patriarchy · resistance
indenture
Formal binding contract
- contractEnforceable written agreement
- obligationRequired task or commitment
- suretyBacker of obligation
covenant · tenure · guarantor · debtor · liability · bond · property · ownership · deed · statute
bondswomenfreedwomen
Women released from slavery
citizens · freeholders · landowners · yeomen · libertines
bondswomenmistresses
Female lovers outside marriage
slaveholders · slave owners · masters · noblewomen · landladies