Coolie Woman: The Odyssey Of Indenture written by Gaiutra Bahadur is an autobiographical expedition to find heritage and cultural ties to history and the hidden oppression faced by many who lived through an indentured lifestyle. After almost 10 decades since Bahadur’s great grandmother first moved from Bihar, Calcutta to British Guiana, Bahadur returns to India to follow the paper trail of her great grandmother’s past. A shortage of needed labor post-slavery was a catalyst for the British to gather replacement workers worldwide under what became an indenture contract. Sujaria, Bahadur's great grandmother was one of these people who decided to leave their country to work at a plantation amongst 230,000 other indentured workers who left India
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To appease the shortage of women and the unequal balance between men and women in Guiana, many recruiters resorted to kidnapping them. As a whole the Coolie community was discriminated against fiercely by their overseers, the disproportion of women added to the tension the indentured male community felt. In certain colonies one woman served up to ten men at a time and as such, “it is easy to conceive that, from this frightful disparity of the sexes, the most horrible and revolting deprivation and demoralization must necessarily ensue” (79). Loneliness, frustration, and deprivation are a cocktail of emotions that make a human being irrational and capable of committing any number of crimes. Inadequate proportion of men to women and the drive for intimacy and procreation causes some men to take things by force. Not only were women subject to becoming rape victims, they served to also meet the sexual needs of many men. In addition to being used as objects of physical pleasure, women worked just as much as men for less pay frequently caring for children as well. Colonialism had no interest in promoting family for the indentured servant. Instead it carelessly caused unstable relationships and objectification of women, who were encapsulated in indentured work and sexual service for most of their
To appease the shortage of women and the unequal balance between men and women in Guiana, many recruiters resorted to kidnapping them. As a whole the Coolie community was discriminated against fiercely by their overseers, the disproportion of women added to the tension the indentured male community felt. In certain colonies one woman served up to ten men at a time and as such, “it is easy to conceive that, from this frightful disparity of the sexes, the most horrible and revolting deprivation and demoralization must necessarily ensue” (79). Loneliness, frustration, and deprivation are a cocktail of emotions that make a human being irrational and capable of committing any number of crimes. Inadequate proportion of men to women and the drive for intimacy and procreation causes some men to take things by force. Not only were women subject to becoming rape victims, they served to also meet the sexual needs of many men. In addition to being used as objects of physical pleasure, women worked just as much as men for less pay frequently caring for children as well. Colonialism had no interest in promoting family for the indentured servant. Instead it carelessly caused unstable relationships and objectification of women, who were encapsulated in indentured work and sexual service for most of their