Wives Slaves And Concubines Summary

Wives, Slaves, and Concubines: A History of the Female Underclass in Asia written by Eric Jones explained the changes that have occurred since the Dutch created a new set of laws and colonial practices in Batavia-Jakarta, Indonesia's capital and largest city. The changes consisted of both social and economic separations that affected the people. In the reading, Eric Jones provides stories that Asian women have shared with him to help explore the severe structural changes. He discovered that these "profound structural changes occurring at the end of the early colonial period, helped birth the modern world order" (Jones 3). Southeast Asian women contributed to trading as well as the operations of VOC (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie), a Dutch East India Company. VOC provided employment to families; however, created legal divisions that negatively disadvantaged the Asian women whose husbands were not employed by VOC. As a result, colonialism developed a new underclass in Asia that included more women. Although, half way through the 18th century, a downfall occurred when the dutch domestic law provided female elites with large amounts of power. The new demands from the masters and state came into conflict with the expectations of social mobility causing violence throughout the state. The people were unhappy when the …show more content…
For example, chapter four and five explains the violent conflicts slaves experience that result in horrific outcomes. Female slaves were also mistreated by their mistresses, no respect was given to them. They were viewed as a possession that worked in the mistresses favor instead of a human being. Also, the concubines were being mistreated even thought they had authority. Many male foreigners did not have wives, nor was with someone of their same ethnic group; however, had either spouses or concubines that were from Asia. These spouses and concubines were