Indian Women and Indentureship in Trinidad and Tobago 1845-1917: Freedom Denied

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Indian Women and Indentureship in Trinidad and Tobago 1845-1917: Freedom Denied

When Indian Indentureship to Trinidad began in 1845, what later became known as the 'Indian Women Problem' had already reared its he ad. The initial phase of migration to the Caribbean of Indians destined for indentured labour on the plantations began as early as 1838 when migrants to the then British Guiana were among the 6,000 men and 1 00 or so women who were shipped to Mauritius, Australia and British Guiana between 1834 and 1839.1 The initial phase of indentured Indian emigration followed fast on the heels of the abolition of slavery. This was an attempt (and eventually a successful one) by the plantocracy to reduce labour costs as well as to re-establish some degree of labour control on the plantation.

The first prohibition of indentured Indian migration which took place in 1839 was fueled by the activities of the re-organized Anti- Slavery Society against this 'new system of slavery'. One of their major objections had been the small numbers ef women among the migrants during this initial phase. In November 1844 therefore when the government of India lifted its ban on indentured Indian emigration to the Caribbean one of the conditions was that at least 12 per cent of the emigrants be female The inclusion of quotas for women was mainly for public consumption, a On 30 May, 1845 when the F atei Rozack brought the first 227 Indian immigrant labourers to Trinidad, 206 were men and 2 1 women.4 In addition to the factors in the receiving countries which favoured migration, there were also developments in British India where:

To natural hazards and traditional fragmentation of family holdings to an excessive degree, were added changes in production following the training of British rule 5

which encouraged migration.

In the eighteenth century India had supplied cotton goods on a large scale to Europe, but now she was losing her position as a manufacturing country and had been transformed into a consumer of British goods. The textile industries were the first to collapse before competition. Weavers and other workers were left without employment and had no alternative but to fall back on the land. The land, however, did not welcome them. According to J .C. Jha, British land policy in India had sought to create and perpetuate a class of large landowners to the detriment of the small peasant proprietors through, for example, the permanent settlement of Bengal in 1793.

This settlement destroyed the land tenure rights of small holders while increasing the powers of landlords or zamindars over the tenants or iyots.6 This situation was further aggravated by the recurrent famines in north India during the 19th century which affected peasants and rural artisans whose conditions were worsened by the annexation of Oudh to t...

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