Under sharecropping agreements, what was expected from women?

The role of women in sharecropping varied depending on the specific arrangements in place. Traditionally, it was assumed that women would contribute to paying off the family debt through domestic labor on the landowner's estate. This often involved performing tasks such as cooking and cleaning, akin to the services provided by enslaved women prior to the abolition of slavery; sharecropping can be viewed as a way to perpetuate the legacy of that system. This experience was common for many women engaged in sharecropping. However, more recent scholarship has shed light on numerous women who entered into sharecropping agreements as farmers, seizing the opportunity to cultivate their own parcels of land in a context where it was particularly challenging for women, especially Black women, to acquire land independently.

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Miss Adella Krajcik

Dec 06, 2024

"The role of women in sharecropping depended on the arrangement. Traditionally, the assumption was that women were able to pay their share of the family debt through domestic labor on the landowner's estate. They would cook or clean, providing the same services that house slaves had before (again, sharecropping was partly a way to maintain slavery in all but name). This was certainly the experience of many women. However, more recent scholarship has illuminated a number of women who entered into sharecropping agreements as farmers, using this as a chance to get a piece of land of their own in a world where it was difficult for women (and particularly black women) to do so."

Anonymous

Nov 21, 2024

It's "Cooking, cleaning, and tending the garden"

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Under sharecropping agreements, what was expected from women?

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