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Assignment 4 Miguel Montana

A topic that can be found in the works we’ve read so far is motherhood. Specifically, the exploitation and unnatural abuse of motherhood towards women. What makes this topic so peculiar is how universal the documentation of similarities are between the works that we’ve read so far. In Davis’s analysis of motherhood in enslaved women, it’s no surprise that the first thing we’re reading is how the more fertile the enslaved women, the more desirable she becomes. This is entirely due to the fact that the banning of slavery made this a necessity for slave owners to continue exploiting cheap labor. Yet, Davis describes the treatment of these women as not being mothers at all, but simply instruments guaranteeing the growth of the slave labor force (Davis,  11). They were essentially breeders, useful for nothing more than cheap labor and the production of even more cheap labor. In Frederici’s work, we learn that motherhood was yet again a burden to women this time instead of having their motherhood exploited, it became a burden. When women were unable to adapt to being nomadic much in the same way that men could, it was due in part to either being pregnant, or simply being unable to do so because of possible abuse and exploitation of men. They had children to take care of which would slow them down, and it was much more dangerous for women to travel than it was for men. An interesting comparison into how both of these author’s talks about motherhood, is that Davis focuses on the specific physical components of motherhood that further enslaved women. Whereas Frederici focuses on how these particular physical aspects of being women are what held them down from being able to do the same things that men could. Though the concept of motherhood prevented these women from, in this case, further abuse it’s the how that makes it curious. Perhaps in large part due to the color and social status of these women is why the exploitation of motherhood affects them so differently, it doesn’t take away from the fact that the effects of it are universally felt.