Does Gender Shape the Experiences of Slaves?

Gender in some cases shaped  the experience of a slave.In 12 Years A Slave, both women and men had different abilities and tasks that they were told to do on the plantation. Men were more likely to do more strenuous work because they were considered to be stronger than the women. Women were most likely assigned to do cotton picking, cleaning, and housework. On the plantation in the film, both men and women were assigned to pick cotton. At the end of each day, all the slaves were put in a barn so that the master could be informed of the amount of cotton each slave picked. There was a women on the plantation named, Patsey. Patsey picked more cotton than any other slave, including the men. Because of this, the master took pride in her and she was hardly ever beaten or yelled at. Whoever was considered to not have picked enough cotton was taken and whipped. The gender did not matter if the slaves were to be beaten or not. If the slaves are obedient and do whatever they are told, most likely their master would not whip them or beat them, unless they wanted to because they felt like it. Gender really only affected the slaves in the type of work they did but gender did not really matter for the forms of violence. It also really depended on the master because whatever he felt and whatever he wanted to do, he could do it. Gender in one particular case, which is the type of work a slave did, shaped the experience of a slave.

Master is taking pride in Patsey because of the amount of cotton she picked