SOCIAL INFLUENCE ATTRIBUTABLE TO CONVICTS Since this new-found land was overwhelmingly populated by convicts, one might assume that Australia might be a more creative society compared to England.The colonies were now home to more liberal thinkers, used to breaking social customs, which could suggest that they would be more open to revolutionary ideas of the time. For example: equality - both racial and in terms of gender. I examine this assumption by assessing the impact convicts had on developing theories of the time, as well as the cultural impact of the convict colonies and whether the ‘convict stain’ still tarnishes the reputation of Australia, or whether it has had a positive impact on the Commonwealth of Australia today. Gender equality amongst convicts Between 1788 and 1842, about 80,000 convicts were transported to New South Wales. Of these, approximately 85% were men and 15% were women (State of New South Wales through the State Archives and Records Authority of NSW, 2015). Induced by the government’s Assignment programme, there was a clear gender division within the penal colony, set out in the primary phases of the transportation process. Prior to transportation, female criminals were placed in prisons until able to acquire a space aboard a ship for New South Wales.The infamous Newgate Prison in London was renowned for holding hundreds of female convicts in similarly appalling conditions to men, who were instead held on floating hulks. Both genders were treated very poorly, however, there was evidence for a slight female bias displayed by the magistrates at court. Some sympathy was shown in the direction of dismissed housemaids, as well as young girls charged with petty crimes like pickpocketing. According to law, these crimes should have been punishable by death, along with a multitude of different crimes under the Bloody Code.The Bloody Code was the system of punishments for crimes in the 18th and 19th century, signifying the sharply increased number of people sentenced to the death penalty, even for misdemeanours or crimes considered minor by modern standards. A significant aim of transporting convicts to Australia was to extend Britain’s empire, creating a long-lasting stable economy which would increase Britain’s power and wealth globally. In order to achieve this, the gender imbalance had to be corrected and, consequently, a large effort was made to increase the haulage of female convicts from 1800 onwards. Many women were in their twenties or thirties, however, the British government had called for more women of a ‘marriageable’ age to be sent to Australia in order to promote family development for emancipated convicts (convicts given a
conditional or absolute pardon) and free settlers. The ruling classes believed that, once there, women would provide an essential female stabilising influence as wives and concubines; but their main purpose was really to create a new generation of workers to continue their legacy. The new colonial government in New South Wales agreed with this concept and was quite definite in enforcing it. This male prejudice was, however, mainly a social construct enforced by the upper class and ruling officials.The convicts who came from more humble beginnings were used to breaking regulations and, therefore, open to revolutionary ideas such as gender equality.The distortion in the ratio of men to women meant that men outnumbered convict women by roughly 6 to 1. These numbers were even more distorted at the opening of the settlement. Once convicts began to be joined by free settlers, especially towards the later 19th century due to the discovery of gold in May 1851, many thought that the gender imbalance would be corrected - however, there was no significant change.This may be due to the representation of the new settlements as being harsh territories and perhaps unsuitable for respectable English ladies of the 19th century. The proportion of men to women was constantly male-biased in Australia up until the start of World War I (Grosjean, 2018). As a result, the marriage market for women amongst Australia’s European population heavily favoured women, and the economic theory of supply and demand played an enormous part in giving women more freedom and rights in Australia. Given the shortage of potential female marriage partners, women tended to have more authority and negotiating power in the home. Therefore it was often the case that Australian women could experience a wide range of opportunities that simply were not available to women in England. In England, all property of a women would be granted to her husband once married, even children would technically be the ‘property’ of the man. Social regulations in Australia were much looser. One of the benefits of the ‘free spirit’ of the convict civilisation was that society thrived by living off its own personal guidelines. In Australia, women had considerably more freedom with less fear of their husband. Less work and additional free time was relished by female settlers and emancipated female convicts. These behaviours and attitudes were then transmitted from parents to children and undoubtedly persist today. It is also important to note that these behaviours and attitudes are related only to gender roles at home and in the workplace: no evidence was found of any evidence of elevated misogyny in areas that were more male-biased in the past (Grosjean, 2018). This idea of women having power in the household continued into the political scene,
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