Convict Lives: The Changing Image of Convict Women

The image of Australia’s convict women, perceived by historians up until the 1970’s was particularly damning and uncomplimentary. Often attributed by contemporary authority figures as morally depraved criminals, women rarely were represented as anything more than whores. This is demonstrated by colonial surveys, such as those conducted by Samuel Marsden in 1806, labelling convict women as either “moral” women or “concubines”. A contemporary authority figure and lieutenant of the First Fleet, Ralph Clark, branded the convict women as “damned whores”. Historian A. G. L Shaw embodies this view of convict women, writing in 1966 that “the picture they presented is a singularly unattractive one!” Throughout the mid 20^th century, the picture painted by historians of convict women was indeed unflattering, labelling women as little more than immoral criminals.

This 1751 engraving entitled "Gin Lane", by William Hogarth, depicts, via the central figure of a woman, the moral depravity found on the streets of London at that time. The drunken woman is shown to be neglecting her child, dressed in revealing rags, and appears to be seducing the man at her feet. This image supports the traditionalist view that convict women were little more than morally depraved whores, a view contested by feminist historian Anne Summers.
 (Source: http://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/primary-sources/158)

However, alongside changing attitudes and the emergence of feminist history in the 1970’s, a new image of convict women began to appear, challenging the traditionalist view. Feminist historians such as Miriam Dixson, Kay Daniels and Joy Damousi began to write a revised history of Australia, portraying women as more than morally inept members of a criminal class. The work of Anne Summers, in her book “Damned Whores and God’s Police,” is particularly influential, explaining that much of the immoral behaviour of women in the first fleet was due to the patriarchal oppression of men. Summers explains that women of the First Fleet were universally stereotyped as “whores,” and due to this social typecast, had to deal with constant sexual abuse from their male counterparts and authority figures. Summers argues, that while transported men were put to work constructing roads, and farming, women were transported to be used for the sexual gratification of the male settlers. Thus, women convicts were not all originally prostitutes, but became so, by force, during the journey and upon the arrival in the colonies. Summers argues that the sexist depiction of women as licentious and morally depraved was used to control and manipulate convict women during settlement.