Situación de la mujer en las rancherías de perlas del Cabo de la Vela

Abstract

Women, young and old alike, were forcibly taken from their communities and kept in the ranche­rías de perlas in the Caribbean and Panama, in order to serve the wor­kers of the different companies, espe­cially the lndian divers. The rejec­tion by these lndians of the black sla­ves as well as the ageing of the lndian women who had been declared sta­ ves, made the younger lndian women be torced into this service. These women, had either been born in the rancherías or illegally captured in the areas near the pesquerías de perlas, and, though originally free, spent their lives, like the slaves, under slavery or under a precarious freedom until the royal order carne for their liberation and reintegration into society and labour force.