ABSTRACT
This discusses a few of the ways in which women servants, despite being restricted by their circumstances, endeavored to shape their own lives. They lived within a culture that expected humility, self-denial, and deference. Although evidence of women's agency is often hidden within these kinds of sources, as the work of Hilda Smith demonstrates, there are many opportunities of recognizing women's self-sufficiency, autonomous action, and social participation even in circumstances that conspired against independence. Women rarely received skilled vocational training, except in domestic duties, during their contracted period. Women were sometimes the particular targets of transportation plans. Single women in England were forced into service with greater frequency than their male counterparts, creating a precedent for the forcible indenture of vagrant women. However, they are a particularly useful subgroup to study because more complete records exist about them than about ordinary non-criminal migrants. Hale's statement also implies the exercise of judicial judgment.
