This article examines the various experiences of slavery and freedom of female household workers in the Dutch and English East India Company (VOC and EIC, respectively) ports in Bengal in the early eighteenth century. Enslaved household workers in Bengal came from various Asian societies dotting the Indian Ocean littoral. Once manumitted, they entered the fold of the free Christian or Portuguese communities of the settlements. The most common, if not the only, occupation of the women of these communities was household or caregiving labour. The patriarchy of the settlements was defined by the labour and subjection of these women. Yet, domestic service to VOC/EIC officials only partially explains their subjectivity. This article identifies the agency of enslaved and women of free Christian or Portuguese communities in their efforts to resist or bypass the institution of the European household in the settlements. These efforts ranged from murdering their slave masters to creating independent businesses to the formation of sexual liaisons and parental/fraternal/sororal relationships disregarding the approval or needs of their settlement masters.

中文翻译：

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前殖民地孟加拉邦东印度公司港口的家庭工人

本文考察了 18 世纪早期在荷兰和英国东印度公司（分别为 VOC 和 EIC）在孟加拉港口的女性家庭工人奴役和自由的各种经历。孟加拉被奴役的家庭工人来自分布在印度洋沿岸的各个亚洲社会。一旦被释放，他们就进入了定居点的自由基督教或葡萄牙社区。这些社区的妇女最常见的（如果不是唯一的话）职业是家务或看护劳动。定居点的父权制是由这些妇女的劳动和服从决定的。然而，对 VOC/EIC 官员的家政服务只是部分解释了他们的主观性。本文确定了自由基督教或葡萄牙社区的奴隶和妇女在抵抗或绕过定居点中欧洲家庭制度的努力中的机构。这些努力的范围从谋杀他们的奴隶主人到创建独立企业，再到建立性关系和父母/兄弟/姐妹关系，而无视他们的定居主人的批准或需要。