Women, Culture, and Power: A Comparative Study of the Roles of Women during Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie and Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie Era

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-503-4_33How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Colonial Comparison; Cultural Integration; Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie; Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie; Women’s Identity

Abstract

This article compares the roles of indigenous women in Batavia under the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) and in New Netherland under the Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie (GWC) during the early Dutch colonialism. It addresses a research gap by focusing on indigenous women’s agency in shaping colonial culture in these two contexts. The study employs historical methods to reconstruct the narration that compare women’s experiences, which reveal that indigenous women in Batavia who married or cohabited with VOC officials played crucial roles in cultural transmission and shaping the mixed culture. In addition, relationships between Dutch men and Mohawk women in New Netherland were less common but still facilitated cultural exchange. Women in both regions exerted influence through domestic roles and child-rearing, subtly shaping colonial culture within patriarchal systems. The emergence of creole languages in both areas can be seen as the result of said cultural acclturation. This comparative analysis provides new perspectives on gender dynamics, cultural interaction, and the formation of women’s identities in these colonial settings.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Khairana Zata Nugroho
AU  - Desi Susanti
AU  - Keke Pahlevi Daradjati
AU  - Firda Mutia Widayanti
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/12/19
TI  - Women, Culture, and Power: A Comparative Study of the Roles of Women during Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie and Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie Era
BT  - Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Culture and Sustainable Development (ICOCAS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 269
EP  - 276
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-503-4_33
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-503-4_33
ID  - Nugroho2025
ER  -