Understanding the link between gender and enslavement entails much more than inserting the female experience into analyses on enslaved societies. Ideas on femininity, sexuality and what being a woman means were central to the constitution of enslaved societies and the legalization of the institution of slavery. Enslaved females in the Americas and Africa performed roles that were considered to be socially off limits to honourable women, such as working in the fields, transporting items in urban areas, and working as midwives and healers. The social and historical definitions of the division of work between men and women were therefore fundamental to the roles performed by enslaved females. In captivity, enslaved females performed manual and domestic work and were the victims of both sexual and psychological abuse.