In this book, Sarah Franklin uses the concept of patriarchy to explore slave society in Cuba, where all women, irrespective of phenotype or slave or free status, were considered subordinate to men. Franklin highlights the centrality of patriarchy thus: “The prospering of Cuban society required the subordination of all groups to white males, no matter their station in Cuban society. To that end, patriarchy stood as the tool to order Cuban society; paternalism served as the method (p. 1).” Though distinct, patriarchy and paternalism coexisted in Cuba, and the study of patriarchy can be useful for probing slavery, because it takes us beyond the confines of race, class, and material relations that have long been a concentration of many studies of Caribbean slavery. (p. 2). Despite the title, the book is not centered on enslaved women. Rather, it deals with the ways in which Cubans and Cuban institutions used patriarchy to implement and maintain slavery. Franklin believes that “Placing the master-slave relationship under the rubric of patriarchy provides a better point of analysis than does limiting the enquiry to paternalism alone” (p. 2). The difficulty with such an approach is that the master-slave relationship is not adequately explored, and the book ends up being more about the social condition of white women in Cuba during slavery than about the slave women who are the focus of the book title.

In an introduction, five chapters and a conclusion, Franklin explores the role that patriarchy played in Cuba, especially in marriage, religion, and education. Thus, consideration of the role and place of women in Cuban society—which changed little over time despite evolution in the political systems of Spain and Cuba—undergirds the work. Women were expected to adhere to social and cultural authority, “to exhibit semidivinity, moral superiority, and spiritual strength” (p. 25). As wives and mothers, women were expected to exercise control over their sexuality and to emulate virtuous motherhood in the image of the Virgin Mary. However, white women and women of color were held to different standards due to racial hierarchy, and these expectations pertained mostly to whites.

What role did patriarchy play in marriage, religion, and education? Franklin argues convincingly that marriage, sanctioned by the Catholic Church, and regarded by patriarchs as “the preferred state for women,” was the cornerstone of patriarchy in Cuba. As such, it was used to reinforce patriarchal social control in other areas of Cuban life, including religion and education (pp. 39–42). As for women of color, they were pictured in Cuba in much the same way as in other parts of the Americas as “lustful and lascivious,” whereas white women were elevated above them as ‘pure’. (p. 44). Franklin notes that the role of marriage among the enslaved is still ambiguous. Even so, it appears that some slaveholders encouraged marriage, although they did not attach the same sanctity to it as to the marriage of whites. The influence of the Catholic Church may also have played a role, as in the case of the royal slaves of El Cobre whose marriage rates were high in the eighteenth century (p. 44). Further evidence can be drawn from 1827 figures that show marriage rates were higher among the enslaved than free people of color. Also, newspaper advertisements of slaves for sale in the 1840s required buyers to purchase married slaves and their children in one lot (p. 47).

Where does all of this leave us with women and slavery? Franklin's last chapter—by far the most interesting part of her book—offers statistics that provide tantalizing glimpses. A breakdown of skills by gender of enslaved men and women from the 1830s and 1840s shows that women were heavily engaged in domestic labor as cooks, laundresses, and wet nurses, and in the last-named capacity much sought after by slave owners. Also, urban slavery was prevalent in some areas, including Barbados. And there women featured more prominently in self-purchase than men, as was the case in the French Antilles.

The lack of data, archival and secondary, that Franklin faced in writing about slave women leads her to conclude of the slave women that “their story has in many ways been silenced (p. 128).” This means that scholars will have to be inventive and creative. Although Franklin's book was not conceptualized as a comparative study, it would have been greatly enhanced by reference to the findings of scholars who have published significant studies of women and slavery in the non-Hispanic Caribbean. Certainly, it would have been useful to explore the relationship between white women, who were often slave owners, and women of color, slave and free. Patriarchy applied to them all, but how did white women view the patriarchy to which women of color were subjected? Despite its shortcomings, Franklin's ambitious study is a unique and timely scholarly effort that deserves attention.