A Man's Point of View

For men life on the sugar plantations were more easier than what women had to do. They got paid more for doing less work and they were catered to when they got home. Life for men was not at all as hard for women. Sometimes life for men got complicated they had to deal with racism against the other ethnic groups that were there, they got in fights and have conflicts with each other. Another time life got complicated was with their pictures brides, sometimes the picture bride that they got didn't want to marry him or wanted to go back to where they came from. Other men got lucky by getting a picture bride that was willing to be with him and do the things that they needed to do. Men's life on sugar plantations was a lot easier and more better, though sometimes it got complicated they always finished what they needed to do.

A Woman's Point of View

Many women that came to work on sugar plantations in Hawaii were mostly picture brides. So they were expected to work alongside their husband. They were paid fifty cents for a ten hour work day (normally earning $13 a month) and were paid sixty-six percent of what men were paid. Women’s jobs included weeding the fields, stripping the cane of dry leaves, irrigating, and cutting seed cane. Sometimes they would also do the heavy duty work which included cutting, carrying, and loading cane. Not only did they do lots of hard work they would have to go home and care for their husbands by providing food and making sure the house was kept clean. Births of children did not stop these women from working they would go back to work with their babies tied to their backs. To make more money due to a larger family some women had to take other jobs like becoming house servants, maids, and cooks. Life for women on the plantation was not at all what we thought it was. These women worked just like men and it's time we start doing the same. We are all Equal!!!

A typical work day on Sugar plantations

WOMAN'S TYPICAL WORK DAY (1910)
4:00 am Women wake to prepare breakfast & lunch

5:00 am Whistle! Wake-up

6:00 am Gather at train or walk to field

11:00 am Whistle! Kaukau

11:30am Whistle! Kaukau pau -- go back to work

4:30 pm Whistle! Pau Hana

Go to furo/bath

Fix dinner

Garden, sew & other family care

8:00 pm Whistle! Lights Out

Continue family care activities

The things they brought

• Each ethnic group brought there own " Flavor" to the plantation
• They brought different religions
• Pidgin is a mix of words from the different ethnic groups
• They brought different foods
• They brought different customs- ways of life

Benefits of Plantation Life

• Produced Sugar Cane- sugar cane was free
• Water, fuel, medical, and houses were free
• There were plantation schools for the children
• Getting paid for working

Hardships of Plantation Life

• Abusive plantation Lunas
• Weather- Heat, Rain,etc
• Pay was low
• Sleep hours cut short
• Each ethnic group was paid at different rates
• Workers resorted to violence against the Lunas
• Disagreements with their spouses
• Women had to laundry, take care of child, sew clothes, make food, work in plantation
• Poor Housing
• Plantation work was difficult it involved hoeing, planting, and carrying sugar cane