Power Imbalances Between Female Domestic Servants and their Employers in the South Australian Courtroom, 1836–1880

Single female domestic servants were one of the most isolated groups of settlers in colonial South Australia, often arriving in the colony alone, and with no friends or family to support them, and this isolation left them vulnerable to mistreatment at the hands of their employers.This article considers how the unequal relationship between single women and their employers played out when employer/employee disputes were brought before the colonial courts, arguing that one-sided employment contracts and employerfavouring legislation and court authorities showed clear favouritism for middle-class employers over their female servants.