Setting the stage for this research’s chronological context, this section delves into the historical background of the Malaysian Tamil community, delineating it from the other Indian communities (e.g. the Chulias) which sailed to pre-colonial Malaya for trade, and were not affected by the scourge of indentured labour the way the Tamil community was. The spectre of indentured labour still lingers in the community today, through the current realities of poverty and precarity. The Tamils’ intertwined existence in colonial Malaya with the plantation economy reflects the systemic oppression of its time. Zooming in on the living conditions in the ‘plantation patriarchy’ which the Tamil women were subject to, this chapter also touches on the ways said women found ways to contest their marginalised status, despite the odds. Amidst the birth of the nation-state of Malaysia, plantation land soon gave way to the demands of housing development, which resulted not only in the loss of livelihoods, but also further displacement for the Tamil community. The reader can also expect further explanation on how policies enacted during this era such as the New Economic Policy, did not fully result in its intended alleviation of poverty and racialised perspectives began to affect governance. Approaching the present day and age, the relocation of the Tamil community from the now-non-existent plantations to the cities eventually compounded the effects of marginalisation on the urban Tamil community and their women.