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Caliban and the Witch

In the first chapter of “Caliban and the Witch”, Silvia Federici highlights the transition from feudalism to capitalism. In this major shift, the value of production also changed and the way of life at the time changed significantly. Unfortunately, women were major victims of capitalism, which led to their degradation and dropped their status not just economically, but also socially and politically. In the first chapter, “The Accumulation of Labor and the Degradation of Women”, Federici emphasizes how the new capital system will be built and achieved by using enslavement, violence, war, and colonialism as its foundation, not only in Europe but also in America. Marx’s Primitive Accumulation theory also led to a huge vacuum in labor as well as a growth in human exploitation. The privatization of land forced many peasants and farmers out of their jobs causing massive working populations to be out of the lands where they originally worked. Women especially were severely affected by the shifting economy.

As the new form of economy was developing, women’s labor was not remotely considered as a real job. But when men did the same exact job, it was considered highly productive and was acknowledged by the market. At the time, women were encouraged to stay at home and only serve as a support to their husbands rather than going out and directly participating in the economy. This subordination led to immense drop in women’s status in society and an inclination to their dependency to men as their only support and source of income. This degradation led women to exploit their selves in order to gain access to money or food to live on. This exploitation was usually either through slavery or prostitution.  Not only did these women lose their participation in the economy, but they also lost the right to represent themselves in court, because they were officially labeled as “imbeciles”. The loss of power made women very vulnerable that even their presence in public would lead to their assault or ridicule.