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Assignment 4

Silvia Fredericci’s, Caliban and the Witch makes many valid points on capitalism and its detrimental effects on women, both emotionally and monetarily. She disproves the idea that “the women’s place in the home” was something that naturally came about within the economy, and shows that capitalism pushed sexism and female devaluing. Along with the workforce greatly favoring men, it also completely relegated women’s monetary value in labor and further prevented their progression in society. Witch hunts were also used to intimidate women out of work outside their homes, speaking to just how far people went to maintain their gender oppressive way of life.

The workforce of the time oppressed women in a number of aspects. Women were extremely discouraged to work outside of their homes, and were therefore much less valued within the workforce. Reproductive work had been a way some women earned wages in their homes, but it was deemed “natural responsibility” and invalidated as a form of labor. This again displayed the misogyny and disregard for women normalized and promoted by authority. Due to the invalidation of their work, many struggling women turned to begging and prostitution in order to feed themselves and their families. These lines of work were obviously dangerous and hardly ever sufficed in helping women get by.

The Witch hunt also had its ways of negatively affecting women’s monetary stance. The movement allowed for women to be accused of witchcraft for reasons not excluding desire for independence and work outside of their home. The Witch hunt was often used to intimidate women out of the workforce and keep them confined and dependent on men. By instilling a fear of these women with “powers” into society, men were able to be able to accuse women of witchcraft on often vague and elementary observations/suspicions, therefore putting them through trials in which the end result was invariably death.