The Caliban and The Witch: Silvia Frederici
Silvia Frederici analyses the development of a capitalist economy in a different way that Marx did. Marx explains in a logical and historical way the development of capitalism through his concept “primitive accumulation” which is all about expropriation of land from peasantry, exploitation of slaves, the looting in the East Indies which all of it lead to the accumulation of labor never seen in other times . However, he fails to analyze the prominent role of women in the 16 and 17 centuries during capitalism. Frederici argues that land privatization and the price of revolution were not enough to reach the proletarianization, but the degradation of women’s power.
With the expropriation of land women where the ones who suffered the most because since they had no source to work and make money, it was so hard for them to support themselves. “Women’s labor” or reproductive labor continued to be paid but decreased significantly, so it was nothing compare to men’s wage. As a result women become depended on men, and it allowed the state to make an accumulation of capital out of the unpaid women’s labor.
After the general crisis in the 16 and 17 centuries where millions of people died for hunger, reproduction and population growth became an important topic to gain European power again, so the state have total control over women’s bodies. Through the witch-hunt women were not allowed to take any birth control or anything that prevents reproduction. New severe penalties and punishment were imposed for women agains contraception, abortion and infanticide. In fact, in France every woman who became pregnant had to register her pregnancy. If the child died before baptism, the mother was sentence to death whether guilty or not. Consequently, it was a time of terror for women and midwives who were soon replaced by doctor because they were incompetent in the labor room and furthermore “complicit” of the crimes. And therefore male doctors became to be seen as the true givers of life. Women’s wombs were territory of the state at the service of capitalist accumulation (89) , working with their bodies as machines for the reproduction of population and obviously workers for their labor.
Even for proletarian women it was difficult to find work, even simple work. They could just “work” at home, which was not considered even work, but domestic tasks or housekeeping whereas if a man would the same word it was considered productive. So the only career women could do was marriage. All of this injustices made women unable to support themselves, which leaded them to prostitution the only way to subsidize. Frederici talks about this degradation of women’s work force.
