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Assignment 02

In Caliban and the Witch: Women, The Body and Primitive Accumulation Silvia Federici portrays the oppression of women in relation to economic and social changes. Federici references an event known as Kett’s Rebellion, which plays an important role in discussing how women came together to revolt against these changes and later became demeaned for their actions. Kett’s Rebellion occurred in response to the beginning stages of land privatization and directly correlates with the ongoing degradation of women during the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. Kett’s Rebellion sprouted due to the belief that “common” land could not be privately owned and maintained by the wealthy for profit. It was during the 1500s that Kett and his followers were able to successfully revolutionize against their government using warfare and other non-violent forms of protest. This includes a program constructed by Kett himself to eliminate the abuse of private common land ownership (Federici 83). Though the rebellion itself had later failed and discontinued, its influences did not. This was observed throughout the following years, after land privatization once again became a forthcoming threat to society.

The penalties that followers of the anti-enclosure movement faced due to Kett’s Rebellion and the emergence of a capitalist society imposed degradation on women after the 1500s. Women were subjected to the consequences of capitalization the most, seeing as how they had been forced to rely on their male counterparts for freedoms and support for most of their history. The common lands were once a place where women were free to embrace their ideas and such. But even that liberty was slowly being striped from them. It was women who became unable to support themselves because of their inability to become migrant workers, insufficient wages, and a lack of opprotunity. Instead, they experienced many limitations when it came to what type of work they were able to perform. In some cases, women supported the military by becoming cooks, washers, wives, and even prostitutes. Not a single woman was granted a combat position, let alone even permitted near the battlefield. All these restrictions and forms of economic and social control go on to prove that women faced the greatest loss of dignity.