å Tuesday, September 12th, 2017

In “The Accumulation of Labor and the Degradation of Women”, Federici explores various events in which women are undervalued due to the economic interests of a nation. During the end of the middle ages and feudalism various manifestations were made to solve the steady state of economy. New strategies were developed such as privatization of land, wage competition and changes in prices to generate income. However, women struggled to have a position among the new developing system of capitalism. Federici explains that women were paid half of the wage of men. The limited amount of money they received was not enough for them to sustain their children or even themselves since prices were also rising. Consequently, they started to face starvation while the nation was more interested in importing and exporting goods to gain more profit. In addition, population began to decline but the labor force needed population to grow instead to acquire wealth. Federici argues that women were used as instruments for reproduction and on top of that they became criminals if they were to terminate their pregnancies by any cause. These events demonstrates the “degradation of women” because women were manipulated, invisible and worthless in the expansion of capitalism. Women did not have any control over their bodies or behavior. Women were meant to do domestic labor and help their husbands but their labor was underestimated because it was not productive for the nation. Regardless of their opposition towards the system overtime they continued to experience enslavement but just in different forms. Federici describe how a similar treatment towards women was repeated during the slave-trade period in relation to procreation to increase work force but she also described the wide distinction between the two. But this comparison showed how previous events marked the displacement of women among a society. These issues faced by women are still present nowadays in many places because there is a division between gender.