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Assignment #2 Federici

Women in historical times often held the lowest ranking in societies. Their purpose in life was to cater to a man’s needs and to raise children. In Silvia Federici’s work she discusses the degradation of women and certain events that led to the demise of women. In Federici’s work she discusses how Karl Marx capitalism introduced the concept of primitive accumulation which discusses how class distinctions often determined who made the money in society. Women were often seen as the sufferers of this because they often relied on their husband for financial support and this would lead to their rights being taken away from them since they did not contribute anything to the economy. Women as of now in many areas of the world currently work inside the house which often lead to the husbands having full control over all of the decision making in the family. In past events, Federici discusses how land privatization held women back and prevented them from making any type of impact on society. She discusses how all the land were currently being given to the males and how women were a part of the peasant community and would rely on the commons for their freedom and livelihood. The degeneration continued when textile workers particularly women were having their wages lowered and their hours increased due to land expropriation. Most women would rather be enslaved than work for a wage. They often turned to becoming nomadic or even vagabonds to survive. The expropriation of land led to women fending for themselves and it often led to high unemployment rates for women and it would often put more power into the hands of males because they knew they could do whatever they wanted with their wives because of how dependent they were on them.