Silvia Federici
In Federici’s work “ Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation” the issue of population decline (Federici, 2004: 86) and its relation to the colonization of America led by Europeans is directly in relation to the degradation of women. During the earlier part of the 16th century, the population decline was a direct hit on the lower class wiping them out at an alarming rate. If the wealthy wished to keep profiting as they did, the sustainability of the poor lower class played a crucial role in this. However these vast deaths proved to be problematic only when affecting the higher ups ability to profit. Now this grew to become an economical issue that was a direct fault of their own capitalist influences. Instead the population decline was partially disguised as the fault of women, whom were not reproducing enough hence the decline of the population. (Federici, 2004: 86) This contributed to the degradation of women by rendering the power they have over their own bodies. A women’s ability to create life was now being deemed as rather her duty or economical requirement as a women. However, ability which renders choice seems to be implemented synonymously with obligation, leaving no room for choice. The ability to give brith was now being wrongfully exploited by a capitalist government and labeled as a reproductive machine that would help aid in the growth of the population. It is alarming that the wavering foundation for which this lie was built upon is accepted as an undisputed truth at this period in time. Its effects prove to be detrimental in relation to the degradation of women by having to relinquishing the rights one posses over their own body. These laws were being implemented in a matter or life or death and were a sole attack on the female sex for two reasons. The first being that women have the ability to create a human being as men do not have that same ability. Secondly, the ruling capitalists were using women’s ability to procreate as a means to fix a problem created by them in the first place. It was not the wombs that created the problem, it was simply used as a mechanism in which to fix it. As well as being an attack on women it was also a demonstration of power. This blame was so easily adopted by society at this time because women lacked economical power in the work force and were inherently viewed as powerless beings that withstood animal like treatment.
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