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Assignment 2 – Shaikhah Alhomaizi

In “The Accumulation of Labor and the Degradation of Women,”, Silvia Federici starts off by introducing the history of the labor force and its association with slavery. She compares the exploitation found in the labor force to the exploitation found in slavery. Federici gave us an overview of the work-force in Europe during the 1500’s-1900’s and was able to demonstrate to us how the events of that time lead to the degradation of women. For example, between the 16^th-17^th century, women lost their job opportunities and were forced to procreate. Laws and policies endorsed this and anyone who went against it was punished. Women’s bodies became more of a public territory than a personal one. Thus women were reduced to objects rather than humans, degrading their status. Moreover, at the start of land privatization in Europe in the late 1500’s, women still maintained some jobs, but due to the unequal pay they were unable to support themselves. This situation led to women being dependent on men, reinforcing the male dominant hierarchy. As more and more policies and obstacles were put, women started losing further opportunities to work.

In my opinion, much like Davis, Federici is showing us how women were oppressed and unfairly treated through institutional forces, such as policies. From the many events given to us in this chapter, as well as from the reading last week, it appears to me that oppressive policies, such as not allowing minorities to vote or not allowing women to own property, are in put in place to keep the power with the controlling group (men). White men’s (those who were in leadership positions) desire for power led them to mistreat women, much like their mistreatment of minority racial groups. Therefore, the more restrictions they place on other members of society (women, racial minorities, etc.), the more they can keep absolute power for a longer time and stop the other groups from gaining any power in society or government.