The Impact of Patriarchy on Witchcraft - Essay Example

The Impact of Patriarchy on Witchcraft Introduction Gender plays a significant role in regard to the social construction of witchcraft in the history of Early-Modern Europe and other parts of the world such as, Sub-Saharan Africa. Most cases related to witchcraft, often targets women than men, suspected of witchcraft. This target is mostly influenced by the views that women hold in the society. Their views mainly focuses on their roles, vulnerabilities and the inferior treatment in a society dominated by men. In different societies, women also subscribed to a stricter view concerning sin and this contributes to most women confessing of being witches (McDowell & Pringle 1992, p.45). In terms of understanding how witchcraft is constructed, patriarchy as a gender theory helps to shade light on why witchcraft is gender specific in different societies across the world. In essence, this paper explores the impact of patriarchy in the social construction of witchcraft across Women as target of witchcraft accusation in the Early-Modern Europe During this era, women fell prey to accusations of witchcraft because of their responsibilities that revolved around ensuring the community’s survival. In this sense, their roles involved midwifery taking care of the livestock and preparing meals. The belief systems during this period, and in regard to witchcraft is that, witches had the power to control people’s health and life respectively. In the society then, a role that involved taking care of other people’s health was risky in the sense that, anything could go wrong, and as such, the blame often shifted to women responsible for taking care of the sick. The jobs that were a preserve for women such as midwifery meant that if anything went wrong, women became an easy target for witch hunt. On the other hand, during this period, the Puritans had established a belief system that sexual transgressions resulted in satanic acts. In this view, the men were Satan’s imp and, therefore, any sexual transgression with men amounted to a woman surrendering her body to the devil. This further exacerbated the idea of targeting women as witches (Wiesner 1993, p.53). On the contrary, men during this period, were not subjected to witch hunts because, their body was regarded as impregnable to Satan’s attacks. In addition, gender specific construction of witchcraft that mainly targeted women revolved around the idea that the soul of a witchcraft is feminine. To further set men free from witchcraft, Puritans believed that since men were created stronger than their female counterparts were, they are less susceptible to the devil’s attack (Easlea 1981, p.23). The devil’s attack in this sense means becoming a witch. As a weaker sex, females were seen to be an easy target for the devil, and both their moral and spiritual values were viewed to be vulnerable. This meant that it was easier for the devil to possess women’s soul compared to men. Possessing masculine features by a woman in this society then, attracted a negative perception from the public (Wiesner 1993, p.77). In a patriarchal society, the social construction of women involved submissiveness to the male gender who was seen as the ultimate authority of the household. As such, a woman viewed then as a self-sufficient, attracted suspicion from the public and this placed most women at the risk of being accused of witchcraft (Trudgill 1976, p.115). In addition, since the life expectancy of women in this era improved, older women had no identified role in the society. As such, most witchcraft accusations, targeted the older women. To make matters worse for the older women, most of them were widows and this meant they were not under the protection of their husbands (Lees 1983, p.52). On another note, because some of these widows inherited large fortunes from their husbands, this posed a threat in a patriarchal society, and labelling of women as witches. Further, as a result of women being perceived as a vulnerable gender to evil attacks, they often confused sin with witchcraft. On the contrary, men believed that a sin only affected their soul and this could be resolved by repenting. The tendency of confusing sin with witchcraft contributed to women accusing other women of the vice. This led to a situation where most women accused of witchcraft ended up confessing transgressions that they did not commit. While confessing, women were taken at their word, but men who confessed were in most cases, ignored and seen as liars (Larner 1984, p.125). Women as target of witchcraft accusation in Sub-Saharan Africa Witchcraft in the Sub-Saharan Africa is associated with sorcery, magic, curses and evil spirits. Similar to the European context, women are also a target when it comes to accusations of witchcraft. This is because of a belief system that suggests the passage of witch powers from mothers to their daughters. Other cultures believe witch powers are passed to children when they are breastfed. Associating witchcraft to women in Sub-Saharan Africa further relates to the perception that women belong to a weaker sex and are more vulnerable as carriers of the vice. In addition, those who are normally trained to practice this behaviour are normally married women. Their training according to most African customs is normally conducted by the mothers- in-law. As a result, mothers-in-law in such societies are normally the target of witchcraft accusation because of jealousy that may exist between them and their daughters-in-law (Douglas 1977, p.36). The middle aged and elderly women are more exposed to accusations because of their physical features that include dropping breast or wrinkled skin. On the other hand, since HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa has led to a high mortality rate among the young people, the older women are left to provide care to children orphaned because of HIV/AIDS. However, these elderly women are often treated as suspects of witchcraft practices. This makes them vulnerable for blame in case of unforeseen problems that may befall their grandchildren. While men also practice witchcraft in Sub-Saharan Africa, their accusation is often subdued compared to women. This is because most of these cultures embrace patriarchy (Meyer 1999, p.17). Feminisation of Witchcraft Gender plays an important role in understanding witchcraft and the social construction of women as witches. This mainly results from a misogyny of women in the society. In essence, patriarchy creates divisiveness among women. Further, patriarchy plays a role in influencing women to conform to patriarchal norms, and this lead to women accusing each other as a way of strengthening their precarious position in a patriarchal society. On another note, patriarchy also plays a role in influencing the change of oppressive patterns inflicted on women in the society. In the Western culture, religion played a part in demonizing women as witches because of a weaker body and mind compared to men. Men mostly persecuted women to gain influence and status that were dictated by contemporary ideals related to masculinity (Hester 1992, p.108). In the Early Modern Europe, the Catholic Church engaged in eradicating cults that worshipped pagan female priestesses; however, people still believed in their powers. This also contributes to the trend where women are associated with witchcraft. Through oral tradition, it is also believed that women passed their prowess in healing, midwifery and incantations to other women as a way of promoting female knowledge. While passing this knowledge, women did not consider themselves as witches, but ended up being viewed as such. As a result of the domination by the Catholic Church in the Early Modern Europe, it established social, political, family hierarchy and state structures. As such, any behaviour that was against the Catholic doctrines, amounted to subversion and was punishable. Among the subversion, included witchcraft, and those accused were viewed as heretics and traitors to God (Obelkevich et al. 1987, p.114). Witchcraft further appears to be gender specific as a result of the beliefs embraced in the Early Modern Europe. An example of such belief system included branding women as sexually provocative. This notion contributed to the increased accusation of women as witches during this era. Women were further seen as followers of Satan and possessed the ability to disrupt men’s faith to God. An example used by religious affiliations then was the blame placed on Eve as being responsible for men’s shortfalls in life. As a result of male dominance in the society, women were often viewed in a negative light and as such, any horrible act in the society was associated with the female gender. In essence, their reputation in the society was often tarnished by their male counterparts. On the other hand, the male gender in the Early Modern Europe escaped witchcraft accusations because of a tendency to regard witchcraft as a woman’s nature. Witchcraft during this period was seen as a feminine activity. This is because witchcraft did not require intellectualism in terms of submitting to Satan, other than the willing body. Because men were seen as intellectuals compared to women, they were mainly associated with necromancy. Since both gender were involved in witchcraft, necromancy elevated men from accusation because it required skills compared to women who only needed to submit to Satan. In addition, women’s ability in the society was ignored and more focus revolved around the negativities that were used to demean women (O’Faolain & Martines 1973, p.98). The tendency of demeaning women around the 17th century Europe, was further extended to women professions. This made sure that a woman’s voice was unheard in the societal setting. For example, in a profession such as midwifery, women suffered accusations related to witchcraft. The midwives in Early Modern Europe, were often accused of using spells or charm to help women who were in labour. In one example, midwives in England during this period, were forced to take an oath not to engage in the use of charms or sorcery. This is a clear indication that the patriarchy society of that era embraced a tendency of associating women with evil practices (Underdown 1987, p.156). Among cultures in Africa, witch hunt often begin by accusations that children are being taught witchcraft by the old women in the community. In addition, most cultures in Africa, often associate witchcraft with problems existing in the community. Witchcraft is often seen as the cause of diseases, misfortunes and deaths occurring in the community (Meyer 1999, p.15). The practice of exorcism by the Catholic Church also plays a role in increasing accusations of witchcraft among various African societies. Before the advent of Christianity in Africa, most communities relied on witchcraft to solve most of the problems befalling the society. Similar to the Early Modern Europe, men in African cultures, also embrace patriarchy. As such, any woman seen as wielding power is considered as a threat to the male dominance. Consequently, men are forced to resort to witch-hunt as a way of asserting their dominance in the society. In Africa, elderly women are more susceptible to witchcraft accusations since; this practice in Africa is considered a preserve of the elderly women (Geschiere 1997, p.252). Further, the accusation of women as witchcraft in most African cultures revolves around an attempt to control the behaviour of women. This is because, culture shifts seems to give women more independence, and traditional beliefs that restricted women to the home are changing rapidly. This is a shift that men are not ready to accept because of viewing women as a threat to their status in the society. Women are often subjected to submissive tendencies, but as a result of affirmative action, women in Africa are now asserting themselves in a society dominated by men. On the other hand, men use witchcraft as a rationale to target the quest for independence by women in most African societies. As such, dwelling on negative accusations, is a tactic that provides men with an upper hand in suppressing the emergence of independent women in the society. The men are convinced that, by suppressing the rise of women in the society will cut on most of the privileges they enjoy. Where men are afraid of women dominance, accusations of witchcraft is often used by men in some African cultures to throw women out of their homes. This leaves women worthless and unable to fight back against the dominance by men in the society. In both European and African context, women were the major target for witchcraft accusations because of gender differentiation (Merchant 1982, p.81). Conclusion Patriarchy as a way of establishing dominance in the society by the male gender has an influence on the social ills committed against women. This includes associating women with anti-social practices such as witchcraft. In addition, patriarchy plays a role in maintaining the status quo where women are not given the independence to compete at the same level with the male gender. The notion of viewing women as the weaker sex leads to a tendency of associating women with evil practices. This is made worse by religion that sees women as the gender that needs salvation against attacks by the devil (Monter 1977, p.28). Since women are known to internalize what the church minister preaches, it is possible for women to confuse other sins with witchcraft. As such, they are manipulated in making confessions for transgressions that they did not commit. On the other hand, men are depicted as strong in terms of their faith to God and not easily persuaded to submit to Satan. As such, there is a tendency to accuse women of the shortcomings in the society. In essence, witchcraft result from the social construction whereby the men believe that witchcraft is feminine and as such, most witch hunts in the society target women. References Douglas, M 1977, “Introduction: Thirty Years after Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic.” In Witchcraft Confessions and Accusations, edited by Mary Douglas, Tavistock, London. Easlea, B 1981, Science and Sexual Oppression. Wenderfeld & Nicholson, London. Charlottesville & London. Geschiere, P. 1997, The Modernity of Witchcraft, University Press of Virginia, Virginia. Hester, M 1992, Lewd Women and Wicked Witches: A Study of the Dynamics of Male Domination, Routledge, London. Larner, C.1984, “Was Witch Hunting Woman Hunting?” In: C, Larner (ed) Witchcraft and Religion, Blackwell, Oxford. Lees, S 1983, “How boys slag off girls”, New Society, 13 October, 1983, Routledge, London. 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