The infamous Great Witch Hunt is usually met with various interpretations, most of which are gender-based. A witch-hunt is a process that involves the search for witches proving their witchcraft. In the past, this process was often authorized and it was accompanied by official formal trials that were common in Early Modern Europe. However, the most significant areas where witch-hunting was mostly spread are southern and central Germany. At first, the witch hunts were more common in Switzerland and also in France in the fifteenth and fourteenth centuries. Historians say that the hunts were most frequent around the mid-sixteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century. The typical era of a witch hunt in North America and Europe falls into the Early Modern Era, which spans between the turmoil of the Reformation and the 30 year war. Most people are unanimous about the fact that the result of this process is the execution of thousands of people. The witch craze stretched across all Europe and to a majority of its colonies, in general. This essay will discuss the extent to which gender-based interpretations of the witch craze explain the persecutions that occurred throughout Europe and its colonies from the 1400s to late 17th century.
Most authors argued that women were more likely to fall into the devil’s temptations. Using this argument they convicted women underlying the fact that women would most likely become witches. Some of the witches hunt targeted only women. Most people today view this event and such an attitude as malicious because the majority of Christians view every member of their congregation as having equal spiritual abilities regardless of their gender. Such an abusive view in regards to women can, therefore, only be seen as ignorant and primitive.
The reason why women were largely targeted could be due to the fact that society was dominated by males at that time. Women were not allowed to take part in the judicial process except for the cases when they were witnesses or victims. There was an incident in Massachusetts, America which is being actively discussed nowadays though it occurred about half a century before the Salem trials. The story goes like this, a wife and a husband are said to have accused each other of witchcraft. Both are found innocent of practising witchcraft, but, this was the wife who is found guilty of killing her son and is sentenced to hanging. Most people doubted the credibility of the trial due to the way witch trials used to be conducted taking into the account the fact that gender bias was common during such trials, where the ratio of men to women found guilty of witchcraft in New England was always higher than that of men.
Some witch hunts currently taking place in sub-Saharan Africa can also be used to give an insight on how grave the witch craze in Europe used to be in the past. Specialists referred witch-finders to the ones, who identify suspects being often killed by the mob. This happens episodically as a result of people’s terror of witches. Incidents that involved executing of children were once reported in Tanzania. Females whose eyes are red were said to be witches as well. Most of the cases were later seen as invented stories by the accused relatives who were believed to be seeking the property from the accused victims.
Some cases in India have also made people interpret the witch hunt of Europe and its colonies on gender basis. In some societies, men accuse women of witchcraft in an attempt to acquire their property, revenge or even chastise them for turning down their sexual molestation. It is very difficult for women to find help in such societies, so they are in most cases forced to commit suicide. Documentation of such cases is hardly done due to the high levels of poverty and illiteracy. Women in most cases do not know the procedures of filing police reports. Most people believe that this could be the case in Europe since most women of that time were illiterate. It is estimated that about two hundred witches die every year in India, and that very few of those accused are convicted. This could be due to the corrupt and already biased nature of the judiciary system. These killings are mostly common in the poor states of India, for instance, the northern states.
Most historians have also supported the view strongly held by the witch hunters that the majority of the witches were women emphasizing the fact that women could not withstand the torture that was employed during interrogations. Different acts of torment were used to force confessions out of the accused so that they could name their co-conspirators. It goes without saying that under such conditions, these women could not but name their fellow women as their co-conspirators. When the Pope affirmed witchcraft to be “crimen septum”, the torture of witches started to grow in its numbers. This declaration legalized torture, as a result, evidence was harder to find. Together with the publication of Malleus Maleficarum, this declaration is believed to have led to a surge of thousands witches’ deaths which were part and parcel during the torture.
For example, in Italy, some of the torture techniques involved depriving the accused of sleep for a certain period of time. Such torture was also used in Britain, but there was no strict limit of time. What is more, women could get sexually humiliated in the process of sleep abuse. They were forced to sit on scorching hot surfaces for them to no longer get involved in performing sexual acts with the devil. There were other primitive methods used to determine whether a person was a witch or not, in other words, they were searching for proofs. The witches were specifically hunted, and if birthmarks were found on their bodies, they would be accused and declared guilty of practising witchcraft.
As it has been mentioned, women were accused during the witch craze. Some people claim that there were ten thousand accused females. A host of chauvinistic explanations were given to back this fact. Some feminists later claimed that the words “witch” and “woman” were practically tantamount and that the deaths were caused by Europe’s male sexism movement.
However, there are some different data that highlight the fact that in reality there was a relatively similar number of women and men found accused of witchcraft across most parts of Europe. The figures in Iceland were found to be completely opposite to those that were recorded in the rest of Europe, that is, the number of accused men was larger than that of women.
People that theorized the misogyny theory did not take different cases into account and did not include male witches. One a very good example is Barstow’s Witch Craze where the author claims that Iceland’s witch-hunt was not real. Barstow, however, fails to explain her claim. Why does she claim that the hunt in Iceland was “unreal”? This question makes most historians challenge the credibility of her work. She did not mind to find out why the number of deaths among men was higher in Iceland. This can only be regarded as an example of gender bias. Basing the argument on male chauvinism at that time, one can conclude that it was not difficult to find outrageously chauvinistic trials.
In communities where belief in witchcraft remains predominant up to date, the hunts still occur, which is especially common in the Sub- Saharan Africa where incidences of lynching are still common. This is also common in Northern India and New Guinea. Laws against witchcraft have been made in some of the countries. Witchcraft is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is becoming notorious with incidences of witch craze. The greatest number of victims remains women in this country. This could also be due to the fact that the majority of the population in this country are Muslims who have regard it as not important to provide their female children with education. The women are, therefore, unable to fight for their rights because most of them do not know their rights and freedoms. It is the issue that can be seen to have a direct correlation with what is thought to have been the cause of the women genocide during the Great Witch Hunt in Europe and its colonies.
It is a criminal offense to practice witchcraft in Saudi Arabia. This legislation is not clearly defined, and is in many cases, abused by people who practice law so that it can match their interests. The person who fall victim of such abuse is the accused who in most cases ends up being declared guilty. It is not clear precisely how many of such prosecutions take place in this country, but it was reported that in the year 2009 about one hundred and eighteen people had been arrested in some province and prosecuted for practicing witchcraft and using the Koran in a derogatory manner. The majority of them were women.
According to Witch Nest, women were regarded as impediments to true spirituality and union with God, which helps one to explain why historians focused on women more than men. For a long time, the church had been prejudicing against female. This became even more severe when the concept of the devil worship was being propagated. It was stressed that it was foul that the church had to confront. Elite persecutors and even judges persistently hunted witches. Most of these people are believed to have been pursuing political power. They committed atrocious acts in their quest to punish the witches. They believed that magic went against all the key values of the society, and that they did not honour the godly order. They also considered that it contested the leadership that was mostly seen as God given. People held an unintelligent belief that witch craze saved them and averted God’s anger by getting rid of evil as the end of the world was approaching. Most people held the unpopular belief that witch hunting would free the society of sins and evil as the end of the world drew closer. Even today, some still believe in it which is evident when the women are denied their positions of power and responsibility meaning that the society is still chauvinistic.
The Americas were also affected by the witch craze. This happened due to the fact that they were colonised by Europe. So, in, other words, the witch trials are viewed as examples of what can happen if the society fails to guard its values. This is an example of what would occur if ignorant people were allowed to come in as leaders in the society. According to Witch Nest, the witch hunts in America began when a group of girls were reckoned to get demonized after they had visited a slave woman. As a result, they were accused of practicing witchcraft and, consequently, they were persecuted. This instigated many other events and deaths that followed.
From the above facts, it can be summarized that the events that occurred during the so called witch hunt in Europe and its colonies happened mainly due to the gender bias and narrow self-interests by a few people who wanted to cling to power. Women were highly victimized by the male witch hunts, who were willing to fulfil their narrow self interests as it was later discovered. They did all this in an attempt to be socially and morally upright people who wanted the best for the church and the society at large. Traditional and often religious values were compromised in the process. It was very hard for any person that was accused especially women to be acquitted of their charges because the society was urged to see witches as people who did not deserve the right to live. It emphasizes the need for the society to keep vigilance of its values to avoid falling prey to malicious deeds by some people with narrow self-interests.