Why were woman ( rather than men) most often labeled and prosecuted as witches?

Answer 1

you ever hear of a male witch, witch = female, wizard = male

Answer 2

I have read a few different hypotheses for this. One, Christianity had taken over paganism which held more equality of the sexes in terms of its religious beliefs. Paganism had women goddesses who were worshiped and women also often held powerful positions within the religions. Christianity on the other hand was strictly patriarchal. Women were seen as the root of man's downfall and banishment from the grace of God. It was also the case that the people carrying out inquisitions were men and the most easy to target people would have been women who did not have a man or family powerful enough to pay off the inquisitor or protect them from prosecution.

The second I have seen is that at the time women often held the role of healer in small villages. They used herbs and wild-crafted medicines combined with rituals that people believed helped the healing process. These rituals were often carry overs from the ancient religions and therefore, seen as heretical by the church.

Answer 3

because the bible says "thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" and from the earliest times, witches were thought to be only women. all societies then, and most still, were patriarchal, that is, controlled by men. so, knowing the power that women have over men, that being of a sexual nature, and because the people of those times were very superstitious, anything that happened that could not be explained, like why a married man was caught in bed with another woman or how a perfectly healthy individual could suddenly become ill, was blamed on witchcraft.

Answer 4

It depended actually on the region and the laws. In England when a person was deemed to be a witch the property of the deceased witch went to the state. As a result most people condemned as witches in England were poor women. On the Continent however the property went to the person charging the witch and there the witches tended to be wealthy males.

Answer 5

Because it was a woman who ate of the forbidden fruit. This meant that she was the one who allowed Satan into the world. Men were aware of "her" power over them, and it frightened them. They also thouught that Satan desired to have sex with them and father children.

Single women were suspect because people assumed a woman alone must be doing evil things. But, if you read some of the history you'll find that there were some men persecuted as well.

It was really the mentality of the time.

Answer 6

I think because in those days, men were the bread winners and women stayed at home. Idle minds are the devils playgound. Before I get a lot of thumbs down, I don't neccessarily believe that women should stay at home. Just citing history.

Answer 7

They gossip allot more than men which leads to misunderstandings and bad blood.

Many women were burned for being witches because they ticked off the wrong people.

Answer 8

Because men were the ones in power and the word of the men held more sway.

It's as simple as that. The Old Boys Club was impervious to such allegations.

Answer 9

According to the Malleus Maleficarum (The Witches Hammer), written by 2 Priests, women are weak, stupid and more willing to sleep with demons to get what they want... they are deceivers of men and if they step out of line, it should be brought to the attention of the local church so they can deal with it properly.

I'm glad I wasn't born back then. I would have been dead before puberty hit.

Answer 10

Women in ancient days were more prone to hang on to their form of Goddess worship instead of the dominant religion, Judaism. They were reluctant to give up their protecting feminine Divine in favor of a bloodthirsty male deity who did not value them. They appealed to the Goddess for protection, fertility, and wisdom.

In later centuries women who worked with herbs and medicine were also accused of witchery because they worked with things many others did not understand.

In both cases, however, women are accused by men of being weak and prone to evil because Eve was the first one to disobey. Frankly it's pretty obvious to me that it's just a method men use to attempt to control women.

Answer 11

Women weren't supposed to be smart or good at anything besides serving the man. So if a woman could heal with herbs or gained some knowledge of something the men didn't know, it could have only been because of witchcraft.