Why Witches Are Women

Analyses concerning the gender of the witches in Europe in the 15th-18th centuries show an unanimous female dominance. According to European statistics - as much as it can be reconstructed from the records of the trials - the percentage of men accused of witchcraft was 80-85%. The question “why witches are women” cannot be answered with a simple explanation based on a single factor. The witch-accusations were not homogeneous at all, and, what is more, the concept of the witch was made up of several components in the background of the different witch-types. There are many kinds of social conflicts and ideological clashes acting as factors inducing witch-accusations. These factors emphasize the female side of the witch-stereotype and increase the number of female reputed witches. Thus, in connection with the different types of Early Modern rural witchcraft, the answer to our question is briefly the following: the majority of the witches was woman because the majority of the accusations was based on conflict...