50th Anniversary
of the Repeal of the Witchcraft Acts
1951 to 2001

The last piece of legislation prohibiting the practice of witchcraft in England was repealed (ended) in the summer 1951. Why is this item of news considered significant enough to give it space fifty years later? Because the act and its predecessors represented a licence for legalised gender oppression.

Witch hunts were not limited to England Records from across the world show that from early times accusations of witchcraft have been followed by interrogation and in many cases execution for large numbers of people. In ancient Rome, in one investigation, three thousand individuals were put to death. Estimates of the numbers put to death in Europe vary. Verifiable records prove that between 1428 and 1782 at least 50,000 people were executed for witchcraft. These records relate however only to those trials for which modern records exist. Other evidence suggests a great many informal or unrecorded investigations or trials took place. Taking estimates of these unverifiable cases into account, some researchers place the total number of deaths into the millions. This does not reveal of the number of people who fled their homes in the face of persecution or faced other social or economic disadvantage resulting from it. In many European countries's torture of suspected witches was a part of the legal process. Although in England such actions were formally illegal, there practice seems undeniable. Ducking stools, pricking and lengthy integration were common.

Women were not the only victims of the witch-hunts; men were both accused and executed. However over 90 percent of those accused were women. When men were accused it was usually along with a group of women. Conviction records show that although women of all classes were accused, wealthy women were often able to buy their lives and or freedom, while peasant women could not.

Does this information only teach us lessons about our history or also our present? The last women to be convicted (and jailed) for witchcraft in England was sentenced during the Second World War, well within living memory. The persecution of witches may have been officially outlawed in England but in many parts of the world (The Indian Sub-continent, South Africa, Cameroon, ETC) it is still common practice.

The people accused of witchcraft historically and currently are those who are most vulnerable. Often they are widows or spinsters, women who are not under the control of a man. Often these women hold property which other people desire, and have not responded to requests to pass it on to male relatives. In some cultures the responsibility for punishing the accused falls to younger male family members. This has lead in some cases to family tragedies.

So do you know any witches? I grew up in a Black Country community were this term was still used to label and ostracise local women. It is said half in jest, as away to convince children to stay close to home 'if you go down there she'll get you'. No harm done then if it's all in fun. The particular woman I am referring to here is an elderly widow, who dresses out of keeping with her peers and wears her hair long and keeps to herself. She has been subjected (to my knowledge) to thirty years of harassment and verbal abuse by local children, condoned by the silence of their parents. She is not alone in this, many other examples could be sighted. Not so long ago she would have risked more than verbal abuse!

The message this sends to women is; conform or be punished. It also demonstrates a fear of the natural power of women when they are not constrained by male authority. Doesn't this sound familiar? Some women today adopt the title witch to identify themselves as powerful independent, individual women. This title is also taken by many who practice pagan religions in England today, partly as a link to learn from our past and partly to reclaim this term for the future.