What explains the predominance of women among those accused of witchcraft in europe and north america in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?

Poverty and miserable people were often widows and spinster

Stigmatization against the poor widows and spinsters was the main source of predominance of women among those who were accused of witchcraft. in such a patriarchal society where women did not have legal rights to own property, poverty was inevitable for several women. The accusers argued that the women were revenging against them for being rich.