A lot of people tend to imagine that witch accusations were a constant thing, but my understanding is they follow the pattern of moral panics.

Many here may remember the satanic panic that came and went in the 80s. There was a similar panic about mods vs rockers in the uk. The red scare of mccarthyism was another. A friend of mine analyzed a 2002 flare up of anti-romany sentiment and violence in italy (maybe just rome?) which also fit. Probably pogroms against jews fit the pattern too.

Moral panics are volatile - they bloom for a time and then wither. So probably there were short term bouts where women (and rarely men) who were percieved as deviant or unwelcome were at risk of being swept up in this panic and labelled a witch. Subjects of a moral panic are believed to pose some kind of threat to society, often legitimizing them as targets of violence.