Theme Of Women In The Handmaid's Tale

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Throughout history women have achieved more political and human rights. In many societies around the world today women are discriminated against and are not equal to mean. Feminism is not a concept that is often present in dysfunctional societies. In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, a group of fertile women, known as handmaids, are assigned to a married couple and told that they must produce a child. The article titled “The feminist cupcake sale that led to death and rape threats” written by Madeline Price, depicts the events that took place at a university in Australia. The students who organized the bake sale wanted to educate their peers about the wage gap by making men pay one dollar for every baked good, while allowing …show more content…

In the The Handmaid’s Tale women are put at a lower standard than men. Women are given jobs such as kitchen servants, known as Marthas, or Handmaids. Women are shown as a possession to men when they are referred to as “their blue Wives and white-veiled daughters.’’ Further more, calling them “their dumpy green Marthas and their red Handmaids” showcases their inability to escape this life because they are women (Atwood 27). The repetition of the word “their” highlights that women are possessions of the men in this world. This ultimately leads to women rebelling or even committing suicide to be freed from this patriarchal society. Men in the novel are able to read, write and hold good jobs, whereas women are not given such privileges. One night when the Commander begins reading from the bible, the narrator explains that women “can be read to from it, by him, but we cannot read” indicating that men are clearly above women in society (Atwood 108). This causes women to secretly go against the government to feel as if they are still in control of their own lives, this ultimately leads to a broken nation. The article shows that gender inequality is a major issue in today’s society by educating people of the wage gap between men and women. The students had prices for different situations, “for example, for a woman of colour in the legal profession, a baked good at the stall would only cost you 55 cents” (Price). This bake sale shows that women are still seen as far less than a man, 45 percent less. In the film however, men and women are seen as equals. Men and women in this community are both able to hold positions of power. This is clear when a woman is introduced as the Chief Elder, the leader of this community. By having a woman in this position with power shows that this community believes that there is not a

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