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How Modern Society relates to The Handmaids Tale (Womens Access to…
How Modern Society relates to The Handmaids Tale
Womens Access to Education
One of the biggest problems in The Handmaid's Tale is the lack of education females are given. The ideas and characters accurately show what happens when a large group of people are not educated or even taught the basic skills of communication.
Sadly this can be connected to real world problems, if we look at Pakistan with their Gender gap in literacy. In 2012 the Taliban had a large amount of power in Pakistan and with this power they threatened women with weapons to stop them from getting they're education as they thought school should only be for men.
But despite the odds some women still defied the government and went on to become educated. Malala Yousafzai at the time a young girl was shot in the head by Taliban gunman, her "crime" was speaking up for the rights of girls to be educated.
Malala and Moira are both independent, unafraid, nonconformist women that don't hesitate to stand for something they believe in
Despite being shot Malala made a full recovery and with time became a shining light for girls in Pakistan to look up to and feel empowered
Turkmenistan - Censorship
Propaganda is prominent throughout The Handmaids Tale, for example on the TV campaigns where they show footage of victories and never defeats to keep public morale up, because "who wants bad news?" On the television, in The Handmaids Tale, the only thing we see is selective news that only shows what the government wants them to see.
We can see things very similar to this from what is going on in other countries around the world, as country's like China and Turkmenistan band the use of the word "Coronavirus".
As these country's try to silence the words "Corona virus", they are essentially attempting to stifle the truth from their population. They are limiting the flow of information as a way to control the population in this case to keep them calm.
North Korea - Freedom
In The Handmaids Tale, even the powerful live very restricted lives. from handmaids who are restricted to their rooms, to the commanders who have rules and boundaries to follow. Everyone in this society is restricted to certain standards, some are given hardly any freedom. Handmaids are even forced to give birth to children they don't even keep and fathered by men they barely know. If they rebel they know there will be a punishment but not what it is.
This is similar to what has been going on in the eastern side of the world with country's like China and North Korea as they use very similar tactics, in which they control their population using the threat of punishment even though the people don't know what the punishment is they still fear it.
Sources say that breaking the rules result in jail, torture, and even the death penalty. Its also worth noting in North Korea there are strict punishments to specific crimes for instance if you successfully escape your family and friends will be tortured and killed until you return.
We can relate this amount of government control right back to the handmaids tale as almost everyone conforms in fear of punishment from the government.
Victim Blaming and lack of support
Offred and the rest of the Handmaids have to testify about their past lives. Janine Testifies that she was gang raped at 14 years old. After she finishes telling her story the handmaids chant "it was Janine's fault because she led them on" after this Janine cry's and instead of anyone supporting her they call her a cry baby.
In this society women are taught its always their fault and to not support each other. This can not only be mentally scaring but also hugely effect what the Handmaid will share from then on.
In today's society we still have these problems, even though things have slightly improved with the #METOO movement we still get cases like Hannah Price.
Hannah Price who was raped, she let him in for a glass of water after he had walked her home. Then he demanded to go to the bedroom Hannah instantly said no to which he stated "Why would you let me in if you didn't want something to happen?"
"There would also be the embarrassment and fear of being shamed and the added doubt that our mutual friends might not even believe me, and accuse me of ruining someone's life." Hannah states multiple times in her article that she was afraid of being blamed for something that she had no control over.
Hannah lacked the support she could have desperately used when this happened saying "There was no-one I felt I could turn to at the university. I worried that what happened wasn't "serious enough" to be believed or taken seriously." sadly Hannah isn't the only one who feels this way as thousands have come across the same problem when trying to speak their truth.
