I’ve already described some of the outstanding qualities of Margaret Atwood’s oeuvre: ingenious satire and social insight along with well developed characters and plots.
In "The
Handmaid’s Tale" the United States of America is taken over by fundamentalist
Christians. Under the new regime women are not allowed to read, work or think.
They are only expected to obey the rules that powerful men
create. Women are forced to reproduce. The dissidents are severely punished.
As part of this regime there is an underworld in which rich privileged men use women as
a source of entertainment. When a woman is raped they say that she deserves it; it is God's plan. Margaret Atwood wrote this book in the 1980s, yet it
appears to be of relevance today.
White women
in America earn 75 % of what white men make; African American women make 63 %,
even with the same level of education and experience; Latina women only make
54% of what white males earn. These figures show clearly that gender and ethnic
discrimination go hand in hand.
We all deserve the same respect, dignity and consideration. (And, by the way, if you don't like to hear a woman yelling, then don't excuse a man for doing so, even if he is white and American).
We all deserve the same respect, dignity and consideration. (And, by the way, if you don't like to hear a woman yelling, then don't excuse a man for doing so, even if he is white and American).
If you want
to understand how unconscious and conscious biases determine the way women are
judged and treated differently I recommend the well researched book by
Iris Bohnet: “What Works: gender equality by design.” In addition to exploring the complexity and consequences of these biases through concrete examples, she proposes
solutions to this important issue.
