The Handmaid's Tale - Women's Rights

AO2, AO3 and AO5

Finish the quote:

“She doesn’t make speeches anymore…

She has become speechless.”

Finish the quote:

“We are fascinated, but also repelled…

They seem undressed.”

Finish the quote:

“Her fault, her fault,…

her fault, we chant in unison.”

Finish the quote:

“We are containers…

,it’s only the insides of our bodies that are important.”

Finish the quote:

“You wanted a women’s culture…

Well, now there is one. It isn’t what you meant, but it exists”

Finish critic Stokwisz’s statement in regards to women’s rights:

“Offred's mother emphasises the dangers of…

passivity and women who take no interest in women's rights and suffer the results later.”

Finish critic Murr’s statement in regards to women’s rights:

“Undoubtedly, Atwood does justice to the gender debate by…

encouraging the reader's 'questions', creating a conflict of narrative which demands our thought.”

Finish critic Howell’s statement in regards to women’s rights:

“Atwood’s feminist concerns are plain here but so too are…

Her concern for basic human rights”

What context could be used to support this?

Iran, the fall of the Shah and rise of Islamic fundamentalism.

What happened in regards to Iran, the fall of the Shah and rise of Islamic fundamentalism that links to women’s rights?

Ayatollah Khomeini’s vision for Iran in 1979 was a return to conservative Islamic values, involving a radical reinterpretation of Islamic social guidelines and a regression to religious standards practiced over a thousand years ago. These changes happened overnight. The modest rights women had achieved under the Shaw revoked, professional women were fired in masse and encouraged to take up household duties, caring for children and husbands.

What were some of the laws put into place by Khomeini?

• The legal marrying age of a woman was lowered to the age of nine, in accordance with Islamic Law.

• In 1981, the Islamic Law of Retribution was reinstated, allowing the crime of adultery to be punished by stoning to death.

• Ayatollah Khomeini stated that women’s honor needed to be preserved. For their own good, women appearing in public were to be accompanied by a male relative at all times and be able to provide proof of the relationship. Any contact with non-related men could result in legal punishment.

• Segregation of the sexes was imposed across all aspects of Iranian life. In public transportation, women were required by law to sit in the back of the bus as the front seats were reserved for male passengers only.

• A woman’s testimony was legally reduced to half that of a man’s.

• Family planning was cast by the new regime as a Western conspiracy to weaken Iran, and women lost all access to these vital health services.

• All nurseries were closed, decried as a Western conspiracy to “deprive children of motherly love and Islamic upbringing.”

• New laws were passed banning Western clothing and requiring that women remain completely covered by a traditional Islamic hijab in public at all times. No hair could be visible; no open-toed shoes.

• The military training of the revolutionary guards was expanded to include spotting imperfections in the dress code and policing women.

What does the situation in Iran share similarities with today?

Afghanistan.