Gender Roles, Guerrilla Girls and Modern Art

Undeniably, one of the major points in The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is the emphasis of the rigid structure of society and the importance of gender roles. Women and men alike each know their place in and the job they must fulfill, the only difference being that men have some level of social mobility (Guardians can be promoted to Angels).

The protagonist, Offred, is a handmaid, meaning her sole purpose in society is to have babies. After completing rigorous schooling and training she now lives with a Commander and his Wife, where she must keep a low profile and complete her job of getting pregnant. She describes the Wife's attitude towards her by saying, "I am a reproach to her; and a necessity," (Atwood, 23). She has been uprooted from her old life and stripped of her former name. In class we discussed the origin of the name "Offred" and I believe that the handmaids' names are composed of the word "of" plus the name of their Commander. This essentially leaves them with nothing of their own and nothing of their past life.

"My name isn't Offred, I have another name, which nobody uses now because it's forbidden. I tell myself it doesn't matter, your name is like your telephone number, useful only to others; but what I tell myself is wrong, it does matter. I keep the knowledge of this name like something hidden, some treasure I'll come back to dig up, one day," (Atwood, 94). 

In Gilead, where the story takes place, there are other positions that women can hold, of course, besides being child-bearers. Nonetheless, these roles are all subservient, and more equivalent with the duties of a Puritan housewife than a 21st century woman. Other than handmaids, there are also Wives, upper-class women who marry the Commanders; Marthas, who do the housework; Aunts, who educate the handmaids; and Econowives, who are the lowest class of women and who have a mix of responsibilities. Women are forbidden from holding important jobs, and a strong emphasis is placed on preserving their innocence.

So far, I am REALLY enjoying The Handmaid's Tale and I am finding that the story is resonating with me throughout my daily life. For example, the other day I went to the Tate Modern with a friend and as we meandered through the exhibits we stopped to examine a collection of posters and artwork by the Guerrilla Girls, a group of feminist artists who protest against the way women are treated in the art world. We looked at the different posters displayed for a while, each with a different glaring statistic or fact. Right next to the Guerilla Girls exhibit, there was a set of paintings by Linder, a different feminist artist, who portrays women (for the most part) with idealized bodies and distorted faces, doing various household tasks. Both exhibits of art reminded me of the defining gender roles portrayed in The Handmaid's Tale.




(photos from www.guerrillagirls.com and www.tate.org.uk)