Blame it on feminism shows that woman’s rights are better than that in The Handmaid’s tale. Unfortunately, this improvement isn’t big enough, women still suffer today. They are given jobs, but they are not the same post as the men or their salary is undersized. Although women are being given more freedom, one big similarity between the women at the close of the 20th century and the one’s in The Handmaids’s Tale stands out. The fact that women are to exercise their bodies to have kids is still present in the 20th century.
Women of the 20th century are given more liberty, but by no means are they treated as equals to men. There is a clear progress from the women in The Handmaid’s Tale; however, women are not being given the rights and life they were promised. The arguments of people against woman’s rights say that women are being given the same jobs as men, and they are presented with the same opportunities. The matter of the fact is they are not. The article says, “If American women are so equal, why do they represent two-thirds of all poor adults? Why are more than 80% of full time working making less than $20,000 a year, nearby double the male rate?” These are valid questions for women to ask. They were told that they are seen a equals to men, but this article which is full of data, declares otherwise.
Another argument to show that the improvement we have observed is not enough by any stretch of the imagination is that women are still pressured to have kids. In The Handmaid’s Tale, women’s sole purpose is to have a child, and although in the 20th century this may be articulated differently the fact remains the same. In the book it says, “I almost gasp: he’s said a forbidden word. Sterile.”This shows that the women only have one purpose which takes priority over everything else, have children. In this case, it is so extreme that the people of The Republic of Gilead believe so strongly in the ‘purpose’ of women that they eradicated any explanation that would keep you from having a child. Moreover, women are then accustomed to feel the same way; they pray and hope that they will have a child in order to fulfill their duties. When Offred goes to the doctor’s office it says, “Yes, I say. It’s true, and I don’t ask why, because I know. Give me children, or else I die. There’s more than one meaning to it.” If Offred doesn’t give birth to a healthy baby then she is most certainly going to die. In Blame it on Feminism, these extreme and harsh measures don’t exist, but the belief that a woman’s purpose is to have a child is still at hand. A woman in the article states, “My biological clock is ticking so loud it keeps me awake at night.” I don’t believe that the women truly feel that way, I think it’s more that they been familiarized with the fact that they have to have kids before they reach a certain age.
It is clear that women and men aren’t treated equally, but at least there has been an improvement. Women are accustomed to do certain things like, being a nurse, giving birth, and taking care of the family because that is what society tells them to do. In a world where men and women are one, women would not receive any pressure to do anything; they will have ‘absolute freedom’. Just like men.
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