The Handmaid’s Tale: A Dystopian Society Where Human Rights Are Stripped Away

The Society of Gilead and the Oppression of Women

Discuss about the Human Rights for Oppressive Republic Gilead.

Basing on Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale narrates the story of Offred and other characters that are colonized and extremely oppressed in the Oppressive Republic Gilead. The story goes beyond fiction and tries presenting the viewer with the state of dystopian society. The women who are sexually reproductive or fertile are taken against their will, colonized and pushed into an Occult like behaviors of being ‘Handmaids’-acting like surrogates for the barrens or the wives with the inability to beget children in this particular society. It is a society characterized by no human rights, with miserable dysfunctional issues and corruption beyond measure.[1] Every living creature held captive in this society is put under constant and robust surveillance with the government machinery armed to the teeth lurking in the entire abode every minute. Suspicion is in the air. This is an accurate picture of what some of the modern states in the world are doing. In fact, some major powers in the world are even repealing this section of the Common Law dealing with Human rights and privacy. They want global surveillance, where everything living in the universe is watched and can be tracked any time- even the fishes in the seabed. I wish they could put such robust surveillance for the terrorists the world could have been a peaceful and better place to live.[2] 

The Oppressive Republic of Gilead has got no second chances for the traitors; they hang in the open streets in broad day light-a strong violation of the human right to live. The society is built upon the creation of fear to the captives, by killing with no mercy in broad daylight for those who break their insane laws. The authority and the small lords of this society camouflage behind God’s beautiful doctrines to their disrespect to women, by raping them evading their privacy at their wish. Women have no choice and control over their bodies and privacy.[3]

No human being can enjoy viewing Handmaids Tale Series up to the end, it is scary and just difficult to watch, and it should be. But in this paper, I have to give the full detailed analysis of episode one critically. The episode describes the authoritarian nature Oppressive Republic of Gilead. They rule through coercion and fear.[4]  The dreading scenes in the episode the deepest are educative, and they explain how authoritarian regimes are built upon the advancement of violence on the human rights. The vivid mental images of the past trauma, especially the ones that recur for Offred in the episode describes a time more like the contemporary societies. At the very beginning of the series, there is no impending change, all we can view are the scenes of violence on the basic rights of human being.[5]

The Authoritarian Nature of Gilead and Oppression through Coercion and Fear

 Human Rights are periodically eroded in the name of state authority and security, which cannot be compared to the inalienable rights such as the right to life; it is just required but the temporary measure. The authority through their machinery and other tools of power has installed this state of life until it is a new normal for the society of Gilead. Women, in particular, are stripped off their fundamental freedoms and rights. The rights to privacy, rights to life, freedom of speech and association, freedom to family life, peaceful enjoyment of property and even freedom from gender discrimination et cetera are all stripped off. June is the character’s real name, the name Offered is forcefully given to her by the new order. In this context, therefore, let us assess how the oppressive masters stripped off Offred’s rights.[6] 

It all starts with bias, wherein the flashbacks we get to recognize the facts that the laws and other legislation are changed suddenly to make it illegitimate to have women employees, and the protagonists June loses her job. This is a sign or an attitude that begins to deteriorate women’s rights and freedoms. Their bank accounts are frozen without warning; all their assets signed off to be under the control of their male counterparts, giving us a reflection of the way back-the period before woman’s suffrage, when women could not lawfully own things or property. [7]The streets were dangerously manned that the June’s Family had to escort Moira, their friend to safety. Regarding women’s rights as human rights has never been easy; it has been the basic thing in the fight to ensure that women are treated fairly and with dignity. In the society of Gilead, there is no peaceful enjoyment of property, and gender-based discrimination is paramount. In this episode we see Offred going through her daily duties after she captured and her daughter taken away from her. She is forced to do mandatory monthly sex with the commander with whom she doesn’t love.[8] She is also paired to do various activities, and at for every stride she makes past the gate she must pair up with her counterpart with eyes of spies everywhere. No privacy, no independence.[9]

The flashbacks in this episode indicate that the authority’s eyes were usually present in the public domain to suppress and silence the peaceful demonstrations. In one of the dramatic scenes, a group of people who made their way to the streets to protest against this totalitarian regime was intercepted by the forces of the government opening fire on them. The soldiers discharge the dangerous weapons violently on the unarmed civilians. June and Moira were among the crowd, and they were driven away indiscriminately. There is no freedom of assembly and meaningful expression in this society. 

Human Rights Erosion in the Name of State Authority

Coerced surrogacy is the most dangerous thing in the lives of women; it is a violation of the Handmaids’ rights, their privacy and the body integrity and the sexual purity. These are the fundamental aspects making up the part of the right to respect for private life. The commander is well conversant with the fact that Offred is married and she is sexually reproductive because she is got a daughter.[10] The commander continues to abuse and molest her regardless of all these facts sexually. She has snatched her daughter against her will, and her husband put down by the gunmen, this is a serious and fatal breach of their right and freedom to respect for family life. This point out or gives us a reflection of serious human rights violation that happens even today. A case study her can be genuinely the unresolved human right problems in Australia, the indigenous populace in Australia studies has it that they are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. In fact half of the population in prison suffers from disability, neglect, inmates face violence and long periods of discrimination. In the juvenile detentions, abuse has beyond measure. Asylum seekers and refugees have met gross breach of their fundamental rights on many occasions.[11]

In the episode one of the Handmaids’ Tale, discrimination continues after the establishment of the regime that targeted homosexuals. Friends to Offred and her counterparts for example Ofglen and the girlfriend are severely convicted and punished as gender traitors. The life of the lady is spared because she is sexually reproductive, but on the contrary, the girlfriend is hanged just for the obvious reason. This is an affirmation of sexual orientation which is a serious breach of human rights.[12] Everywhere Offred goes in this new regime she must not be oblivious of the eyes, the watchdogs or the spies installed everywhere to watch and listen for the traitors.  In the beginning, what the pairs converse about is guarded, of course, neither of them have the idea whether it is secure and safe to trust the other. Some particular conversations like the impotence are highly forbidden and condemned in this society. Offred is probably beaten just because of pronouncing the term gay. Strong and constant surveillance in every quarter violates the right to privacy and the enforcement of something to be taboos crash the freed of speech and association.[13] 

These women are regarded as the prisoners of the state. They are not allowed the right to liberty and security of the individual. If they do not carry out their daily mandates like the mandatory sex, the Handmaids are threatened with violence and physical assaults, and if they try to cope to the new lives, they are increasingly denied the podiums or the platforms. They have to submit to the new order of the oppressors. The sterile wife to the commander is always cruel to Offred and constantly insults her, as a viewer at one scene in this episode; it appears to me that Offred’s anger and plight at one point might have broken her spirit. It was paining her.[14] These sever psychological and physical torture can result into or be referred to as inhuman and degrading treatments amounting to torture-fatal torture.[15]

Discrimination and Violence Against Sexual and Gender Minorities in Gilead

 For all this misery and mysterious occurrences, this series of Handmaid’s Tale is, of course, a story of substance, defiance, and empowerment. It is very vital for us the viewers have deep thoughts about how such fictitious happenings would be in the societies, and we try to give the antidotes of such oppression. In some very fundamental way, these alternative realities are happening in our societies. We can learn much from the protagonist June when she decides she will not lose hope or be broken by this regime no matter what kind of violence they subject her to. In episode seven a recap showing how her husband survived teach us of her determination and hoped to reunite with family. In our human rights laws, the beacons of confidence, hope, courage, and unity are considered.[16] The Handmaids in their silent gestures demonstrated many of these virtues upon which Offred built her strength. Like in the series in our societies today such things do happen for example; there has been a lot of concerned expressed by the UN Rapporteur on violence against women in Australia., the policies regarding the protection of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, and even the cries of the asylum seekers and those refugees from Nauru to this country in name of seeking medication including some of them who are raped. Things like raping are a gross violation of the right to private life, body integrity and probably the reproductive autonomy.[17]

In the year 2017, the Turnbull authorities carried out non-binding postal research or survey on same-sex marriage. In November the same year, Australians voted indiscriminately demanding for the marriage equality a positive move to accommodate the sex marriages. The Universal Declaration starts by perceiving that ‘the inalienable dignity of all individuals from the human family is the establishment of freedom, equity, and peace on the planet.’ It pronounces that human rights are widespread – to be delighted in by all individuals, regardless of their identity or where they live. The Universal Declaration incorporates common and political rights, like the right to life, freedom, free discourse and protection. It additionally incorporates financial, social and social rights, like the right to social security, health, and education. The Universal Declaration isn’t a bargain, so it doesn’t specifically make legitimate commitments for nations. [18]However, it is a statement of the inner qualities which are shared by all individuals from the universal group. And it has affected the improvement of universal human rights law. Some contend that since nations have reliably summoned the Declaration for over sixty years, it has turned out to be authoritative as a piece of standard worldwide law. Further, the Universal Declaration has offered to ascend to the scope of other worldwide assertions which are legitimately authoritative on the nations that approve them. [19]

Constant Surveillance and Violation of Privacy for Handmaids

The conventions on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women creates clear provisions noting that the Charter of the United Nations reaffirms confidence in the importance of human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human individual and the equal privileges of people. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights attests the rule of the prohibition of segregation and broadcasts that every person are conceived free and equal in respect and rights and that everybody is qualified for every one of the rights and opportunities put forward in that, without qualification of any sort, including distinctions because of sex.[20] The States Parties to the International Covenants on Human Rights commit to guarantee the equal privileges of people to appreciate all financial, social, cultural, civil and political rights. That discrimination against women abuses the standards of uniformity of rights and regard for human dignity, is a deterrent to the participation of women, on equal terms with men, in the political, social, financial and cultural existence of their nations, hampers the development of the thriving of society and the family and makes more troublesome the full improvement of the possibilities of women in the administration of their nations and of humankind.[21]

That the reinforcing of universal peace and security, the relaxation of global pressure, common co-task among all States regardless of their social and monetary frameworks, general and complete demilitarization, specifically atomic demobilization under strict and viable worldwide control, the certification of the standards of equity, fairness and shared advantage in relations among nations and the acknowledgment of the privilege of people groups under outsider and frontier mastery and remote occupation to self-assurance and autonomy, and in addition regard for national sovereignty and regional integrity, will advance social development and improvement and as an outcome will add to the accomplishment of full uniformity amongst people.[22] 

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