Margaret Atwood's 1985 "The Handmaid's Tale" stunned the nation with its depiction of women, who were reduced to mere reproductive instruments.
Women, in this novel, no longer bore their names. Those who were not directly involved with the reproductive scene were assigned titles depending on their role, from Aunts to Marthas. More disturbingly, women who served as handmaids were named after the men they served.
The main character is a handmaid to a man named Fred, and thus referred to as Offred (which quite simply means Of Fred). Women, then, were marked not by their own identity, but by the men they were bound to.
This labeling of women relative to a man seems draconian. Yet, in a way, this is precisely what America does.
The first way our country enforces these labels is becoming increasingly recognized: last names. Every single woman in America has inherited a man's last name. Even when women keep their last name -- which is becoming more prevalent with today's feminist movements -- they are keeping their father's last name, or one their mother got from her father. No woman in the U.S. has a last name originating from a woman.
The other layer of labeling women in a demeaning manner is deeply overlooked, yet it is preserved through the use of honorifics. Honorifics are the titles we refer to everyone by, from parents to teachers to strangers. For men, this is Mr., whereas for women this varies from Miss, to Ms. and Mrs. These titles are taken as is -- since birth, all of us have, without question, referred to the people around us with their respective honorifics.
This system, though, is deeply flawed, as there is acute sexism embedded within honorifics. Womens' honorifics shift based on their age and/or marital status. In English, unmarried women under 30 are referred to as Miss. Unmarried women over 30 are referred to as Ms. And married women, regardless of age, are referred to as Mrs. This effectively categorizes women by their age group and relationship status. Men, on the other hand, remain Mr. throughout their entire life, regardless of their age or marital status. Society defining women in relation to a man not only reflects outdated, sexist tropes, but also perpetuates a traditional, heteronormative framework.
Worse, this is not just an American problem. Many languages, including French, Spanish and Italian, also address women based on their marital status. These linguistic conventions reflect and reinforce patriarchal ideologies of possessivity and subjection, which is detrimental for women around the world.
We live in a world riddled with sexism, with patriarchal ideologies woven into our institutions, language and norms.
For one, the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report collected an index on gender social norms in 2020. The Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI) evaluates how certain ideologies hinder gender equality in political and employment arenas across the world. It found that around 50% of people believe men are more suited for political leadership, and 28% believe that a man physically harming his wife is justifiable. These figures -- both deeply disturbing -- reveal the persistent dismissal and devaluation of women.
These mindsets are amplified through our language structures, perpetuating systemic inequalities in many facets of our lives.
One in every six women in America has experienced either attempted or completed rape during their lifetime. In American workplaces, the gender wage gap remains prevalent: In 2023, women workers made 75 cents for every dollar a male worker made. Even more, the United States' healthcare system fails women. Female health is widely neglected; research on women's health is underfunded, and women are not accurately represented in clinical trials. The U.S. has the highest rate of maternal mortality than any other high-income country.
These gendered disparities do not exist in a vacuum. Rather, they stem from the demeaning linguistic frameworks society uses to define women. While this is not the only part of our world that is deeply embedded with bigotry, it is one that plays a powerful role in subconsciously shaping our perceptions and prejudices.
Some may dismiss this analysis as oversensitive, claiming society has become too "woke" and language is being overly scrutinized. I counter this by emphasizing that language is the building block of society. Our words matter and they hold power. If something as fundamental as language continues to categorize women in a subjugated way, true gender equality will always remain out of reach. We must be sensitive to harmful language and cognizant in how it further entrenches bigoted norms.
In "The Handmaid's Tale," the labeling of handmaids is inherently possessive, and this structure is not confined to fiction. English mirrors this skewed dynamic through the use of honorifics and last name traditions. Take Offred's name and compare it to any married woman in America: "Of" serves the same purpose as "Mrs.", and "Fred" serves the same purpose as any American last name, which irrefutably has male roots. Yet we are so embedded in this chauvinistic framework that we often fail to recognize the glaring parallels within our own society.
Ideology creates a tainted picture of our subjectivity and reality. This distorted picture then makes oppressive structures appear seemingly natural and inevitable, and thus unchangeable. This is an illusion. Ideologies shift, as can language. The norms they perpetuate are not inevitable. We have the power to challenge and reshape them. The first step in this is awareness: recognizing the ways language diminishes women and their autonomy. By acknowledging these harmful structures, we can move toward a more equal society.