Essay Sample Content Preview:
Gender in Science
The female gender is significantly victimized and segregated compared to the men on quite a number of aspects. Society often portrays women as inferior beings that have to rely on the support of men and cannot work or survive independently. The same case applies when it comes to technological developments and more specifically reproductive technologies that are mostly developed for the benefit of men and with little consideration for the welfare and well-being of the women. These reproductive technologies help to treat the inability to reproduce using technological procedures and also in family planning through contraceptives. The society has left most efforts to attend to infertility issues and to persons of the female and therefore most fertility drugs and contraceptives revolve around them disregarding the fact that men too are plagued by infertility and that their efforts are also required in family planning. The essay intends to examine various materials and articles that showcase the gender disparity in family planning initiatives and contraceptive usage and highlight how the technologies involved are almost entirely controlled by men, applied and withheld in the interest of men, with dire consequences for women.
The use of handmaids in The Handmaid’s Tale for reproductive purposes is the earliest form of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). The forced surgeon in the book is a practice imposed on the handmaids by the Gilead society in their efforts to reproduce. The handmaid’s Tale centers on the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian state and one where increased pollution and chemical spillage resulted in declining fertility rates. Hence, and in efforts to counter that fact, the government in the Republic prohibited women from working or holding any property so that they focus solely on reproduction. It branded the fertile women as “handmaids” whose purpose was to assist the elite couples where the wives were experiencing problems conceiving to bear children. These handmaids became primary assistants to the couples they were assigned to and their duties extended from the normal house chores to occasionally “lying” with the husbands, so as to produce children for the infertile couples. This is defined as traditional surrogacy and involves the fertile woman offering her egg and uterus for potential pregnancy to the infertile couple.
The law enforcers in the Republic of Gilead have used the technological methods to curb infertility in their societies selectively and all in the interest of powerful men. The handmaids are taken through what can be seen as fertility training then attached to houses of powerful men in the Republic of Gilead. The protagonist for example was attached to the house of the powerful commander and his wife. The women in Gilead are obligated to have monthly checks done on them by specialists. The author notes “I am taken to the doctor’s once a month, for tests: urine, hormones, cancer smear and blood tests”. These tests are aimed to enhance their capabilities for conception. There is however no mention of any such procedures being done on those from the male gender. The tests were also done to check on infertility whereby those found to be barren would be outcaste and branded “Unwomen”.
Despite the ecological disasters that affected both genders, the issue of infertility that plagued the Republic of Gilead was solely blamed on the women. The first consequence of the imposed reproduction measure on the women is their loss of jobs and their rights to hold property as was the case before the revolution. It’s noted that these women before the revolution had jobs and some were very successful, but their rights were taken away and were then expected to clean, shop, cook and bear children. Immediately after their capture, the women in Gilead were taken to the Rachael and Leah education center otherwise known as the Red Center by the locals where they were infused with Gilead’s ideologies of reproduction. They were indoctrinated with facts and notions that women should always be submissive to men and that their sole purpose should be to bear children. The women who refused or didn’t conform to Gilead’s beliefs on reproduction were excommunicated and branded as “Unwomen” and gender traitors.
The handmaids in Gilead have also fallen victim of institutionalized rape as a result of forced reproduction measures. The men in Gilead see them as just symbols for sexual enjoyment and who they can call upon for sexual excitement at any time. The author mentions how the commander would barge on the protagonist during unusual days and against the specifications of the contract for sexual favors. The author notes of the moment when the protagonist was almost raped during one of her checkup rounds by the specialist attending to her. They were seen as easy prey and who were not to deny the men any sexual favors. The handmaids are also sexually molested by their “male keepers” who at times violated the terms of agreement that required them to lie with the handmaids only once a month and in the presence of their wives.
The women’s infertility was considered as an issue of the women and they were subjected to fertility tests where those who passed the test were considered as successful child bearers. The Red Center conducted fertility tests on all the women and those “successful” were put up in elite families to aid in the bearing of children. The protagonist Offred was offered to the Commander and his wife and was expected to “entertain” the Commander monthly and especially at the point of her menstrual cycle when the chances of conceiving were high. The loss of true freedom where their every movements and actions were monitored by the “Eye” served as the other consequence of the imposed reproduction measures on the women of the Republic of Gilead. Her movements were scrutinized and restricted and she was only allowed to leave the house to go shopping. Her freedom depended on her submission to the beliefs and wishes of her captors. The fake sense of freedom is highlighted when the author notes “A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere as long as it stays inside the maze” (Atwood165). The statement alludes to the fact that most of the housemaids like Offred were oblivious and never actually realized how much control they were under. The little fake freedom they were accorded made them assume that they were equal members of the society and as...