Burning Questions: Margaret Atwood on Feminism

Dear John

Margaret Atwood did it again. With over fifty essays, her new book Burning Questions is an exhilarating non-fiction collection covering everything from women’s rights and the climate crisis to being a writer and zombies.

Her prodigious intellect and her bold imagination drives us through literature, feminism, the environment, and human rights. This is her third volume of essays since 1960: it goes from 2004 and runs into 2021. The roller-coaster period covered in the collection brought an end to the end of history, a financial crash, the rise of Trump and a pandemic.

Margaret Atwood has long been hailed as a feminist icon. The Handmaid’s Tale and the sequel, The Testaments, continue to hold up a mirror to the state of women’s rights around the world. The patriarchal and discriminatory practices of Gilead are the kinds of practices Equality Now tackles every day.

In 2019, we were lucky enough to partner with Margaret Atwood on the release of The Testaments and couldn’t wait to get our hands on her new book. For this month’s Feminist Culture Club, we’ve rounded up some of her key thoughts about feminism and gender equality:
From Eve to Dawn:
In the foreword for Marilyn French’s ([link removed]) three volume history of women in the world, Atwood concludes:

“Women, it seems are not a footnote after all: they are the necessary centre around which the wheel of power revolves; or, seen another way, they are the broad base of the triangle that sustains a few oligarchs at the top. No history you will read, post-French, will ever look the same again.”
Reflections on the Handmaid’s Tale:
In this piece, written in 2015, to mark the 30th anniversary of The Handmaid’s Tale Atwood talks about the development of the novel following the second wave of feminism, and the importance of the law in Gilead.

“The answer to how to cram the women back into the homes was simple: dial back history a hundred years - no, even less. Take away women’s jobs and their access to money - the latter via their bank and credit cards. Oh, and their most recently won civil rights, such as the right to vote and the right to own property, and the right to their own children. To do that, you’d change the law. Some people are fond of invoking “the rule of law,” but they should remember that there have been some very unjust laws. The Nuremberg Laws - directed against Jews - were laws. The Fugutive Slave Act was a law. The decree forbidding literacy for American slaves in the South was a law… I could go on for a very long time on that subject.”

Find out more about how Equality Now tackles discriminatory laws. ([link removed])
A Slave State:
This piece from 2018 was written in support of the movement for reproductive rights in Argentina. The movement celebrated victory in 2021, when the Senate of the country approved abortion legalization in a historic decision, a ground-breaking move for a region that has some of the world's most restrictive termination laws.

“No one is forcing women to have abortions. No one either should force them to undergo childbirth. Enforce childbirth if you wish, Argentina, but at least call that enforcing by what it is. It is slavery: the claim to own and control another’s body, and to profit by that claim.”
Order your copy here! ([link removed])
Here at Equality Now we are huge fans of Margaret Atwood:

“I read Edible Woman at a particularly impressionable age and it spoke to me of not having to conform to prescribed, stereotyped roles for women" - Jacqui Hunt, Global Lead on Ending Sexual Violence, Equality Now.

“My favorite book is The Handmaid's Tale because it is so timeless, and pushes people to see that such things could (and do) happen anywhere, not just over there" - Bryna Subherwal, Head of Advocacy, Equality Now.

“When reading Alias Grace, you face a harsh story of a life mistreated by the mere fact of being a woman. It shows how specific kinds of violence have transcended their historical moment and continue to be relevant nowadays” - Julieta Morales, Communications Officer, Equality Now.

Do you have any suggestions for us to share next month? Do send them over to [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you!

PS you can also share the Feminist Culture Club newsletter with your network! ([link removed])
In solidarity.

Julieta Morales
Communications Officer
Equality Now

Achieving gender equality will happen faster if everyone takes up the challenge. Equality Now is proud to stand with No nonsense in our shared commitment to enduring, inclusive equality for women & girls. ([link removed])

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