Handmaids protest loss of freedoms

It appears some people have a misunderstanding of the intent of the local ladies protesting in red gowns and white bonnets. It helps to understand the premise of the novel "The Handmaids Tale," written in 1985 by Margaret Atwood. In the book, all women are stripped of all of their fundamental rights after democracy is overturned for a patriarchal, totalitarian dictatorship.

The story centers around the young Handmaids, who were forced to bear children for the regime. All the other women were enslaved as nannies, housekeepers and cooks in the Commanders' estates. Even the barren wives of these top-level officers lived in a dominated world where reading books (other than the Bible) was forbidden. Every woman was a subject of the state to be used in whatever way was dictated to them. 

Today, we are watching the current administration blatantly disregard the fundamental protections of our Constitution. We’re witnessing the erosion of women in the military play-out in real-time with the removal of the top-ranking female officers. And just last week, another of the White House's atrocious executive order targeted the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which was written in 1976 to prevent financial discrimination against women based on marital status. How far will they go? Do they want today’s women to be required to have a man co-sign for a loan or credit card, as it was before 1976? And then our own Rep. Russ Fulcher recently introduced a bill to Congress that could jeopardize some women’s ability to vote because their married name is different from their birth maiden name. 

The assault is real. American women have already been suffering the devastating loss of critical healthcare. With the erosion of our Rights and Freedoms and the prospects of more losses, the presence of the local Handmaid-protestors represents a refusal to accept this current dystopian regime.

REBECCA HOLLAND

Sandpoint