What You’ll Read:
- The Roles of Women in Gilead
- Male-Led Systems: Power and Control
- Women Supporting (and Hurting) Women
- Real-World Examples of Gilead Today
- Why This Story Still Matters
“Not all the men, but always a man.”
If you didn’t scream, cry, and throw something at your screen while watching The Handmaid’s Tale, did you even watch it?
What you felt was more than entertainment. It was rage. It was grief. It was that gut-punch of realization: this isn’t just a story about Gilead. It’s a story about us. Because Gilead isn’t a fantasy—it’s a blueprint ripped straight from our world.
The Women of Gilead: Trapped in Red, Green, and Blue
In Gilead, women don’t have names—they have functions.
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Handmaids are walking wombs. Forced to carry children for Commanders and their Wives. Raped under the name of religion. “Blessed be the fruit”? More like blessed be the patriarchy.
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Marthas are unpaid labor. Cooks, cleaners, silent ghosts in the background. Domestic servitude packaged as “a blessing.”
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Wives are dressed in blue, dripping in faux dignity. But they hold no real power—only proximity to it.
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Aunties are both the enforcers and the victims. Conditioned to believe they’re helping women by controlling them.
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Unwomen? Just erased.
Sound dystopian? Hold that thought.
A Male-Led World: When Power Is a Gender
Let’s get real: the world is built by men, for men. Gilead just turned the volume up. In both the show and our lives, men sit at the top of every food chain. They’re the lawmakers, the generals, the tech CEOs, the presidents. When women rise, it’s seen as radical—not routine.
In The Handmaid’s Tale, Commanders write the laws, control women’s bodies, and use God as a smokescreen. Sound familiar? In real life, men still legislate women’s reproductive rights. Still dominate decision-making. Still make up 75% of parliaments and boardrooms worldwide. Power hoards itself—and guess who holds the keys?
It’s not all the men. But it’s always a man.
The Women’s Relationships: Allies, Enemies, Survivors
The brilliance of The Handmaid’s Tale is that it doesn’t show women as perfect—it shows them as real.
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June and Serena: The most complicated “frenemies” on TV. Abuser and victim. Victim and survivor. Their alliance is as unstable as it is inevitable.
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Aunt Lydia and Janine: Abuser and abused? Yes. But there’s twisted love in there. Lydia believes she’s saving Janine. Janine wants someone—anyone—to care. It’s a mess. Like many real-life power dynamics.
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June and Moira: Pure ride-or-die energy. Moira is June’s voice of reason, but also the voice of her past. She’s the reminder that there’s still a world worth fighting for.
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Serena and Rita: The silent war. Rita spent years being invisible to Serena, and when the tables turned? That quiet revenge was delicious.
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The Real-Life Gileads: When Fiction Isn’t Fiction
This isn’t just a show. In some places, it’s a playbook.
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In Iran, women are forced to cover their hair and face harsh punishment—including imprisonment and death—for protesting.
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In Afghanistan, girls can’t go to school past sixth grade. Women can’t work freely, or even travel alone.
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In parts of Africa and the Middle East, child marriage is still legal. Yes, girls as young as 12 being married off like cattle.
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In the United States, reproductive rights are being rolled back state by state. Forced birth? It’s no longer a fear—it’s a fact.
And let’s not forget the global wage gap, lack of female leadership in politics, or how society still shames women for everything from aging to ambition.
Gilead isn’t another planet—it’s the one we’re standing on.
Why This Story Matters—Now More Than Ever
We need The Handmaid’s Tale. Not for escapism—but as a warning. It teaches us that control never comes all at once. It’s slow. Subtle. One right stripped here, another choice taken there. Until suddenly, you’re told to be silent, obedient, and grateful.
June’s story is all our story. Maybe not literally—but emotionally, spiritually, politically? Oh yes. She wasn’t born a rebel. She was pushed. And we are being pushed, too.
So if you feel angry watching this show—good. That’s the point.
Watch and Remember: It’s More Than a Show
The Handmaid’s Tale dares to ask: “What if this could happen?”
Reality replies: “It already is.”
Let this show be more than something to binge. Let it be your wake-up call. Let it stir something inside you. And let it be a reminder:
We’re not handmaids.
We’re not Marthas.
We’re not disposable.
We are watching, we are raging, and we are ready.
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