Positives and Negatives to Women's Roles

The hierarchy in The Handmaid's Tale is much less clear than a hierarchy throughout history or in a different society. In a hierarchy that we are used to, everyone envies those at the top of the pecking order, because they have definitive qualities that make them more desirable than any other class. In the society within the novel that is not the case. Each role has distinct pros and cons for the women. 

As discussed in the previous blog, the Wives are the first in the line of feminine power, for one thing. They get the children at the end of the deal, provided their Handmaid's produce healthy babies, and children are like money in our society, they are a sign of power. This is all well and good, but at the same time, the Wives have to watch their husbands having sex with another women; they have to be in the same bed while it is happening, assisting the entire operation. This is a huge emotional negative and must be very difficult to live through. 

The Handmaids are one of the few people who can actually have sex in society. However, this sex involves no choice. It is not for pleasure or love. Instead, it is out of necessity; it is forced. It is, in a way, government-backed rape. But at the same time, if they do become pregnant, they have achieved their government-imposed life goal. Plus, as shown in the blog post before with Janine, they become prized possessions, but they are just that: possessions. Regardless of whether or not they produce children, they are owned by their Commander and his Wife. 

Marthas are not permitted to have sex at all. They are looked down upon in many ways, because they are infertile. In some ways they are made to feel useless to society. They must aid someone else in having sex and getting pregnant, the two things they are not able to do. This must be hard, but at the same time, they are not forced to go through something they do not want to, with a person they do not love, as the Handmaids are. They live comparatively normal lives, although they have to return to stereotypically feminine roles: cooking and cleaning and taking care of the Handmaid as if she is a child in some ways, such as when Offred needs assistance bathing.

Aunts are also not permitted to have sex and are essentially brainwashing those who will become Handmaids. But if they believe what they are teaching, they could possibly have the best lives of all other female roles.