Real Life Handmaid's Tale: The Not-So-Fictional Life Of Women
Words by Carolina Dionísio / Graphics by Levi LoCascio-Seward / Edited by Lauren Purnell
“Set in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship.” This is the description of the Hulu hit-show, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” based on the 1985 book of the same title by Margaret Atwood.
The government of the United States has been overthrown and replaced by the Republic of Gilead — a patriarchal, totalitarian, and theonomic regime. Both the show and book explore themes of powerless women with no agency or individuality in a misogynistic society, with suppression of many freedoms, especially reproductive rights. And though both pieces are categorized as Science Fiction or Dystopian Sci-Fi, they’re not that fictional and far from reality. They’ve never been.
In Gilead, women have lost their rights to work, study, own property, and have control over their money and finances.
In Saudi Arabia, the Sahwa Movement began its rule in 1960. This was a fundamentalist movement that heavily relied on Wahhabism, often characterized by historians as “puritanical” which is “believing or involving the belief that it is important to work hard and control yourself, and that pleasure is wrong or unnecessary,” according to the Cambridge Dictionary.
Sahwa’s effects were most incisive on women’s roles and visibility by restricting their rights and personal liberties. Women were banned from many public spaces or segregated in separated facilities, indoctrinated to follow a religious education instead of higher secular studies, and discouraged to pursue particular careers such as Journalism or Law. The Male Guardianship System was reinforced, and women required authorization to travel or access healthcare. Feminist activists who advocated for basic rights, like driving, were seen as a threat to society, labeled as traitors, harassed, and arrested.
These restrictions lasted up until recent reforms in 2017, when the Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, declared a return to “moderate Islam.” However, the ideals Sahwa defended are still popular despite prosecution, especially amongst the elderly from rural zones. “70% of the Saudis are younger than 30, honestly we won’t waste 30 years of our life combating extremist thoughts, we will destroy them now and immediately”, the Crown Prince told The Guardian. “This is about giving kids a social life [...] everyone knows that – except the people in small towns. But they will learn”, added a Saudi royal figure. The Male Guardianship System still exists.
In Gilead, the Handmaids have no bodily autonomy, are punished for infertility, brain-washed, used as reproductive slaves, and forced to produce children for the Commanders, the ruling class.
In Romania, Decree 770 was signed under the regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu in 1967. This included a ban on both abortion and contraception, because women were required to have many children in order to increase Romania’s population. All pregnancies were monthly monitored by both a gynecologist, and The Department of State Security, or “secret police,” who also kept a close eye on any illegal hospital procedures.
Moreover, all sexual education was meant to indoctrinate women on the benefits of motherhood, and often featured a heroic mother who gave her homeland many children. The Decree fell when the regime was overthrown in 1989. Up until then, the Romanian mortality rate of pregnant women and infants was the highest of Europe. A large number of the children born from these forced pregnancies ended up being sent to orphanages because their families couldn’t, or wouldn’t, look after them.
Today, abortion in Romania is legal, but access is limited. There’s a growing number of doctors and hospitals refusing to perform the procedure based on conscientious objection, religious beliefs, or moral reasons.
In Gilead, Handmaids have their mouths sewn shut with rings, covered with red cloths, or both to ensure silence.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban Rule first took over in 1996, after the Taliban seized Kabul, killed the president, and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Their policies were merciless regarding the treatment of women, banning them from studying, working, and traveling without a male guardian. This lasted until 2001, when the Taliban were stripped from power by the United State’s campaign against al-Qa‘ida, following Sept. 11 attacks.
However, in 2021, the Taliban recaptured Kabul and regained control over the entire country. Today, women face the same restrictions and more — such as speaking. In 2024, the Taliban published a new “vice and virtue” law, that states women cannot show their face or speak in public, as their voices can also be used as an instrument of seduction. They also can’t be heard singing or reading aloud even from inside their own home. Women and girls who refuse to comply will be arrested and punished.
In Gilead, citizens, but mostly Handmaids, are being constantly watched by The Eyes: the Intelligence Unit of the Republic, also described as secret police or spies. They were responsible for hunting and persecuting all opponents of the Regime.
In North Korea, the Mass Surveillance System was founded in the 1950s. Since then, it has been implemented throughout the entire country. Besides the facial recognition cameras and GPS tracking, there’s also a network of informants who report to the authorities suspects of criminal behavior. The Mass Surveillance System is also used to monitor marriages, childbirth, and women’s fertility. Women from elite and “loyal” families are expected, and pressured, to contribute to the “pure” Korean race by bearing as many as 6 children — this is seen as patriotic duty, and the families are (allegedly) encouraged or rewarded with financial support and subsidies.
On the other hand: women considered “impure” or “disloyal” face major restrictions and punishment. Female prisoners are denied total reproductive rights. Women in the military also have restricted bodily autonomy. Pregnant defectors deported from China are forced to abort in North Korean detention centers despite advanced pregnancy status. Political prisoners, victims of assault by government officials or prison guards, and women with disabilities are also forced to undergo the procedure. ONG’s report infantile rates of “racially impure” children fathered by Chinese men.
Citizens’, and mostly women’s, sexual activities are also monitored. Homosexuality, premarital sex, or any sexual act that doesn’t fit state norms is harshly punished. Additionally, there are no birth control devices, as they were banned following a law passed in 2015.
In Gilead, a brain-dead pregnant woman was kept alive using machines and used as an incubator.
In the United States, the exact same thing happened. Over three months ago, in the state of Georgia, 30 year-old Adriana Smith was declared brain dead (meaning she is legally dead) but the doctors have yet to remove her from life support and let her family put her body to rest.
Why? Because Adriana was pregnant when she passed.
According to the state’s “Heartbeat Law,” doctors have the legal obligation to keep her body breathing until the fetus, currently 21 weeks old, reaches 32 weeks — the time when it will be considered “viable,” although some doctors claim the probability of survival is slim since the fetus has fluid in the brain.
Adriana had blood clots in her brain, though her symptoms were ignored by the medical services and she was discharged with a medication prescription without deeper observation. The next morning, she passed. Now, and against family wishes, Adrian’s body is property of the state as we watch Georgia’s abortion law in action, turning her into an incubator for the next 11 weeks.
Ever since the enforcement of Trump’s abortion laws, 12 states have total abortion bans, nine states have partial abortion bans, and around 30 states have free access to abortion — but with Trump’s re-election in 2024 and the plans listed under Project 2025, the number of ban-free states will most likely decrease.
This because Trump’s Project 2025 would:
“Ban and criminalize medication abortion nationwide.” Project 2025 urges the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reverse its approval on the pills mifepristone and misoprostol, which are the most common forms of abortion in the U.S.;
“Increase denials of abortion care” by encouraging doctors to refuse emergency abortion care and investigating those who provide it;
“Expand federal surveillance of pregnant people.” This would impact mostly women of color, people of color, and immigrant communities who “are already at greater risk of criminalization for their reproductive health choices.”
In “The Handmaid’s Tale,” just like in every corner of our world, no matter the time period, women are seen as objects with no autonomy, choice, or voice — a body without a soul, a vessel. And the worst part is that all the listed and horrifying parallels above don’t make up a quarter of what is truly happening to women on a global scale.
Women are banned or have restrictions when it comes to study and employment in almost 20 countries. Women face discrimination in educational facilities or the workplace in more than 180 countries. Women face total abortion bans in more than 20 countries, and abortion restrictions in more than 40 countries. Women have limited access to contraceptives in more than 30 countries. Women need authorization from a parent or a spouse to access reproductive healthcare in around 60 countries. Women with disabilities endure forced sterilization in more than 10 countries.
According to reports from UN Women and Human Rights Watch, 150 out of the world’s 195 countries have at least one major restriction on women’s rights. In 150 out of the world’s 195 countries, women aren’t entirely free. And even in countries where, allegedly, there aren’t major restrictive laws, there are still loopholes that make access to education, employment, or healthcare unequal.
Because In “The Handmaid's Tale,” just like in real life, stripping basic human rights from women was never about religion, culture, politics, or morality — it has always been, and it will always be, about control. All the other factors and variables are simply used as a cover up.
The “great leaders” of today will cite a poorly translated version of whatever sacred text they think is more fit, and use it to justify gender-based hate crimes they support and perpetrate via misogynistic policies and discourses. The “great leaders” of today will criminalize women who undergo abortions and label them as child-murderers, yet school shooters face little punishment. The “great leaders” of today will argue we must protect and take care of all children, even the ones that aren’t born yet, but then they’ll fail to support the thousands of children in foster care globally. The “great leaders” of today will hamper women’s access to education and work, and then claim we’re not academically and professionally capable enough to hold positions of power. The “great leaders” of today will do anything to degrade and subjugate women, and then complain about us fighting everyday for a world that does not want us dead.
The “great leaders” of today are all cowards because, statistically, none of them would be here if it weren't for a woman.
One country is already too much, let alone 150, yet we wonder why feminism is still needed?
One country is already too much, let alone 150, yet “The Handmaid's Tale” is over-exaggerated fiction?
“The Handmaid’s Tale” is not a Sci-Fi Dystopia, but the reality of womanhood at the hands of tyrants — that’s why the book was banned.
