The Revolution to Gilead Society

The Causes and Effects of the Revolution!
PreGil has been transformed into Gilead instantly and now this is the male dominated society and women are sexual object for reproductivity!

From Luke Voice

Gilead is a society based on Christian teaching. The society is so strict and God is seen to be the most important person in people life. But there is one question that is being raised up many times: How does Gilead come to control America?

PreGil Era
There are so many claims being proposed by critics saying that inequality was one of the most important factors that ignited the revolution in the early history of Gilead society. Feminist Movement was so powerful during that time that more and more women joined the movement to gain more rights in the society. Thus, men were convicted by most feminists.

Feminist movement before Gilead!

The wives stood up and -those young women were so brave to lead the organization. Young women started to realize that their life was so miserable and they could not withstand in the society

What is Gilead?
The new society is formed after the army has controlled over PreGil and it is named Gilead. This society is established under the Christian rules and the male-dominated society. At the top are the Commanders and then their wives that named after them, and below are Handmaids, Marthas, and all the servants.

Basically, “Gilead is a holy place for all men!”
-Unknown person.

The Causes of the Revolution!
When feminist movement became extreme across the continent, the former political institution was scared that women will establish a new institution and mislead the nation into the state of disarray. By knowing that women could overthrow the current political power, a new political movement emerged and started to fight into the capital. Later, this movement has taken control over the whole nation. Next, they started to restructure this new society and it “Gilead”.

The Ideology of Gilead
After it has taken control over the political institution, Gilead now becomes a new world. First, the power is shared among the commanders and each commander has his own office. Above the Commanders is the state governor who controls the whole nation. Gilead has very strict law based on the teaching from the Bible. Second, women are taken into consideration because this new structure affects their daily life. The only one goal of keeping women is for sexual productivity because the society need more people, thus women are for making more babies. This means that, Gilead only wants women that are “fruitful”. Third, the right of ownership is forbidden for all women except the wives who have some sort of rights such as owning their gardens and commanding the handmaids (fruitful women).

Why is it Important to Women?
Women are considered to be one of the most important resources in Gilead especially when talking about sexual reproductivity. On top of that, those “fruitful” women are valued, and they are given the opportunity to stay in Gilead instead of the Colonies, a workplace to all barren women. Nevertheless, women such as handmaids don’t have any right to own anything and this is oppression. On the first day of Gilead victory, one woman said,
“We can’t work here anymore, it’s a law. Any bank account with an F on it instead of an M is crashed. We’re cut off!”
At this stage of the event, women are strictly prohibited to the free world because nothing can help them except the act of committing suicide which many previous handmaids have already done. This is really oppression. Neither the feminist movement nor the The handmaids themselves can’t change their life. They’re kept for reproductive purpose.

The May Day
Although the feminist movement still continues to act secretly, it does not seem like those feminists have a better times to negotiate among each other. Though, they have already made the movement and secured it with the word “Mayday” and hoped that one day one of them will be able to change the women life. “Mayday” is the most important key word to all the activists especially the handmaid, but it is not clearly said out yet that those activists are able to stand up. Therefore, the handmaids hugely depend on those activists to save their “lives”.

Why does it matter?
Though the “Mayday” seems to be the solution to the feminist, there is no other sign in which the handmaids could be free from Gilead. Gilead now completely taking control of every aspect of this society. This is a huge controversy in North America and it’s a history that could be repeated in the future. At the early age of PreGil, it was a rough history. Both political and social institutions have been ripped apart. Later, women and men started to fight among another for power. This power is not absolute but it’s a desire to be self-reliant and free. As a result, one group (Gilead) manages to objectify the other.
Thus, gender inequality always becomes part of history, and both male and female try so hard to resist against one another. But the result comes out in Gilead that could be learned. Leaders learn from the past, but also repeat the past because they can never pass out the past. Gender inequality still struggles to find a peaceful resolution. Therefore, the handmaids hope to rectify history after the “Mayday”.

Note: Although Gilead is seem to be ridiculous to resist for equality due to strict law, the handmaids hope the world could at least help for the support. More than that, Gilead is not like a dictatorship, but it’s just how women are objectified and they’re fighting for their rights.

Credit goes Margaret Atwood, the author of "The Handmaid's Tale." I Just write a response and add some opinions in it from Luke's point of view, a character from the book.