The Institutionalized Oppression of Reproductive Responsibility: A Dystopian Interpretation of the Maternal Role in The Handmaid’s Tale

Abstract

This paper examines the institutionalized oppression of women through the manipulation of reproductive responsibility in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. It explores how the dystopian regime of Gilead weaponizes the maternal role by reducing women to their reproductive capacities, employing surveillance, commodification, and religious manipulation to control their bodies and identities. The analysis delves into the mechanisms by which the state sustains its patriarchal power, such as ritualized sexual violence, forced surrogacy, and the distortion of Biblical narratives, to justify its exploitation of women. The paper investigates acts of resistance and reclamation of autonomy by the female characters, revealing how small acts of defiance and solidarity challenge Gilead’s oppressive structures. Atwood’s narrative is argued to be a critique not only of the fictional society but also of contemporary real-world issues surrounding reproductive rights, gender inequality, and bodily autonomy. Ultimately, the novel serves as both a warning against the erosion of rights and a call to resist patriarchal systems that seek to control and commodify women’s bodies.