It is implied that some Wives are capable of bearing children, but most are older women and thus have difficulty conceiving (or their husbands are infertile), which is also hampered by widespread infertility. As a result, Wives have to 'share' their husbands with
Rather than being married to Commanders, Econowives are fertile women who are married off to Gilead's more ordinary men. As well as being expected to have children, Econowives are expected to take care of their households, and they aren't assigned Marthas to help them.
In the story, an environmental disaster has led to most women becoming infertile, and the small number who are still able to become pregnant are forced to become handmaids, women who are owned by the ruling elite and systematically raped in order to provide them with children.
Standing (somewhat) faithfully behind (not next to) their husbands who rank as Commanders, the Wives are generally infertile women tasked with expanding the population of Gilead through the help of an assigned handmaid. Their infertility, however, isn't always confirmed.
In the age of infertility, Wives were still awarded the luxury of living in the upper class, so long as they had children by any means necessary. For those too old to bear their own, or those who are infertile, Wives must agree to pick out a suitable Handmaid for the Commanders to impregnate.
Handmaids have three chances to get pregnant in three different households during two year assignments. If, after the third time, they are not able to produce a living, healthy baby, they will be sent off to the Colonies to face certain death.
No, the woman on the floor is the very NOT pregnant wife of the husband Janine was forced to have sex with. But her best gal pals don't want her to feel like she's missing out or that Janine might be superior for physically birthing the child, so they pretend she is due for labor any moment.
The Handmaid is sent on to the next assignment. By giving birth, she can't be considered an unwoman. But giving birth and giving the child away is painful - it is part of her punishment, the pregnancies and unwanted adoptions part of her repaying her debt to society for her sins.
Though Waterford is probably sterile, Gilead doesn't allow for that possibility to be voiced–even to himself.
Blue is often associated with the Virgin Mary and purity and serenity - it used to be considered a very feminine colour, so perhaps that is why the Wives wear it. Red is considered the colour of life, due to the association with blood, and Handmaids are all about bringing forth new life and fertility.
The Waterfords were previously believed to both be infertile. Fred had failed to get both June and a previous handmaid pregnant, despite many attempts even outside Gilead's "ceremony". Serena was shot in her lower abdomen by a protester in the days before Gilead, and her injuries damaged her reproductive organs.
At the start of The Handmaid's Tale June had been in Gilead for three years, and within a few months of being at her new posting as "Offred," she became pregnant with Nick's baby. By the time Nichole was born, towards the end of The Handmaid's Tale season 2, June had been in Gilead for four years.
She is the wife of Luke Bankole and the mother of a young daughter, Hannah. She is also the mother of Nichole who she had with Nick in Gilead.
In “The Handmaid's Tale” how does the government determine which women are fertile? They base it on whether you've had a child in the past. Fertility testing is against their laws, so the only way they can tell is if a woman has already had a baby.
June Osborne
Luke and June first began seeing each other when Luke was still married to Annie (Kelly Jenrette), whom he later divorced. Due to their marriage being Luke's second, June is considered an "adulteress" in Gilead, and because of her fertility, is forced to be a handmaid as reparation for her sin.
Gilead seeks to deprive women of their individuality in order to make them docile carriers of the next generation. the most famous example), and The Handmaid's Tale carries on this tradition. Gilead maintains its control over women's bodies by maintaining control over names.
This article contains spoilers.
There's a new Serena Joy Waterford in the fifth season of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale. Not only has she been edged out of her protected position as the Wife of a powerful Commander, but as a single pregnant woman, she soon became a Handmaid.
That last one is the cost Serena Joy Waterford (Yvonne Strahovski) pays in the season two finale of The Handmaid's Tale, as Gilead's leadership orders the severing of one of her fingers for the simple act of reading a Bible verse aloud.
Serena Joy reveals Offred's pregnancy to her husband and tells him the baby isn't his because he is weak. Fred participates in Warren's trial chaired by Commander Pryce. Waterford is all for leniency, reminding that no one is free of mistakes and that Warren Putnam has a family, a wife and a new child.
Then there is the revelation that Serena is essentially a handmaid when she returns to the Wheelers' house with this new baby. It seemed like she couldn't confront that, until now, and this role reversal is a major payoff for the audience — how did you feel about it?
Lydia thus enlists Agnes in their plan to get Nicole and the damning information out of Gilead. Agnes and Nicole pose as missionaries and make their escape into Canada, where Agnes finally meets her long-lost biological mother, the former Handmaid known as Offred.
Handmaids who successfully bear children continue to live at their commander's house until their children are weaned, at which point they are sent to a new assignment to a new commander. Those who produce children will never be declared "Unwomen" or sent to the Colonies, even if they never have another baby.
In the show, there's a black Commander who got his wife pregnant. And the novel mentions that very few lucky wives of commanders get pregnant. (Albeit it is mentioned that some wives, like the handmaids, resort to other men). So, it seems to be that married couples are allowed sex.
In Gilead, wives are selected from among the daughters of respectable citizens once the girls have reached childbearing age. Their mothers arrange their marriages to Angels who have recently returned from the front line.
She is fiercely jealous of June, for whom Fred has repressed romantic feelings; she often punishes June unjustly simply to vent her jealous rage. She also feels inadequate because she cannot get pregnant, again taking it out on June.