<P> In the near future , fertility rates collapse as a result of sexually transmitted diseases and environmental pollution . With this chaos in place , the totalitarian , Christian theonomic government of `` Gilead '' establishes rule in the former United States in the aftermath of a civil war . Society is organized by power - hungry leaders along a new , militarized , hierarchical regime of fanaticism and newly created social classes , in which women are brutally subjugated , and by law are not allowed to work , own property , handle money , or read . Worldwide infertility has resulted in the conscription of the few remaining fertile women in Gilead , called handmaids , according to an `` extremist interpretation '' of a Biblical account . They are assigned to the homes of the ruling elite , where they must submit to ritualized rape with their male masters in order to become pregnant and bear children for those men and their wives . </P>
<P> In the near future , fertility rates collapse as a result of sexually transmitted diseases and environmental pollution . With this chaos in place , the totalitarian , Christian theonomic government of `` Gilead '' establishes rule in the former United States in the aftermath of a civil war . Society is organized by power - hungry leaders along a new , militarized , hierarchical regime of fanaticism and newly created social classes , in which women are brutally subjugated , and by law are not allowed to work , own property , handle money , or read . Worldwide infertility has resulted in the conscription of the few remaining fertile women in Gilead , called handmaids , according to an `` extremist interpretation '' of a Biblical account . They are assigned to the homes of the ruling elite , where they must submit to ritualized rape with their male masters in order to become pregnant and bear children for those men and their wives . </P>
where does the handmaid 's tale show take place
where does the handmaid 's tale show take place
in the former United States in the aftermath of a civil war
in the former United States in the aftermath of a civil war