Unwomen
In the Republic of Gilead, the category of Unwomen defines the outermost limit of female existence under the regime. An Unwoman is any woman who has been declared barren, infertile, or otherwise unfit for the state's sole sanctioned purpose for women: childbearing. The term is a sentence of social death and, in most cases, physical death. Unwomen are stripped of their names, their red or blue or green dresses, and any remaining claim to personhood. They are sent to the Colonies, where they are worked to death in conditions that guarantee a short, brutal end. The threat of becoming an Unwoman hangs over every Handmaid, every Martha, every Econowife, and even every Wife, as the ultimate consequence of failure, rebellion, or simply being surplus to the regime's reproductive needs.
Definition and Social Status
An Unwoman is defined by her lack of reproductive capacity or her refusal to submit to the regime's sexual and social order. The term is applied to women who are sterile, who have failed to conceive after their allotted chances, who have been caught in forbidden sexual acts, or who have been deemed "incorrigible"—political prisoners, lesbians, former professionals who cannot be assimilated. The regime's logic is stark: a woman's only value is her womb. Without that, or without the willingness to place it under the state's control, she is not a woman at all but an Unwoman, a category that places her outside the protections of even the meager rights Gilead grants its female population. The Aunts teach the Handmaids that Unwomen are lazy, Godless, and deserving of their fate. Aunt Lydia, with her characteristic blend of piety and menace, tells the girls that in the pre-Gilead era, Unwomen wasted their time on frivolous pursuits, and that the government actually paid them to do so. This propaganda serves to justify the regime's most extreme measures: the Unwomen are not victims but sinners, and their punishment is presented as both just and necessary.
The Colonies: Exile and Death
The destination for Unwomen is the Colonies, a network of labor camps scattered across the former United States. The work in the Colonies is designed to kill. The most notorious assignments involve cleaning up toxic waste and radiation spills. The regime calculates that a worker in these zones has a maximum of three years before her nose falls off and her skin pulls away like rubber gloves. Food is minimal, protective clothing is nonexistent, and medical care is absent. Other Colonies involve the burning of bodies after battles, a gruesome task that exposes workers to disease and psychological trauma. There are also agricultural Colonies, where Unwomen pick cotton and harvest fruit, but these are considered less lethal and are reserved for those who have not been marked for the most rapid disposal. Moira, after her recapture, is shown a film about life in the Colonies as a form of coercion. The images of emaciated women in gray dresses, performing backbreaking labor under a toxic sun, are meant to terrify her into accepting a different fate. The message is clear: the Colonies are a death sentence, and any alternative, no matter how degrading, is preferable.
The Threat and Its Function
The figure of the Unwoman serves as the regime's ultimate deterrent. For the Handmaids, the threat of being shipped to the Colonies is used to enforce obedience. The doctor who propositions Offred reminds her that he could falsify her test results, report her for infertility, and have her sent to the Colonies with the Unwomen. The mere possibility is enough to make her hesitate. For the Marthas, the threat of being forced into retirement—and thus into the Colonies—keeps them working despite their resentment. For the Wives, the knowledge that they too could be declared barren and replaced keeps them compliant. The Colonies are also where the regime sends its political prisoners, its "Gender Traitors," and its "incorrigibles"—anyone who cannot be assimilated into the social order. The existence of the Colonies allows Gilead to maintain the fiction that it is a merciful society: those who cannot be saved are simply removed, and their suffering is hidden from view. The Unwomen are the regime's dirty secret, the necessary byproduct of its utopian project. They are the ones who pay the price for Gilead's purity, and their silent, invisible labor makes possible the clean, orderly world of the Commanders and their Wives.
Narrative Significance
In Offred's narrative, the Unwomen function as a constant, unspoken presence. They are the fate she fears, the alternative she must avoid at all costs. The word itself carries a weight of dread. When Offred thinks about the Colonies, she imagines her mother there, sweeping up deadly toxins, and the thought is almost unbearable. The Unwomen are also a mirror, reflecting back the precariousness of every woman's position in Gilead. Offred knows that she is only one failed pregnancy, one accusation, one moment of disobedience away from joining them. The category of Unwoman is a reminder that the regime's power is absolute and that its mercy is nonexistent. It is the final, irreversible erasure of identity, the point beyond which there is no return. The Unwomen are the ghosts of Gilead, the ones who have been written out of existence, and their silence is the most powerful indictment of the system that created them.
