I've only got as far as episode 4 of season 2 so forgive me - but please don't spoiler it for me - if one of the episodes I haven't seen yet already looks at this.
I was wondering how a feminist society might emerge within the world where The Handmaid's Tale is set. I don't mean in Gilead itself but in a more socialist and liberal country where gender discrimination is already less. How might such countries approach a situation where suddenly only 5% of the population is fertile?
Does any remaining discrimination or disadvantage in the world of work now disappear because employers no longer need to worry that a newly hired female employee aged 28+ is probably going to go off on maternity shortly? Do women's careers get to thrive more once most of them have no childcare responsibilities?
In such a society obviously the 5% of females who are fertile remain in 100% control of their reproductive capability and are not coerced into more pregnancies than they choose - but does society as a whole therefore accept that the birthrate will plummet and the population will dwindle (see Children of Men for the desperate misery of a society with no children and no future to build for)?
Or does society incentivise and reward these few women to encourage them to reproduce as much as possible?
Should there be some kind of scientifically managed programme (like the international programmes that zoos manage for endangered species) that matches up the small number of fertile females with different fertile males for each pregnancy (only with full and enthusiastic consent of course, and not requiring sexual activity unless both parties wish it as obviously pregnancy can be achieved without sex)?
Or might matriarchal commune-families form naturally - with each fertile female heading a household with a number of infertile people of both sexes whose role is to provide parenting and support for the babies that the matriarch regularly produces so that the fertile females don't need to worry about how to support and care for all their children if they have lots.
Presumably the state would need to guarantee the highest quality medical care to these women who would obviously be risking their lives for the sake of the continuation of the species.
What would the status of the equally rare fertile men be in such a society?