This essay explores historical, structural elements of society, in order to enlighten our understanding of the world in relation to Atwood 's The Handmaid 's Tale. notable sources include Betty Friedan, Nathaniel Hawthorne, George Orwell, Germaine Greer, and Emma Watson

Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique (1963)is widely regarded as one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century and is widely credited with sparking the beginning of second-wave feminism in the United States. In the 1950s and 60s, the societal belief was that fulfillment for women could only be found in raising children, looking after the home and meeting their husband 's needs. She highlights the fears of Americans during World War II and The cold war and the want for a “idealized” home life, farther is the breadwinner while the mother is the stay at home housewife. This was helped along by the fact that many of the women who worked during the war filling jobs previously done by men faced dismissal, discrimination, and hostility when the men returned from the war. Educators thought over-educated, career-focused mothers were responsible for the poor adjustment of men coming home from the war. Friedan shows that Overbearing mothers were, in fact, the ones who raised maladjusted children

Germaine Greer, in her first book The Female Eunuch, (1970) theorizes that women are forced to take on submissive roles society so men 's fantasies can be fulfilled. Greer argues that men hate women,