<P> Christian churches that do not support the actions of the Sons of Jacob are systematically demolished, and the people living in Gilead are never seen attending church . Christian denominations, including Quakers, Baptists and Roman Catholics, are specifically named as enemies of the Sons of Jacob . Nuns who refuse conversion are considered "Unwomen" and banished to the Colonies, owing to their reluctance to marry and refusal (or inability) to bear children . Priests unwilling to convert are executed and hanged from the Wall . Atwood pits Quaker Christians against the régime by having them help the oppressed, something she feels they would do in reality: "The Quakers have gone underground, and are running an escape route to Canada, as--I suspect--they would ." </P> <P> Jews are named an exception and classified Sons of Jacob . Offred observes that Jews refusing to convert are allowed to emigrate to Israel, and most choose to leave . However, in the Epilogue, Professor Pieixoto reveals that many of the emigrating Jews ended up being dumped into the sea while on the ships ostensibly tasked with transporting them to Israel, due to privatization of the "repatriation program" and capitalists' effort to maximize profits . Offred mentions that many Jews who chose to stay were caught secretly practicing Judaism and executed . </P> <P> African Americans, the main non-white ethnic group in this society, are called the Children of Ham . A state TV broadcast mentions they have been relocated en masse to "National Homelands" in the Midwest, which are suggestive of the Apartheid - era homelands set up by South Africa . </P> <P> The sexes are strictly divided . Gilead's society values reproduction by white women most highly . Women are categorised "hierarchically according to class status and reproductive capacity" as well as "metonymically colour - coded according to their function and their labour" (Kauffman 232). The Commander expresses the prevailing opinion that women are considered intellectually and emotionally inferior to men . </P>

What happens in the book a handmaids tale