The great thing about this show is that it allows us to glean information about the new world we find ourselves in piece by piece. There's no lengthy exposition provided. The show trusts that we're smart enough to figure it out. Offred is a handmaid. That means she is a woman who has proven her fertility in the "old world" and is assigned to a prominent family to act as a surrogate. When Offred meets with Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski), the wife of the man she's been assigned to, we learn that there's a hierarchy even within the female ranks of this patriarchy. (For a detailed breakdown of that hierarchy, click here . You can tell who's who based on their uniforms.)