A tradwife (a neologism for traditional wife or traditional housewife),[1][2][3] in recent Western culture, typically denotes a woman who believes in and practices traditional sex roles and marriages. Many tradwives believe that they do not sacrifice women's rights by choosing to take a homemaking role within their marriage.[2] Some may choose to leave careers to focus instead on meeting their family's needs in the home.[2][4]
According to Google Trends, online searches of the term "tradwife" began to rise in popularity around mid-2018 and experienced high levels during the early 2020s.[5] The traditional housewife aesthetic has since spread throughout the Internet in part through social media featuring women extolling the virtues of behaving as the ideal woman.[6]
Tradwife aesthetic
_(14764187131).jpg)
The tradwife subculture is based on advocating for traditional values, and, in particular, a 'traditional' view of wives as mothers and homemakers.[7]
Despite this, the group is diverse demographically and ideologically.[8] Influences on trend range from 1950s-era American culture, Christian religious values, conservative politics, choice feminism, and neopaganism.[7][8][9] Commentators have noted that "there is more class than racial diversity in tradwifery, though the content is not as white as one might assume".[8]
According to an article published in Refinery29, while most tradwives are white, a growing number of Black women are embracing the concept of traditional marriage, not explicitly using the "tradwife" neologism, but instead framing their identity within a "submissive" or "Biblical" marriage. These Black women claim that "traditional marriage is the key to liberation from being overworked, economic insecurity, and the stress of trying to survive in a world hostile to our survival and existence".[10] The article criticized this perspective as lacking awareness of broader structural and social issues.[10]
Practices
Key to the tradwife identity is being a stay-at-home wife or a stay-at-home mother and the various activities involved in managing the household such as cooking, cleaning, managing laundry, and tending to vegetables.[7] Additionally, special attention is paid to the importance of raising children.[11]
A report in America magazine, a Catholic publication, has also reported that some Catholic tradwives have adopted the practice of wearing veils: a practice embraced by some Catholic women as a means of reverence and empowerment.[12]
Finances
Some women who identify as tradwives prefer a division of labor wherein their husband manages family finances more broadly while they focus on managing food and household consumables.[13][14] A high-profile example of this is Canadian Cynthia Loewen, a former Miss Earth Canada, who abandoned plans to pursue a medical degree in order to be a full-time housewife.[15] She stated that she finds fulfillment from the arrangement of her husband as the breadwinner and her in charge of the home, and that she is "more happy as a result".[15]
Reactions
Critics often stipulate that tradwives embody what has been described as "toxic femininity" and internalized sexism.[16][17][18][19] Critics claim this is a tactic used by male alt-right adherents to recruit more women to far-right causes.[6]
Despite the link to extreme right-wing ideologies, not all tradwives endorse extreme ideas and ideology is not an integral part of the subculture.[7] Prominent British tradwife influencer Alena Pettitt posted on social media in 2020 that she was "dumbfounded" by the media's "smear campaign" against tradwives, arguing they were all being unfairly linked to extremism.[7]
Charles Sturt University academic Dr. Kristy Campion, who specializes in extremism, has researched tradwives and says that people should avoid "denouncing all tradwives as far-right extremists, holding them accountable for views they may not hold and demonising what is, for many women, an extremely personal choice".[7]
Seyward Darby discussed the tradwife aesthetic in her 2020 book, Sisters in Hate: American Women and White Extremism, and shared interviews with women who call themselves traditional.[20] She found that some women in the movement espoused tenets of the American political far right, including white supremacy, antisemitism, populism, and other ultraconservative beliefs.[20] Other researchers have identified a wide range of political views among tradwives which, while primarily conservative, range from the moderate to the extreme.[9]
Relationship with feminism
The tradwife culture has a complicated relationship with feminism, being at times criticized or supported by feminists.
While some who follow the tradwife aesthetic suggest that it is a rejection of feminism in favor of a return to simpler times and family systems,[2] journalist Wendy Squires supports women's right to be a tradwife and describes the ability to choose as a feminist success.[11] She rebuked critics saying:[11]
"The last thing we need as women is for some of us to feel superior and judgmental of others. Putting women down is the patriarchy's job, not feminism's."
On the other hand, tradwives are underpinned by a shared right-wing belief systems to vary degrees. For many, this entails a rejection of mainstream feminist histories and theories. [21] Anti-feminist Tradwives view the first, second, and third waves of feminism as oppressive, and as a rejection of traditional femininity, womanhood, and motherhood. The so called fourth wave of feminism, which highlights empowerment, internet advocacy, and movements such as the metoo movement, is perceived by many far right leaning tradwives as a man-hating ideology. [21] Terms such as "toxic femininity" have been reclaimed as an antifeminist statement, on the premise that feminism promotes a culture of hating men. [22]
Some Christian conservative women, and tradwives, oppose forms of feminism as a they go against the Bible passage (1 Corinthians 11:3), which reminds believers that “. . . the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God”. [23]
Social media
The tradwife movement is a social media-based subculture.[21] Multiple platforms, notably TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, are used to commodify and spread the conservative ideologies underpinning the movement.[21] Platforms such as Reddit and 4chan are also used to promote embracing traditionally biological relationships, namely between a man and a woman.[21] Influencer marketing strategies, the showcasing of private lives, and contemporary social media use promote the commercialisation of traditional heteronormativity and gendered relationships.[21]
The rising success of contemporary tradwives is driven by clever and active use of social media and persistent positioning as online influencers. Videos such as ‘a day in my life’ showcasing activities such as cooking from scratch, cleaning, caring for children, packing the lunches of their working husbands advocate for gender roles wherein the man holds social and political power, and women for the most part are confined to the home as a wife and mother. [24]
These so called tradwives are leading large-scale platforms encouraging traditional forms of dating, wherein the man pays and is the dominant group in culture and society.[25]
See also
References
Further reading
External links
Media related to Tradwife at Wikimedia Commons
