# Tradwife

A tradwife (a neologism for traditional wife or traditional housewife) is a woman who believes in and practices traditional gender roles and marriages. Some may choose to take a homemaking role within their marriage, and others leave their careers to focus on meeting their family's needs in the home.
The traditional housewife aesthetic has since spread throughout the Internet in part through social media featuring women extolling the virtues of being a traditional wife.

## Tradwife aesthetic

The tradwife subculture is based on advocating for traditional values, and, in particular, a 'traditional' view of wives as mothers and homemakers.
Tradwives are diverse demographically, and may have a variety of cultural inspirations. Influences on trend range from 1950s-era American culture, Christian religious values, conservative politics, choice feminism, and neopaganism.
One key aspect of appearing to be a tradwife is reclaiming – or at least appearing to reclaim – some leisure time, as women, and especially mothers, who earn an income often have a double burden.

### Consumer choices

The tradwife aesthetic tends to glamorize a retro aesthetic from white suburbia in the 1950s. She may wear a dress, an apron, and high heels.
Her house may be decorated in trendy pastel colors. The tradwife aesthetic has a significant influence on home decorating.
Others may prefer a back to nature appearance.

### 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. Additionally, special attention is paid to the importance of raising children.
A report in America magazine, a Catholic publication, has also reported that some Catholic tradwives have adopted the practice of wearing veils at mass, a practice embraced by some Catholic women as a means of reverence and empowerment.
One suggested reason for the criticism of tradwives is that they are reviled for appearing to truly live out an idealized home life in practice, when most social media users only achieve the superficial appearance, e.g., through a decision to wear a retro dress or to buy a trendy kitchen item.

### 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. 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. 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".
However, many of the tradwife internet celebrities earn an income outside the home, in addition to running their influencer businesses on social media. For example, Hannah Neeleman runs food-related businesses with her husband, and Nara Smith is a professional model.

## Demographics
### Racial balance

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 argue 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". This perspective has been criticized as lacking awareness of broader structural and social issues in American-style capitalism.

### Political orientation

Tradwives have been linked to the alt-right movement. Other researchers have identified a wide range of political views among tradwives which, while primarily conservative, range from the moderate to the extreme.
Despite the link to extreme right-wing ideologies, not all tradwives endorse extreme ideas and ideology is not an integral part of the subculture. 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. Some commenters have noted 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".
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. 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.

### Relationship with feminism

The tradwife culture has a complicated relationship with feminism, being at times criticized or supported by feminists. 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.
Critics often stipulate that tradwives embody what has been described as "toxic femininity", or internalized sexism.

## Social media

The tradwife movement is a social media-based subculture. Multiple platforms, notably TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, are used to commodify and spread the conservative ideologies underpinning the movement. Platforms such as Reddit and 4chan are also used to promote traditional heterosexual relationships. Influencer marketing strategies, the showcasing of private lives, and contemporary social media use promote the commercialisation of traditional heteronormativity and gendered relationships.
According to algorithmic research conducted by Media Matters, the tradwife audience is likely also viewing conspiracy theory videos, as recommendations for conspiracy videos increase concordant with tradwife viewership.
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.