Tradwife

Tradwife
A tradwife (a neologism for traditional wife or traditional housewife), 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. Some may choose to leave careers to focus instead on meeting their family's needs in the home.
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. 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.
Tradwife aesthetic
The tradwife subculture is based on advocating for traditional values, and, in particular, a 'traditional' view of wives as mothers and homemakers.
Despite this, the group is diverse demographically and ideologically. Influences on trend range from 1950s-era American culture, Christian religious values, conservative politics, choice feminism, and neopaganism. Commentators have noted that "there is more class than racial diversity in tradwifery, though the content is not as white as one might assume".
According to an article published in Refinery29, while most tradwives are white, a growing number of Black women are embracing the subculture claiming that "traditional marriage is the key to Black women’s liberation from being overworked, economic insecurity, and the stress of trying to survive in a world hostile to our survival and existence". The article criticized this perspective as lacking awareness of broader structural and social issues.
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: a practice embraced by some Catholic women as a means of reverence and empowerment.
Finances
Some women who identify as tradwives prefer a division of labour 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 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".
Reactions
The tradwife aesthetic has been criticized due to associations in the United States and Britain with the alt-right and white nationalism, and critics often stipulate that tradwives embody what has been described as "toxic femininity" and internalized sexism. Critics claim this is a tactic used by male alt-right adherents to recruit more women to far-right causes.
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.
Charles Sturt University academic Dr. Kristy Campion, who specialises 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".
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. Other researchers have identified a wide range of political views among tradwives which, while primarily conservative, range from the moderate to the extreme.
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, journalist Wendy Squires supports women's right to be a tradwife and describes the ability to choose as a feminist success. She rebuked critics saying:
See also
Be fruitful and multiply
Complementarianism
Cottagecore
Culture of Domesticity
Natalism
Separate spheres
Wojak
References
External links
2010s neologisms
Conservatism
Criticism of feminism
Gender-related prejudices
Internet memes introduced in the 2010s
Natalist terminology
Personifications
Sexism
Stereotypes of upper class women
Social media campaigns
Women-related neologisms