tradwife

File:The Ladies' home journal (1948) (14764187131).jpg refrigerator advertisement from The Ladies' Home Journal represents the lifestyle idealized by many tradwives]]The tradwife subculture is based on advocating for traditional values, and, in particular, a 'traditional' view of wives as mothers and homemakers.{{Cite news |date=August 21, 2021 |title='A soft face for saying extreme things': The dangerous elements in the tradwife subculture |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-22/tradwife-movement-personal-pleasures-or-extreme-right-ideologies/100356514 |access-date=August 30, 2023 |archive-date=August 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830023936/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-22/tradwife-movement-personal-pleasures-or-extreme-right-ideologies/100356514 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |url=https://przykawusi.pl/trend-tradwife-10-rzeczy-ktore-warto-wiedziec/ |title=Trend tradwife: 10 rzeczy, które warto wiedzieć |language=Polish |work=PrzyKawusi |location=Poland |publisher=PrzyKawusi |date=2024-08-14 |accessdate=2024-08-14 }}

Tradwives are diverse demographically, and may have a variety of cultural inspirations.{{Cite journal |last=Hu |first=Zoe |date=January 2023 |title=The Agoraphobic Fantasy of Tradlife |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/895925 |journal=Dissent |language=en |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=54–59 |doi=10.1353/dss.2023.0030 |issn=1946-0910}} Influences on trend range from 1950s-era American culture, Christian religious values, conservative politics, choice feminism, and neopaganism.{{Cite web |last=Sykes |first=Sophia |date=July 7, 2023 |title=Tradwives: The Housewives Commodifying Right-Wing Ideology |url=https://gnet-research.org/2023/07/07/tradwives-the-housewives-commodifying-right-wing-ideology/ |access-date=August 30, 2023 |website=GNET |language=en-GB |archive-date=August 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230820165428/https://gnet-research.org/2023/07/07/tradwives-the-housewives-commodifying-right-wing-ideology/ |url-status=live }}

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.{{Cite news |last=Hesse |first=Monica |date=10 April 2024 |title=Tradwives, stay-at-home girlfriends and 'a thing called ease' |newspaper=The Washington Post |via=}}

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.

{{See also|Traditionalist Catholicism}}

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.{{Cite web |last=Squires |first=Wendy |date=February 21, 2020 |title=Is it any wonder the 'tradwife' lifestyle is so alluring? |url=https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/is-it-any-wonder-the-tradwife-lifestyle-is-so-alluring-20200220-p542rf.html |access-date=August 30, 2023 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en |archive-date=August 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230830064618/https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/is-it-any-wonder-the-tradwife-lifestyle-is-so-alluring-20200220-p542rf.html |url-status=live }}

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/12/03/types-women-who-veil-mass|title=The types of women who veil at Mass|author=Simcha Fisher|date=December 3, 2019|publisher=America magazine|accessdate=January 17, 2020|quote=...Then came the tradwives, who veil with a vengeance. These young Catholic women are highly active on social media, and they gleefully tout their physical beauty as a poke in the eye of feminism. ... a woman's job to please her man with a fit body, on point makeup and lustrous hair that gleams as brightly as the lacy veil that covers it....|archive-date=December 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230011013/https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/12/03/types-women-who-veil-mass|url-status=live}}

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.

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.{{cite web

| author= AMY HUNT

| date= January 24, 2020

| publisher= Woman and Home magazine

| url= https://www.womanandhome.com/life/tradwife-definition-alena-petitt-346861/

| title= What is a 'tradwife' – and why is the idea proving so controversial? You may have heard of the terms housewife, stay-at-home mum, or the like. But why are 'tradwives' getting everyone talking?

| accessdate= February 13, 2022

| quote= ...A 'tradwife' (short for traditional wife) is a 21st century woman who has decided to embrace super traditional, conventional gender roles, by 'submitting' to their husband and not working, staying at home to do the typical household chores, and care for the children.... considering it actually has origins in far-right circles, predominantly in the US....

| archive-date= February 14, 2022

| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220214013300/https://www.womanandhome.com/life/tradwife-definition-alena-petitt-346861/

| url-status= live

}}{{cite web

| date= January 22, 2020

| publisher= Heart 96-107

| url= https://www.heart.co.uk/lifestyle/tradwife-movement/

| title= 'Tradwife' woman claims wives should submit to their husband and spend days cooking and cleaning: A mum has revealed that she left her high flying job to join the 'Tradwife' movement.

| accessdate= February 13, 2022

| quote= ...She added that she felt alienated growing up in the 90s, where attitudes to male and female roles were becoming more liberal, saying: "The culture at the time was anything but what I enjoyed and it definitely made me feel like an outsider. "It was all kind of, let's fight the boys and go out and be independent and break glass ceilings. But I just felt like I was born to be a mother and a wife. "What I really related to where the old shows of the 1950s and 60s."...

| archive-date= February 14, 2022

| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220214015827/https://www.heart.co.uk/lifestyle/tradwife-movement/

| url-status= live

}} 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.{{cite web |author=Cliff |first=Martha |date=June 9, 2021 |title=Canadian woman quits medical career to become a 'Tradwife': This Canadian woman spends all day at home cleaning and lets her husband 'lead' – insisting she is more happy as a result. |url=https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/marriage/canadian-woman-quits-medical-career-to-become-a-tradwife/news-story/647f3aa58656298f79840a7495134c2d |accessdate=February 13, 2022 |publisher=news.com.au |quote=....A woman who trained to be a doctor has revealed why she chucked it all in to become a homemaker. Former Miss Canada, Cynthia Loewen, had been set for a high-flying career in medicine but just a few years ago she decided to leave it all behind.... |archive-date=February 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220214235049/https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/marriage/canadian-woman-quits-medical-career-to-become-a-tradwife/news-story/647f3aa58656298f79840a7495134c2d |url-status=live }} 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.

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".{{Cite web |last=Burton |first=Nylah |title=Black "Tradwives" Think Marriage Is The Key To Liberation & Economic Survival |url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2022/12/11161942/tiktok-black-tradwives-burnout-marriage-capitalism |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220164551/https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2022/12/11161942/tiktok-black-tradwives-burnout-marriage-capitalism |archive-date=December 20, 2023 |access-date=October 11, 2023 |website=www.refinery29.com |language=en}} This perspective has been criticized as lacking awareness of broader structural and social issues in American-style capitalism.

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.{{Cite book |last=Darby |first=Seyward |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1238089281 |title=Sisters in hate : American women and white extremism |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-316-48778-8 |edition=First |location=New York |oclc=1238089281 |access-date=January 16, 2023 |archive-date=May 29, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240529000833/https://search.worldcat.org/title/1238089281 |url-status=live }} 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.

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.{{cite web |author=Freeman |first=Hadley |date=January 20, 2020 |title='Tradwives': the new trend for submissive women has a dark heart and history: A certain kind of housewife has found social media and is airing the details of their fight with feminism. But maybe they should tone it down a notch |url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/jan/27/tradwives-new-trend-submissive-women-dark-heart-history |accessdate=February 13, 2022 |work=The Guardian |quote=...But this isn't actually about fighting the system: this is about women fighting against their own insecurities about their lives. ... it is very much part of the "alt-right" movement. |archive-date=February 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220214012429/https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/jan/27/tradwives-new-trend-submissive-women-dark-heart-history |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Rottenberg |first1=Catherine |last2=Orgad |first2=Shani |title=Tradwives: the women looking for a simpler past but grounded in the neoliberal present |url=https://theconversation.com/tradwives-the-women-looking-for-a-simpler-past-but-grounded-in-the-neoliberal-present-130968 |access-date=June 2, 2021 |website=The Conversation |date=February 7, 2020 |publisher=The Conversation Trust (UK) Ltd |archive-date=June 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602213837/https://theconversation.com/tradwives-the-women-looking-for-a-simpler-past-but-grounded-in-the-neoliberal-present-130968 |url-status=live }}ABC News, Bridget Judd, February 23, 2020, [https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-24/tradwives-women-say-the-movement-is-empowering-not-oppressive/11960910 Tradwives have been labelled 'subservient', but these women reject suggestions they're oppressed] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200902024832/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-24/tradwives-women-say-the-movement-is-empowering-not-oppressive/11960910|date=September 2, 2020}}, retrieved October 2, 2020, "...Others have likened it to an extension of white nationalism, propagating the belief that women should focus on their "natural" duties of childbearing and housekeeping..."Jones, Sarah, October 28, 2020, New York Magazine, [https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/trumps-base-isnt-housewives-its-tradwives.html Trump's Base Isn't Housewives, It's Tradwives] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220103121638/https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/trumps-base-isnt-housewives-its-tradwives.html |date=January 3, 2022 }}, Retrieved January 2, 2022, "...The tradwife is going to stick with Trump and the Republican Party. ..."

The tradwife movement is a social media-based subculture.{{Cite journal |last1=Sykes |first1=Sophia |last2=Hopner |first2=Veronica |date=2024-04-18 |title=Tradwives: Right-Wing Social Media Influencers |journal=Journal of Contemporary Ethnography |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=453–487 |language=en |doi=10.1177/08912416241246273 |issn=0891-2416|doi-access=free }} 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.{{cite book |last1=Leidig |first1=Eviane |title=The Women of the Far Right: Social Media Influencers and Online Radicalization |date=19 September 2023 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-55830-3 |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pR24EAAAQBAJ&dq=%22tradwives%22+%22platform%22&pg=PP48 |language=en}} 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.{{cite web |last1=Grose |first1=Jessica |title='Tradwife' Content Isn't Really for Women. It's for Men Who Want Submissive Wives. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/opinion/tradwife-tiktok.html |website=The New York Times |date=15 May 2024}}

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.{{Cite journal |last=Proctor |first=Devin |date=2022 |title=The #tradwife persona and the rise of radicalized white domesticity |url=https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.873023567302359 |journal=Persona Studies |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=7–26 |doi=10.21153/psj2022vol8no2art1645 |via=informit|doi-access=free }}

• Be fruitful and multiply
• Complementarianism
• Cottagecore
• Culture of Domesticity
• Natalism
• Neopatriarchy
• Separate spheres
• Wojak

{{reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite report |last1=Sitler-Elbel |first1=Frankie |title=From Swiffers to Swastikas: How the #tradwife movement of conventional gender roles became synonymous with white supremacy |date=Spring 2021 |url=https://digitalcommons.bard.edu/senproj_s2021/131/ }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Proctor |first1=Devin |title=The #Tradwife Persona and the Rise of Radicalized Domesticity |journal=Persona Studies |date=3 February 2023 |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=7–26 |doi=10.21153/psj2022vol8no2art1645 |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite thesis |last1=Sykes |first1=Sophia Marie |title='More than a housewife' : tradwives : the influencers of right-wing extremism : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand |date=2023 |hdl=10179/18281 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Sykes |first1=Sophia |last2=Hopner |first2=Veronica |title=Tradwives: Right-Wing Social Media Influencers |journal=Journal of Contemporary Ethnography |date=18 April 2024 |volume=53 |issue=4 |pages=453–487 |doi=10.1177/08912416241246273 |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite book |doi=10.4324/9780429355769-7 |chapter=#TradCulture: Reproducing whiteness and neo-fascism through gendered discourse online |title=Routledge Handbook of Critical Studies in Whiteness |date=2021 |last1=Mattheis |first1=Ashley A. |pages=91–101 |isbn=978-0-429-35576-9 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Tebaldi |first1=Catherine |title=Tradwives and truth warriors: Gender and nationalism in US white nationalist women's blogs |journal=Gender and Language |date=15 May 2023 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=14–38 |doi=10.1558/genl.18551 }}
• {{cite thesis |last1=Alexander |first1=Ruby |title=BirthStrikers and Traditional Housewives: Reproductive Power as Resistance in an Era of Crisis? |date=2023 |hdl=2123/32353 }}
• {{cite thesis |last1=Valderrama Rotella |first1=Marta |title=Gender and political identities in social media. An analysis of the discourse strategies used by the #Tradwives movement on Instagram |date=2023 |url=https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/63927 }}

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{{Wiktionary}}

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Category:2010s neologisms

Category:Conservatism

Category:Criticism of feminism

Category:Gender-related prejudices

Category:Internet memes introduced in the 2010s

Category:Natalist terminology

Category:Social media campaigns

Category:Stereotypes of upper class women

Category:Stereotypes of white women

Category:Wives

Category:Women-related neologisms