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Trad wives are women who believe in a more traditional and old-fashioned way of living, specifically, regarding gender roles. They believe in a male hierarchy in the family, as well as being a motherly figure in the family. Similar to that of a 1950s housewife, tradwives believe that women’s role in society is being a mother, and taking care of any household chores along with the children. But is this movement setting women back? Or giving men false expectations and how women behave in marriages? Lots of controversy surrounding this topic is circulating, regarding how this movement could affect women’s rights today.
Finances
One of the basics of being a trad wife is depending mostly on the husband to provide financially. Various tradwives left their careers to fit this lifestyle, even if their previous occupation was lucrative. For example, Cynthia Loewen, a former pageant queen, abandoned all of her career ambitions and opportunities to become a tradwife. As well as leaving her pageantry dreams behind, she quit medical school. In an interview with The Sun, she explains how life as a traditional wife is much more fulfilling than being a working woman. Even after admitting she is a very stubborn person, Loewen still claims she lets her husband lead. With this being said, some women do indeed prefer staying home with the children rather than working, however, that is not what these women are promoting and encouraging. There is a clear difference between stay-at-home moms and traditional moms. Trad wives promote a romanticized lifestyle in which they are completely dependent on their husbands and have a daily duty of performing hard labor as well as taking care of their children with no additional help. Trapping young and vulnerable women into this stereotype of what a good wife or mother is very harmful to not only the women of the world, as well as men looking for ideal traits of what their family could look like. Despite what traditional wife influences show online, some do have jobs. Countless women share their content on social media, as well as doing brand deals. All of the money coming from views and partnerships provides extra income for the family.
Toxic Femininity
As one could assume, trad wives’ relationship with feminism is rocky. The definition of feminism is: the belief in social, economic, and political equality between men and women. Some traditional wives claim they are feminists, however, their lifestyle goes against everything feminism stands for. The fact that they choose to work at home and be mothers is not the issue, it is simply the fact that they are promoting the belief that women are inferior to men, and therefore have the less important job.
In romanticizing a past they never had, these influencers are helping to deny millions of women and girls the future they deserve.
– Olivia Giovetti, writer for the Concern worldwide US
Career
One of the primary examples of wasted potential in this instance is influencer Hannah Neeleman. Her story went viral, with thousands of people sharing their opinions on her life choices across multiple platforms. Neeleman’s story came to light with the controversy surrounding the fact that she quit her dance career to become a traditional housewife. In an interview with the New York Times, this mother of 8 explained how she made the difficult decision to abandon her dreams of being a dancer. Inspired by her days at Julliard, she grew both her farming and social media business with her husband, cleverly named “Ballerina Farms” She uses her platform on social media to share her life on the farm, as well as how she manages the family. Along with running a farm, and taking care of her army of children, Neeleman has also been a successful competitor in beauty pageants, competing less than two weeks after giving birth to her last child.
My goal was New York City. I left home at 17 and I was so excited to get there, I just loved that energy. And I was going to be a ballerina. I was a good ballerina.
– Hannah Neeleman in “The Times”
In an interview with The Times, it was noted that Hannah could not get an answer out without being interrupted by her husband, as well as the fact that Neeleman gave more detailed and honest answers about her life when her husband was out of the room. This led to more speculation on social media about her freedoms in the home.
Neeleman is not the only example of this. Many other women have stepped up and spoken out and built their entire platform on being against the values these women have. Needless to say, there is no problem with how these women choose to live their lives. However, the fact that they put down a whole gender that has been fighting for equal rights for generations, speaks volumes about their true intentions on how their idea of how women should be treated.
