Why the tradwife movement is toxic and scary.

Articles about tradwives have been cropping up all over my social media lately. According to Wikipedia, “a tradwife in recent western culture, typically denotes a woman who believes in traditional gender roles and a patriarchal marriage.” This lifestyle is very much identical to that of the 1950’s where strict gender roles were enforced; a woman’s place was in the home, taking care of her husband and children, whilst the man was the breadwinner and financial provider.

Many Millennial and Gen Z women are taking to social media to wax lyrical about being tradwives. These young women have given up their careers or studies and interests in order to serve their husband’s (sometime boyfriend’s) needs. Seeing these self-proclaimed tradwives is like being transported into the 1950’s. Their videos on TikTok are reminiscent of those 1950’s adverts featuring housewives promoting the latest domestic appliance in an overly cheery voice. One of these TikTokers is a young woman named Estee C. Williams, 24, who claims to spend five hours a day in the kitchen and says her job is “to make her husband’s life easier.” She even dropped out of university to focus on her husband’s needs. She also claims that “women are happiest when they’re at home taking care of the house and their family.”