If you've never heard of a tradwife, you'll likely be coming across the trend more and more as it continues going viral. The term has seemingly gained a lot of attention across social media platforms lately. So what is it, you might be asking? It's shorthand for "traditional wife" and refers to women who take on conventional gender roles within their romantic relationship. Primarily through TikTok and Instagram, the trend came about through popular content creators whose large followings arose because they documented their lives as homemakers.
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What is a tradwife?
Although there's no set definition for the term, it seems to point at traditional gender roles within a relationship: the man being the breadwinner while the woman stays home and tends to the household through cooking, cleaning, and caring for the children. In 2021, researcher Mariel Cooksey defined “tradwifery” as “a movement that’s part aesthetic and part ideology, encouraging women to embrace supposedly feminine characteristics like chastity and submissiveness, and trade feminist empowerment for a patriarchal vision of gender norms."
Here are some women who are deemed part of the trend.
Hannah Neeleman, known on Instagram as @ballerinafarm, has been dubbed one of the biggest tradwife influencers — even though she doesn't identify herself with the term. “We are traditional in the sense that it’s a man and a woman,” she said of her and her husband, Daniel. “We have children, but I do feel like we’re paving a lot of paths that haven’t been paved before. So for me to have the label of a traditional woman, I don’t know if I identify with that.”
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One woman defined the term on her own.
Estee Williams and Nara Smith are also large tradwife influencers. In 2022, Estee defined the term as a “woman who prefers to take a traditional or ultra-traditional role in marriage, including beliefs that a woman’s place is in the home.” Although Estee proudly identifies with the term, Nara has never publicly claimed it. Many people deem her to be one, however, especially with her "made it from scratch" videos where she often creates homemade meals and snacks for her husband.
Why is the trend controversial?
The term gained its problematic nature because many believe most women are doing it for show and that it causes harm to the progress women have made over the years. Eve Rodsky, author of Fair Play, told CNBC in April 2024 that it's a “huge economic risk” for women.
Estee doesn't agree with the controversy.
Estee, who isn't afraid of speaking out about the term, doesn't agree with the controversy about tradwives. In 2022, she said it’s “not a movement” and “nobody is pushing it.” She went on to note that it's a personal decision based on individual beliefs. “It doesn’t mean we are trying to take away what women fought for."
Some concerns have still been raised.
For some people, the tradwife term is concerning, especially when it comes to a recent article about Neeleman published by The Times in the UK. Based on the article, many raised concerns that the wife is actually trapped in a life she doesn't truly want to live.
"I hope you get freed! That article was heartbreaking to read," one person commented. "Your husband sounds crazy controlling and you are stuck in subservience to your family. I hope you can get out of you wanted too."
