The Truth Behind the Trend

Photo via MBC News

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“Tradwife” is a term gaining popularity on social media and in the news, but what is a trad-wife and what does it mean? To understand the term, we have to break it down: “tradwife” is a combination of the words “traditional” and “wife.” Merriam-Webster defines “tradwife” as a married woman who embraces traditional gender roles, such as obeying her husband, cooking, and cleaning. In addition to being expected to deal with all the domestic tasks, tradwives are completely economically dependent on their husbands. The term is associated with influencer Hannah Neeleman, known on social media as “Ballerina Farms,” and Nara Smith. Both have gained a huge social media following from their cooking videos; in which they make meals completely from scratch, along with promoting a broader conservative lifestyle. Neeleman gained popularity after a video of her husband gifting her an egg apron for her birthday went viral.

When powerful conservatives like J.D. Vance urge Americans to have more children, and figures like Erika Kirk directly tell women to settle down and have children, they echo the main message of the tradwife movement. One of the biggest messages of the Republican party is encouraging young Americans to have families. Some may fear that the “nuclear family,” which is loosely defined as a family of two heterosexual parents and their children, is being threatened.

Tradwives sell a facade. Being completely economically dependent on your husband is dangerous as it reduces a woman’s ability to be independent from her husband. It has also become much more uncommon in today’s American economy. In 66.5 percent of American households, both parents are employed and financially support the family, illustrating that most women are not economically dependent on their husbands. Hannah Neeleman’s husband, Daniel Neeleman, is the son of billionaire JetBlue founder David Neeleman. These tradwives sell curated parts of their lives to their viewers, meticulously editing and hiding the truth of their realities. Yet, there are two sides to the tradwife movement. There are influencers like Nara Smith who make a profit off their content and support their family, completely throwing the tradwife ideology on its head. On the other side there are figures like Erika Kirk who believe women should only work in the home and remain economically dependent on their husbands. Social media has repeatedly been proven to be an idealized—and sometimes even fabricated—version of people’s lives. These social media tradwives are not relatable; they are wealthy entrepreneurs trying to grow their own brand for their own benefit. 

To fully understand tradwives, one has to understand how they came to be. Tradwives are a direct response to the changing gender roles in the twentieth century. A large part of this is the birth control pill. For the first time, the pill gave women control over their fertility, allowing them to have longer careers and higher levels of education. Consequently, more women were being educated and employed in the workforce. Since the introduction of the birth control pill, the average age of a first-time mother has increased. The introduction of the birth control pill altered the trajectory of American families forever, though its impact has not been universally well received. The landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade (1973) legalized reproductive rights for the first time in American history, revolutionizing women’s rights to bodily autonomy. Both the Roe decision and the birth control pill allowed women to have control over their own bodies and their future. Now, more women are going to college than men, with women outnumbering men in both enrollment and graduation rates. Due to the rise in college-educated women and their greater role in society, the push for tradwives has only increased. 

The rise of tradwives is part of a broader movement to push women to fit in the mold they have been subjected to for centuries. JD Vance— while on the campaign trail—stated that the United States is being run by a bunch of “childless cat ladies.” JD Vance was criticizing a bigger movement of women delaying or not having children. Vance and other conservatives encourage young women to be tradwives as a response to women’s growing social, political, and economic autonomy. Tradwives are not a radical new way of thought. Rather, the premise that women should be obedient and dependent on their husbands has led to progressive reforms and women wishing for change in traditional gender roles. People want women to be tradwives in order to limit their independence and autonomy as well as have more control over them. For some, the mere thought that women’s independence is being normalized is very scary and foreign, ultimately leading to the push for women to be tradwives. 

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This article was edited by Annika Trippel and Sophie Reilly.