The Tradwife Is a Myth — Historically, She Never Existed
She was a political tool used to get women back in the kitchen
If you’ve been anywhere near TikTok or a Benedictine College commencement speech, you’ve probably heard the term “tradwife.”
It’s a portmanteau for “traditional wife,” and it refers to a woman who chooses a domestic lifestyle because she believes in traditional gender roles. She stays home with the kids, cleans her house until it’s spotless, and has dinner waiting on the table when her husband finishes work.
She does it all in full glam makeup and with her phone mounted on a tripod so the world can see.
Of course, men love her — both older men who miss calling the shots without pushback and younger men who fantasize about a dynamic they never experienced. Some women idolize her, too: Exhausted by the Girlboss movement of the 2010s, they yearn for something softer. Prettier. Easier.
But that’s the thing about tradwives. Like so many personas on social media, they’re an illusion.
