Tradwife
A tradwife (a neologism for traditional wife or traditional housewife), in recent Western culture, typically denotes a woman who believes in and practices traditional sex roles and marriages. Many tradwives believe that they do not sacrifice women's rights by choosing to take a homemaking role within their marriage. Some may choose to leave careers to focus instead on meeting their family's needs in the home. According to Google Trends, online searches of the term "tradwife" began to rise in popularity around mid-2018 and experienced high levels during the early 2020s. The traditional housewife aesthetic has since spread throughout the Internet in part through social media featuring women extolling the virtues of behaving as the ideal woman. Tradwife aesthetic The tradwife subculture is based on advocating for traditional values, and, in particular, a 'traditional' view of wives as mothers and homemakers. Despite this, the group is diverse demographically and ideologically. Influences on trend range from 1950s-era American culture, Christian religious values, conservative politics, choice feminism, and neopaganism. Commentators have noted that "there is more class than racial diversity in tradwifery, though the content is not as white as one might assume". According to an article published in Refinery29, while most tradwives are white, a growing number of Black women are embracing the subculture claiming that "traditional marriage is the key to Black women’s liberation from being overworked, economic insecurity, and the stress of trying to survive in a world hostile to our survival and existence". The article criticized this perspective as lacking awareness of broader structural and social issues. Practices Key to the tradwife identity is being a stay at home wife or a stay-at-home mother and the various activities involved in managing the household such as cooking, cleaning, managing laundry, and tending to vegetables. Additionally, special attention is paid to the importance of raising children. A report in America magazine, a Catholic publication, has also reported that some Catholic tradwives have adopted the practice of wearing veils: a practice embraced by some Catholic women as a means of reverence and empowerment. Finances Some women who identify as tradwives prefer a division of labour wherein their husband manages family finances more broadly while they focus on managing food and household consumables. A high-profile example of this is Canadian Cynthia Loewen, a former Miss Canada, who abandoned plans to pursue a medical degree in order to be a full-time housewife. She stated that she finds fulfillment from the arrangement of her husband as the breadwinner and her in charge of the home, and that she is "more happy as a result". Reactions The tradwife aesthetic has been criticized due to associations in the United States and Britain with the alt-right and white nationalism, and critics often stipulate that tradwives embody what has been described as "toxic femininity" and internalized sexism. Critics claim this is a tactic used by male alt-right adherents to recruit more women to far-right causes. Despite the link to extreme right-wing ideologies, not all tradwives endorse extreme ideas and