IWL holds “tradwife talk”
The Institute for Women's Leadership hosted a talk on "traditonal housewives" at CSB last Tuesday evening.
Bennies and Johnnies gathered at the Multicultural Center last Tuesday night for the first-ever discussion on the rise of “tradwives”—a slang term for traditional housewives— hosted by the Institute for Women’s Leadership (IWL).
CSB senior and IWL student director Sophie Heck said the IWL organized the event as part of their mission to provide space for conversations around gender, power
and leadership.
“There’s just a lot happening right now surrounding this topic, and there’s a lot in the media about this rise in conservatism. There’s a lot of talk on campus about what it means to be a tradwife,” Heck said.
CSB senior Engagement coordinator Madisen Carter added that the reemergence of tradwife content in social media makes the conversation especially relevant.
“It’s really important to have discussions of what it means and what implications it has within society,” Carter said.
Much of the discussion focused on how tradwife content is portrayed online—particularly through influencers such as Ballerina Farm, Esty Williams and Nara Smith.
Their content often glamorizes staying home, raising children and centering one’s life around marriage.
“I see the prevalence of tradwives online and the rhetoric circling in my social circles,” CSB sophomore Phoebe Johnson said. “This glamourized lifestyle can lead women to fall down a pipeline and then in 50 years not having any action in their lives and be completely dependent on their husband.”
Students noted that tradwife content often feels curated and performative, presenting a “simplistic, cozy and leisurely” lifestyle.
Some students then talked about how they portray life a certain way in social media, but how that does not mean they are moving through life in that same way.
Slides from the presentation highlighted how adopting this lifestyle could lead to a loss of agency through economic dependence, restricted career opportunities, unequal power dynamics in marriage and increased vulnerability during life transitions, while feminism creates more equal autonomy in the marriage and gives the woman access to more possibilities whether or not she wishes to pursue them.
Several students pointed out that the tradwife model seems to be accessible only to a select group of women—usually white and from higher socioeconomic backgrounds.
“A lot of this is also based on financial situations. Not everyone has the luxury to be a stay-at-home parent,” CSB senior Jessica Biel said.
Others raised concerns about representation.
“I don’t see a lot of women of color being represented,” CSB freshman Ana Zamora Rosas suggested that this absence stems from the way social media platforms frame the tradwife aesthetic.
The conversation balanced positives and negatives.
On one hand, participants recognized that tradwife culture can honor tradition, nurture strong partnerships and celebrate motherhood.
On the other, it can perpetuate sexist ideals by framing women as subservient to men and ignoring decades of feminist progress.
Students also drew parallels between today’s tradwife movement and the domestic ideals of the 1950s.
COVID-19 and the current wave of feminism both intensified the discourse around family roles and women’s choices.
“When you start portraying it as everyone else should be making the same decision you are making, that’s when it starts to become harmful,” CSB senior and IWL member Emily Strommen said.
The discussion wrapped up with the reminder that feminism means the right to choose.
Heck concluded with the following statement: “The thing with tradwives isn’t necessarily the things they are doing, but the message they are saying of what is the ideal woman—which they claim to be white and of high socioeconomic status.”
The IWL said it plans to continue these kinds of open forums, encouraging students to critically examine gender roles, media portrayals and the choices available to women in today’s society.
Upcoming IWL events include The ABCs of Inclusion on Oct. 8, Breast Cancer Awareness Tabling on Oct. 17, Detours to Success: A Nonlinear Networking Experience on Oct. 23, The F Word (Feminism) on Nov. 5 and Power Poses and Pilates on Dec. 2.