Tradwife trend is a sign women are struggling, scientists say

From Nara Smith to Hannah Neeleman, many influencers have amassed millions of followers for portraying their lives as ‘tradwives’.  

This lifestyle sees women ditching their jobs and reverting to the role of housewife, as practiced back in the fifties and sixties.

Followers of the movement claim it’s all about embracing traditional gender roles – hence the name, ‘tradwife’. 

However, a new study has questioned whether that’s really the case. 

Instead, researchers from King’s Business School claim that the trend is really a sign that women are struggling.  

‘The tradwife trend isn’t nostalgia—it’s a warning sign,’ said Professor Heejung Chung, one of the researchers.

‘Rather than evidence of a return to old–fashioned family values, the tradwife trend shows how younger women are struggling to reconcile impossible demands. 

‘They are signaling frustration with workplaces that still expect full devotion to work, while family responsibilities remain largely unchanged and shouldered by women.’

The tradwife trend harks back to 1950s Britain, and is already well established in the US.

The belief behind the movement is that wives should not work, and instead should spend their days cooking, cleaning, wearing modest and feminine dresses, and practicing traditional etiquette.

They should also be submissive to their husbands and always put them first.

While the movement has quickly gained momentum on both sides of the pond, sceptics have warned that the trend is an example of ‘hostile sexism’.

This is characterised by beliefs that men should hold the power and authority in society.

In their new study, the researchers set out to understand exactly why some women are turning their backs on their jobs and adopting the tradwife lifestyle. 

‘Many younger women engaging with tradwife content may have little historical awareness of the realities faced by women in eras when financial dependence left them vulnerable—without legal or economic power and often trapped in relationships marked by inequality or even domestic abuse,’ said researcher Shiyu Yuan.

‘Forgetting this history risks romanticizing a past that, for many women, was neither safe nor empowering.’

First, the team analysed responses from multiple years of the British Social Attitudes Survey, covering 1984 to 2022, and including close to 8,000 participants. 

The results found no evidence of younger women turning their backs on traditional gender roles. 

Instead, it found that women continue to hold more progressive attitudes to previous generations. 

Next, the researchers surveyed 1,000 women aged 18–34 about what attracts them to the tradwife life. 

Surprisingly, the results showed that most women don’t care about the male–breadwinner, female–caregiver model. 

Instead, they see the tradwife life as a way to escape pressures of work.

‘Most mothers leave the labor market less by choice than due to constraints such as inflexible working hours or a lack of childcare options,’ explained Constance Beaufils, one of the researchers. 

‘They are also among the population facing the greatest economic insecurity and health challenges.

‘Rather than longing for the past, young people appear to engage with this content to imagine an alternative to the stress and mental health pressures of modern work.’

Overall, the findings suggest that tradwives reflect exhaustion with today’s work/life pressures – and not nostalgia for a bygone era, according to the researchers. 

‘The growing popularity of tradwife content should not be dismissed or trivialized as something pertained to young women and their light frivolous interest,’ Ms Yuan added.