Topics: News, Social Media, US News
Researchers have discussed a concerning trend they believe the growing popularity of the ‘trad wife’ aesthetic has highlighted.
You may have missed it over the last couple years, but on social media there has been a growing trend that many young people have been latching onto.
This is none other than the ‘tradwife' trend - which stands for traditional wife.
The trend is somewhat self-explanatory: it glorifies the lifestyle of women ditching their jobs and reverting to the role of a traditional wife of previous generations like in the 50s and 60s.
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Many people on social media have showcased how they opted into the trend and spoken about how their lives have changed.
The belief behind the movement is that wives and young women should not work, and instead should spend their days cleaning, cooking, wearing modest, feminine or traditional clothing and focus on traditional etiquette.
However, scientists have argued there may be something concerning tied to the aesthetic and lifestyle.
Researchers from the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s Business School in the UK have argued the trend is a sign that women are struggling.
Professor Heejung Chung is one of the researchers involved in the study and commented on what the growing popularity of the trend indicates.
She said: “The tradwife trend isn't nostalgia—it's a warning sign.
“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.”
Another researcher highlighted that many younger women may be unaware of the historical difficulties these ‘traditional wives’ from previous eras faced.
They have noted that the trend is actually a trend of ‘hostile sexism’ that argues that women should be submissive, and know their place is behind men - who exclusively hold all the power.
Researcher Shiyu Yuan commented: “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.
“Forgetting this history risks romanticizing a past that, for many women, was neither safe nor empowering.”
The team concluded that young people are engaging with this content to imagine an alternative to the stresses and mental health pressure of modern work.
The findings ultimately suggest that the tradwife trend reflects the exhaustion of modern life rather than pure nostalgia for bygone eras.
