Filmmaker Poppy Jay has said that women have been "hoodwinked" when it comes to the trend of becoming a tradwife, ahead of the release of her new documentary on the subject. The term, a contraction of "traditional wife," has been popularised by social media platforms like TikTok and describes women today who choose to take on all household and parenting duties whilst their partner handles the finances by going to work.
Feminism and the tradwife trend
Filmmaker Poppy has explored the rise of tradwives for a new documentary, arguing that feminism has misled women into believing they can "have it all" when it comes to family and career.
She said: "For all of them, ultimately what they say is, feminism has failed because women have been, and this is something Professor Heejung Chung says, women have been effectively hoodwinked from having it all to really doing it all, right."
Voices on the tradwife lifestyle
Speaking on the Sense Check podcast, she told former Coronation Street star Nicola Thorp: "All my friends who now have kids are like, 'I don't know why I'm working because I just work so someone else can take care of my child and my childcare costs are like as much as my mortgage,' and that's not helping any women."
Poppy wondered whether women returning to domestic life full-time might be the solution in this day and age, even if it might seem like an approach to life not considered in decades. She added: "I guess for me, I don't think the answer to burnout is women going back to the home. I think if you want to do it, and it's a choice, and it works for you financially, and you're happy to, great. If we all did that, who is advocating for us and who's telling our stories?"
Reality behind the online image
As part of the new film, Poppy has interviewed several women who now follow this lifestyle but warned others that all is not as what it may seem online. Speaking about one tradwife she spoke to, she added: "One of the tradwives I met said that she wouldn't lose sleep if the vote was taken away from her. And the idea is that you'd vote as a family, so the husband would vote on behalf of the family."
But Nicola also argued that some parental responsibility should also fall on the father, as she added: "If you as a father do not know the number for your child's GP, then you're not a proper father. You're not doing your job."
Young, British and Tradwife is on BBC1 and BBC iPlayer on Nov 16 at 10.40pm.
